Need some help please

[BenMaverick]

Hello everyone! My dad just passed away and I've inherited some of his old guns.

One I'm having some issue with is a Victory model marked with british markings that has been converted to 38 special. So I'm sure it was probably a lease model. It is polished blued finish. Does not have the original grips, so enough info to buy some for it would be appreciated. Someone snubbed the nose in the exact spot Oswald's was snubbed, so some of the markings aren't there. I know it's not worth much, but I would like to know more about it and I felt this would be the best place to find out. Thanks in advance for any help.

My serial is v 5198xx

 

[Buford57]

You pretty much covered it, but until the experts come along with a ship date here's something to read.

It's refinished as well as lopped and the grips replaced. Lack of a front sight makes me think it was done by a shade tree gunsmith rather than the commercial outfits that modified and sold them that way. That makes the .38 Special conversion suspect, since even those done by companies that knew what they were doing sometimes result in bulged cases when the .38 Spl. rounds are fired in chambers originally bored for the slightly larger diameter .38 S&W round the Brits used. Since Bubba cut the barrel it's a good bet he worked on the cylinder as well. You might want to try firing a couple of light lead bullet loads through it to see what the empties look like.

Original barrels are still for sale occasionally, or any barrel from a commercial M&P of the same era could be used, making a cheap tacklebox gun. Somebody who really wanted it for a project might give you $100-200 in this economy if it is sound internally. I wouldn't, and I have a barrel, but someone might.

My condolences on how you came into this gun.

 

[BenMaverick]

Thanks for the reply. It's not something I'm getting rid of and it fires the 38 special fine with no bulging. Thankfully

 

[merl67]

Welcome to the forum! My condolences on the loss of your dad. As has been stated not a lot of value with that one. As to grips any square butt Smith and Wesson K frame grips will work. Many of these were shortened and cylinders reamed to accept 38 spl ammo some better than others. I would imagine it has already been shot so probably ok to do so now after a check of timing and lockup is done. The cases may swell a bit or more depending on how the cylinder was reamed. Barrels are available as are cylinders, but unless you are able to do the work yourself really not worth the cost.

 

[BenMaverick]

Thank you. Yeah its seen a lot of use haha. It was a truck gun. Not going to sell but just trying to get it back to as original as I can minus the barrel lenth

 

[walnutred]

I'm sorry for your loss. If lock-up and timing is OK and it's not bulging cases I'd start shopping for a used barrel. At this point it has some sentimental value to you and re-barreling will make it more usable and not hurt the value.

 

[BenMaverick]

Thank you. I may do that. I understand that these pistols were manufactured in 2 finishes. Not sure what mine is supposed to be

 

[opoefc]

You are calling the gun a Victory model, so I'm assuming that's because the serial number starts with the "V", right? V serial numbered gun were all given the dull finish, with various names, such as "Black magic. Midnight Blue, Sand blast blue , etc ." depending on who happened to fill out the invoice descriptoin that day. ( Except for serial numbers 1 thru 5, which were made by the Service dep't with high polish blue, for VIP Presentations ) If your gun, with a V numbers has a polished blue, the it has been refinished after it left S&W. Many of these British guns were brought back to the US by dealers who shortened the barrels, reamed the chamberrs to take .38Spl. and flooded the market with them in the late 50s & 60s at $25 to $40 dollars. Original grips were discarded and usually flashy plastic grips were installed.
Ed

 

[Absalom]

Below is a picture of what it looked like when it left the factory in spring of 1944.

 

[BenMaverick]

Great to know! Thank you both. The info is much appreciated. I was confused as to the finish and that answered the question. Sesame for the grips

 

[merl67]

Honestly for shooting purposes the original grips aren't the best ones to get and since it isn't original now I wouldn't worry too much about originality now. Did it come with any grips at all on it ?

 

[SammyJoe]

Now that is a cool piece, lots of character and history there. Hope you can find out more about it!
-Sam

 

[teletech]

I'd rather advise not firing the weapon in that configuration.
The barrel has been cut off at the end of the ejector, the problem with that is it means the bolt the locks the front of the ejector and by extension cylinder and yolk closed is missing, as is the added spring tension on the locking pin holding the rear locked. As a result you have significantly less locking of the cylinder in the frame. Is it really unsafe? I suspect not as long as what's left is clean and working right, but it's sure a lot less safe than the designers intended. Besides, if you get a new barrel you also get a front sight.
A barrel would be a lot cheaper and easier, but if you *really* didn't want to make any changes you didn't have to I guess you could swap to a snubby ejector rod and silver-solder a front lock assembly to the existing barrel.
Any K-frame pinned barrel will fit and you can find them for as little as $30. You can't safely do the swap without a frame wrench but a decent gunsmith can easily do the swap for you.

As others have said, any K-frame grips (stocks per S&W) will fit but "victory model" stocks are the most correct. Ebay is good for that stuff.

 

[BenMaverick]

Thanks everyone for the info. I have alot to think about

 

[merl67]

Here is the Model 1899 38 special the original design did not have the front locking lug the rear lockup is the same as yours. Shooting it with standard loads will be fine. Early Colt DA revolvers did not have the front locking lug either. Yes having the front one is better, but I'd bet that gun and many more like it were shot lots and still going.

 

[BenMaverick]

I know for sure my dad shot the heck out of it, so I'm sure it's fine haha. But I did just order a "new" barrel for it from Apex Gun Parts. And realized I have the original grips in a bag still at his house. I've decided to keep the 38 special cylinder but I do like the looks of the original pistol, so I'll be putting it back to almost stock. Going to be playing with some cerakote colors to try and match the original parkerize color when the new barrel gets here. Thanks for all the info and help guys. I appreciate all of your time. I would like to know still when it was produced if anyone is familiar with the serial numbers enough to figure it out. Thanks again guys

 

[Muley Gil]

IIRC, you can buy a home Parkerizing kit. Check Brownells.

 

[walnutred]

Parkerizing is not too bad a process if you take time with the prep work and follow the safety precautions. However you can probably get a cerakote finish to be a pretty close match to the late/post war finish I've seen on some British firearms. To me a few looked like they just baked on some sore of engine paint after the war to put them in storage.

 

[glowe]

Ed noted above that the "V" marking does not necessarily indicate a Victory Model and in this case the "5 TONS" stamp indicates the gun is actually named a 38/200 British Service Revolver made throughout WWII. This model was made prior to 1941 in a standard serial number between 700,000 to 1,000,000. In 1941, the serial numbers started over and ran in the range V-1 to VS825,000.

If there is any sentimental value with the gun, you can, with a little work find an original replacement barrel complete with British stampings. Also, a good gunsmith can do the replacement and add the sandblast blue finish to return it to the post-1942 finish. The stocks would have been plain walnut in the "V" series and are also found quite commonly for sale. There were 3 barrel lengths available in this model, 4", 5", and 6". If you are interested in doing the work, we can probably find the barrel length that was originally on the gun.

Anyway, you might consider re-militarizing the gun and keep it since it is a family heirloom.

 

[Absalom]

… I would like to know still when it was produced if anyone is familiar with the serial numbers enough to figure it out.

To get much more precise than what I told you above, you‘d need to order a factory letter. And the Lend-lease guns shipped in very large batches, so production and shipment aren‘t necessarily linear. Your gun could have been manufactured as early as January 1944, and shipped sometime over the next few months; all the low V 5xx-range guns on record seem to fall into that time frame.

 

[BenMaverick]

That's the info I was wondering about. Thank you so much! I just purchased a british barrel for it and found the grips to try and get it back to somewhat original. And yes, it may not be worth alot but my dad liked it so I'll keep it anyways lol. Thanks again for all the help