Need a confirmation about two Victorys

[gonzogeezer]

Hello All,

I think I know this but given my advancing years I thought it best to receive confirmation from the experts, those who reside within this forum.

I have two WWII Victory revolvers.

First is a Navy 4” stamped “.38 S. & W. Special Ctg”.

The other is a 5” with British proofmarks stamped “.38 S. & W. Ctg”.

I know the British used the .38/200 cartridge based on the .38 S&W but the 5” has the same length cylinder as the Navy model. I seem to recall that either revolver can fire either cartridge. Can you confirm my recollection ?

I’m not a S&W collector per se, but I have these revolvers because they were both issued to German police during the Occupation following the War, and I do collect German police sidearms.

Thanks for reading and for any advice.

 

[jpage]

Hi, two different cartridges, bullet diameters, OAL etc etc. Some British .38 S&W BSRs were converted to chamber .38 Special, perhaps that is what caused some confusion.

 

[gonzogeezer]

Possible. Specials fit in the 5” so maybe the importer reamed the cylinder

 

[Pisgah]

Many surplus .38 S&W Victory revolvers have had their chambers bored out to take the longer .38 S&W Special;however, the Special case is not only longer but smaller in diameter than the .38 S&W. This means that upon firing the cases will expand to fill the chambers, and they often split in the process. Not dangerous, but not conducive to accuracy and ruinous of cases if you reload. IMO, an unaltered .38 S&W is preferred as a shooter and even more so as a collectible.

 

[DWalt]

The British Commonwealth S&W revolvers, both Victory and pre-Victory, are pretty much dimensionally identical to the .38 Special M&P revolvers except for the chambering. Many of them were sold off as British surplus during the 1950s-60s, and most had the chambers lengthened to allow use of .38 Special. That is not a really bad problem, except it significantly decreases their collectible value. Regarding case splitting of .38 Specials, I have never seen that happen, but I suppose that it could. Not so well known us that prior to the US entry in the war, the British had bought up some .38 Special M&P revolvers on the American civilian market wherever they could find them in the US and then ran a .38 S&W reamer into their chambers so the .380 British cartridges could fit. Those are not common, and I have never seen one. But I have read accounts of that being done. No reason that it could not have been done very easily.

Regarding cartridges, the British called their ammunition the “.380 Revolver,” Mark I or Mark 2, NOT the .38/200. The former was loaded with a 200 grain lead bullet. The Mark II cartridge used a 178 grain full metal jacketed bullet, and was the standard issue cartridge during the war and thereafter. Either Mark is dimensionally equivalent to the earlier American .38 S&W cartridge.

 

[Alk8944]

Both the .38 S&W and .38 Special have the same cylinder length, so forget that. The only difference is the charge holes in the cylinder. Many .38 S&W guns were reamed to .38 Special, and some .38 Special guns can accept some .38 S&W ammunition, depending on which end of manufacturing tolerances the gun and cartridges fall into!

For those who don't believe this last, I own numerous .38 Special revolvers, both S&W and Colt. About half of them will accept .38 S&W factory ammunition that I have in my possession! No question YMMV, but that is my experience with my guns and the ammunition I have tried in them!

 

[gonzogeezer]

I can fit both S&W and Special cartridges in both revolvers. But I think I’ll just continue to use the ammo stamped on the barrels, I have both in the cabinet.

I appreciate all the replies.