HS Marked Victory Model Stocks

Retired W4

Retired W4

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I acquired this nice original (except for the stocks) .38 special Victory Model. The gun is mechanically perfect but has these replacement stocks with the HS or SH marking, depending on your view point. I have not seen this before but I would take a wild guess at High Standard. I know some one here knows the answer as to who made these stocks. The gun, SN: V 27xx52 is a beautiful example of an issued gun. Used but not abused. In fact, the gun appears to have been fired very little, but carried quite a bit (not that unusual). There are no numbers stamped on the inside of the panel which would indicate to me they are factory replacements, but I just don't know. All other numbers match. Another one for the data base.
 

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Apparently this makes me the bravest man on an Internet gun forum.
 
Putting the data base aside for a minute, any ideas on the HS in a circle on the stocks?

Now for the data base, the whole serial number is V 276652, left top strap is marked symbol (flaming bomb) U.S. Property GHD. No symbol on top left frame or S on right frame. A pretty typical .38 special M&P from WW II. Another one I have is V 267332 which was shipped to the U.S. Navy without Navy markings and I am wondering if the gun in question may have been part of that Navy shipment. Thank you for all the work you have done on the data base.

I saw a little humor in x-ing out middle numbers, as the last two digits were in the picture. I don't know if anyone caught that or not. I guess I am easily amused.

I don't believe it takes bravery to post the whole serial number, but I do believe paranoia drives the opposite - the x-ing of numbers. Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you (who ever THEY are).
 
Navy property stamping ceased somewhere in the low V265xxx range. Thereafter, all military revolvers were given the "U.S. Property" topstrap stamping. A high percentage of .38 Special Victory military revolvers went to the Navy, and that is nothing unusual. I have no idea about the HS stamp. It could be a manufacturer's stamp or possibly an inspection stamp. Springfield and M1 rifles and M1 Carbines usually had some manufacturer's stamp on their wooden stocks, but I don't know about revolver grips. It's possible they could be foreign made grips (English, Canadian, or Australian marked, perhaps).
 
While it may be to obvious to be the case, the HS grips marks may be for High Standard. Early High Standard pistols had a circled HS on the grips. They were a war time supplier and their 22's would probably not be considered as sufficient for plant security.

Possible but probably unlikely...
 
Brigham33: High Standard also manufactured a .380 ACP auto pistol during the war, and I understand that some were bought by the government for arming security guards. I have no idea about the stock markings.
 
I have run across a few of the Hi-Standard G-380 pistols, but not recently. It was Hi-Standard's only CF autopistol that made it to market. I think they were made commercially for only a few years after WWII, and not in large numbers. I saw one at a Central Texas flea market about 15 years ago that appeared new and in the box. I should have bought it. I've seen some stories about the G-380 (one was that it was developed originally for OSS use during WWII, but that may just be BS), but I don't know anything about their background.

Regarding whether HS made Victory grips, I have no idea. They could have, but a lot of makers with the initials HS could have also. H-S was heavily into making MG barrels during WWII, and I think they also made M2 .50 MGs. I remember reading some years ago a fairly lengthy story about H-S MG barrel production in a WWII-period issue of the Saturday Evening Post. It had something to do with their successful development of new automated machinery to make barrels much faster than ever before. I think H-S also made some SMGs back then, maybe the United Defense, which actually saw some limited combat use.

The original H-S company folded in the early 1980s, but I think all of the records are held by the newer Hi-Standard company that took over the H-S assets, which is still in business and located in Houston. Perhaps an inquiry to them about whether H-S made Victory grips would get some results.
 
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brigham33 said:
While it may be to obvious to be the case, the HS grips marks may be for High Standard. Early High Standard pistols had a circled HS on the grips. They were a war time supplier and their 22's would probably not be considered as sufficient for plant security.

Possible but probably unlikely...
Click to expand...

Just for clarification, is the mark on those High Standard pistols similar to the mark on this Victory model?

John Brunner'e book "OSS Weapons II" has a section on the H-S .380 silenced pistol. The cost of those pistols was $57 each.
 
My guess is that the HS in a circle stamp is a prior owner's initials stamping. High Standard is not known to have made any stocks for Victory Models. I have collected High Standards for years and never have seen a gun with that stamp. The High Standard logo stamp on the hard rubber grips is not similar to the stamp on the butt of the left stock pictured above, other than they both have the same letters. Ed.
 
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Doubt that it's an individual. Might be German or Austrian police just after WW II when they had many of these.
 
Retired W4 said:
I acquired this nice original (except for the stocks) .38 special Victory Model. The gun is mechanically perfect but has these replacement stocks with the HS or SH marking, depending on your view point. I have not seen this before but I would take a wild guess at High Standard. I know some one here knows the answer as to who made these stocks. The gun, SN: V 27xx52 is a beautiful example of an issued gun. Used but not abused. In fact, the gun appears to have been fired very little, but carried quite a bit (not that unusual). There are no numbers stamped on the inside of the panel which would indicate to me they are factory replacements, but I just don't know. All other numbers match. Another one for the data base.
Click to expand...

Hartford & Slocomb Railroad operated in Alabama. Their mark was HS. Might be Railroad police issue from your neck of the woods.
 
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