Need help with Victory Marking ID

[ridecontrol]

I have a Victory. Has "GHD" and US Property marked.
It is also stamped I assume by hand ".38 Special" on the frame.
Barrel is marked 38 SW. Barrel SN matches frame. See photos.

What puzzles me is that it is marked "AF" with a broad arrow. SEE PHOTO.

Not a Victory guy. I just want to know what I have. I know about the Lithgow "FTR" part.
SN on grip does not match any other number.

Ken in Ohio

 

[ridecontrol]

More photos

Here are more

 

[Targets Guy]

Looks to be in nice shape. Some experts will be along shortly to help with the markings. Do a couple of searches on Victory and you'll have days of reading from this forum.

 

[Targets Guy]

...and welcome to the forum.

 

[Wiregrassguy]

welcome01 to the forums from the Wiregrass! Would you post a picture of the cylinder face and make sure the chambers are in focus so we can see into the chambers. It appears that British Service Revolver has either had the cylinder reamed for .38 Special or the cylinder was replaced. If the SN on the cylinder matches the barrel and butt, it is all original and the cylinder was likely reamed to accept .38 Special.

 

[ridecontrol]

Cylinder photos

Here they are

 

[Targets Guy]

Try and get a shot like this one.

greenshot

You can easily see it has been reamed to accept the longer .38 special cartridge.

 

[Absalom]

It's a bit unusual to see Lithgow-FTR'd guns with converted cylinders, since these guns generally didn't come into the country until after 1986. The conversion-mania had passed by then, and most Aussie BSR's remained unmolested. This one also does not have the VEGA stamp where it usually is. Is the importer's mark elsewhere?

The finish also does not look like Lithgow's and it looks like it covers the FTR stamps and the additional converted caliber stamp, so the gun was likely refinished again after import and conversion.

The A^F applied instead of the usual D^D means "Australian Forces" according to the Lithgow museum's stampings chart and as far as we know was applied interchangeably with D^D for no particular reason.

 

[ridecontrol]

No import stamp anywhere I could find

 

[Wiregrassguy]

Can't really tell if the cylinder has been reamed. It's original to the gun. Have you tried inserting a .38 Special cartridge? It's also interesting that the gun has been FTR'd but the ejector rod is blued. That was typical of original finish but I'd expect the whole thing to be Parkerized. The current finish extends into the Australian stamps so, apparently, it was refinished.

 

[ridecontrol]

Yes...38 special fits

 

[Absalom]

..... It's also interesting that the gun has been FTR'd but the ejector rod is blued. That was typical of original finish but I'd expect the whole thing to be Parkerized....

Guy:
It's actually characteristic for the Lithgow FTR refinish to be minimally invasive. They only did the "right" parts; the blued ejector rod and case-colored trigger and hammer were left alone.

The Lithgow finish also is quite thin and was done with minimal buffing, so the factory stampings are crisp and the overall impression often leads folks unfamiliar with the FTR stamps to take them as original.

 

[Dave_n]

Yes...38 special fits

What this may mean is that any 38 Special cartridge fired in the gun may well split. The diameter of the 38 S&W is larger than that of the 38 Special. This was the "quick and dirty" method of converting them. I have one that was first reamed and then sleeved for 38 Special, so no splitting as the cartridge fits perfectly. Just try to slide a 38 S&W case into the cylinder, I bet it will fit, as all that was done was to remove the "shelf" in the cylinder. Dave_n