Rescued from the scrap pile- 38 S&W Victory with a twist

[austintexas]

bullets

I have in my collection a S & W 38 HE Target that was one of 1000 sent to England early in the war that the English ran a chamber reamer in 38 S&W in the cylinder charge holes to convert it to shoot 38/200. If they thought it was safe to do and shoot, I don't think you have a problem.
SWCA 892

PS, I shoot this revolver occasionally with no problems.

 

[TargetVictory]

I have in my collection a S & W 38 HE Target that was one of 1000 sent to England early in the war that the English ran a chamber reamer in 38 S&W in the cylinder charge holes to convert it to shoot 38/200. If they thought it was safe to do and shoot, I don't think you have a problem.
SWCA 892

PS, I shoot this revolver occasionally with no problems.

The shipping document shows a May 1943 ship date in 38/200. I’m not sure if it went to England or not, but that could explain the barrel change. Someone wanted something proof marked and a little cool.

 

[glowe]

This is a Victory that was chambered in 38 S&W from factory (I have the shipping document/invoice).

Can you post a copy of your documents? Invoice should state where the gun went? That serial number does fall into a large grouping of 38 Special guns?? I might have missed it, but if not what is the serial number stamped on the barrel? If your revolver is 38 S&W, it would have been an export gun. These guns went to England, Canada, South Africa, Australia, and likely ended up in other British Commonwealth countries.

It seems likely that the entire cylinder assembly was replaced since it has a mushroom ejector rod knob that went away in 1927.

 

[TargetVictory]

Can you post a copy of our documents? Invoice should state where the gun went? That serial number does fall into a large grouping of 38 Special guns?? I might have missed it, but if not what is the serial number stamped on the barrel? If your revolver is 38 S&W, it would have been an export gun. These guns went to England, Canada, South Africa, Australia, and likely ended up in other British Commonwealth countries.

It seems likely that the entire cylinder assembly was replaced since it has a mushroom ejector rod knob that went away in 1927.

Attached the invoice.

 

[TargetVictory]

O.P.,, not sure if asked. Does serial # on butt match number on bottom of barrel flat? or rear of cylinder?.
Only reason I ask, most .38 S&W victories I have seen are 5". If barrel matches frame#, then cylinder was replaced with .38 S&W.
If frame, cylinder & barrel are ALL different, then it is a parts gun in total. It was refinished anyway but still a nice shooter.

Cylinder and frame match. Barrel, I’m not sure because of the heavy buffing, but from what I can see of what’s left, I’m going to say no.

 

[DARE]

TargetVictory, Alk8944 was giving you very precise information. What he said was that bullets from .355 to .3635 can be shot in these calibers. You will not find any .38 S&W or .38 S&W Special ammo that is not in those parameters. What he is telling you is you can shoot either safely in your gun (if it will fit).

 

[serger]

To add another twist to this thread, here's a link to a discussion about using 9mm luger ammo in Victory revolvers:

German WWII 9mmP08 adapted to a 38 Revolver - General Ammunition Discussion - International Ammunition Association Web Forum

 

[DCWilson]

First: TargetVictory, welcome to the forum.

Second: The letter you mentioned probably gave you an exact ship date, but from the serial number we can tell it probably shipped in mid-1943. Many V30xxxx revolvers were leaving the factory between April and July of that year.

The barrel dates to 1927 or earlier. That's the year the ejector rod knob changed from the double-diameter mushroom shape we see on your gun to a smaller barrel-shaped profile that required a different cut on the underside of the barrel. Your barrel has the cut for the older style of knob to match the older ejector rod. That knob shows that at least one part of the cylinder assembly was replaced along with the barrel, and possibly more. The cylinder itself was apparently not replaced from the same gun that donated the barrel. (It might however be a replacement if it came from a different British revolver.)

I would encourage you to look for repeated serial numbers in the places mentioned in post no. 2 above to see how many different revolvers might have contributed to your gun's current configuration. "Extractor" refers to the underside of the extractor star. There are at least two revolvers involved, and perhaps three or four.

Did your letter indicate the barrel length in this gun's original configuration? Most British Vics had five-inch barrels.


EDITED TO ADD: Again I see I am duplicating observations already posted. I will leave this intact for the one or two minor thoughts that might point in a helpful direction.

 

[StrawHat]

…

The person who mentioned the possible issues is a well respected S&W historian you might be familiar with…

Who is this person?

Kevin

 

[TargetVictory]

Who is this person?

Kevin

Michael Helms.

 

[glowe]

Attached the invoice.

Maybe I don't get the document, but see no serial numbers on that invoice, especially not yours? Where did you get that doc?

 

[Tom S.]

Michael Helms.

I suspect Mike misunderstood the question.

 

[Tom S.]

Michael Helms.

I suspect Mike misunderstood the question. It's one thing to talk about bullet diameter and entirely different thing when talking about the finished round. Many rounds take the same diameter bullet, but that doesn't make the rounds interchangeable.

 

[Pathfinder36]

The taper refers to the exterior contour of the barrel and is simply cosmetic. The tapered style barrels on both commercial S&Ws and those made during WWII are externally the same. The bore dimensions of both .38 S&W and .38 Special barrels are the same, or at least the specified dimension tolerance of both overlap. They are functionally identical.

There is absolutely no issue between the barrels, only the caliber marking as I said originally. There is one other difference, and that is that barrels of the British Service Revolvers (BSR) made for the Lend Lease program of WWII typically were 5" long, where yours is a 4" commercial barrel. Today I can

In short, what you were told is simply wrong! The only "issue" is the barrel is incorrect for a BSR, cosmetically.

My interest is primarily as a collector of U.S. Military Small Arms and has been for the past 70 years (college age 18). Of course I often add a non-military piece if it's something that catches my fancy. Just this past week I acquired an S&W Victory Model at auction. I already have a few of them but none as nice as this new one. It appears to have been refinished but I could be wrong, I'm aware of the chamber difference but it is important to me as all I do with a new-to-me guns is dissemble & clean them. My range days are over. My interests are origination details, age, condition, model variations, and after-market alterations. The SN is important usually to determine the age of the weapon. This one wears this number V387545 but it also has another GSCA71 on the frame. Any thoughts on this piece? US Veteran [XVIII Corps Oct '62 Cuba), 3rd ID (Cold War Germany), 7th ID (Korea), 1st Cav (RVN)].