This Victory Model takes the cake.

[Art Doc]

More markings on it than any other gun I've ever owned. A circle with a crown and NP in the center stamped 6 times on the cylinder. Really, wasn't once enough? Three more on left barrel ahead of Frame and a last one on the crane. OK, yoke. NP for Nitro Proof meaning OK with smokeless powder? The 1940s seems late to proof for smokeless. Just below is stamped Not English Made.

On left top strap is US Property GHD. I think those are the initials for an inspector, no? On left frame below cylinder window is POL.OLD 480.

One more I can't make out well. On left frame right behind trigger is what appears to be crossed swords pointed downward. There are 3 tiny figures arranged around the blades but I can't make out what they are. Anyone know?

The smooth walnut stocks that came with the revolver have a different serial and don't fit well. I swapped on a set of Magnas with black washers and the number 910943 on one panel. Guessing the prefix was S and these came off a transitional M&P made in 47 or 48. Sound right? Has not been refinished but very little original finish remains. Most turning brown. But it works fine.

Bought this on a whim one night off Gunbroker. Auction was near closing and there were no bids on the $250 starting price. That's what I paid for it as nobody else bid. I was already loading the 38 S&W for a couple other revolvers so the caliber didn't scare me.

I know it served with someone in Great Britain and was then issued to a German PD after the war. No idea how it got back home to the U.S. Were these sold in large numbers back in the 1960s or something? Maybe a GI won it in a poker game and brought it home in a duffel bag.

With lead bullets it tears one hole groups at 15 yards shooting with arms rested. Too much fun for the price.

 

[raljr1]

What load are you using in that 38 s&w, And what bullet configuration.

Robert

 

[Absalom]

.... No idea how it got back home to the U.S. Were these sold in large numbers back in the 1960s or something? Maybe a GI won it in a poker game and brought it home in a duffel bag.

In contrast to the practice in the US occupation zone, the British distributed their Victorys to German police only on loan. So as soon as the state of Lower Saxony got the okay to go and purchase "real police pistols", that is, 7,65mm semi-autos (they ultimately standardized on the PP), the Oldenburgers had to send all their S&W revolvers back to Hanover where they were inventoried and handed back to the British.

From there the guns joined the fate of most other BSRs: back to Blighty, sold to a surplus dealer, off to commercial proofing (crossed swords viewmark and NPs are part of that), and then either sale or more likely export. Yours went through that before 1955, as it appears to still have the old style of proofs.

 

[J. R. WEEMS]

.38 S&W LOADS

What load are you using in that 38 s&w, And what bullet configuration.

Robert

Robert, saw your question and thought I would chime in, for what it might be worth.
I send my loads down range with a load of 2.3gn of WIN 231. Bullet is Missouri's 145gn RN coated bullet. Seems to work fine on these. I would love to find something like th OP has.

 

[PALADIN85020]

GHD = Guy H. Drewry, a prolific inspector. I see his mark on lots of 1911A1s.

John

 

[Absalom]

GHD = Guy H. Drewry, a prolific inspector. I see his mark on lots of 1911A1s.

Col., later Gen. Drewry actually just happened to be the officer in charge at the Springfield/Hartford Ordnance District.

It's likely he personally never inspected or even laid eyes on most of the guns bearing his initials

 

[Art Doc]

Don't have my Little Black Book handy. But I think I've been using a 158 SWC over 5 grains of Unique. Have not clocked it but I think it's supposed to produce about 700 FPS.

 

[schutzen-jager]

i use 2.3 grains of red dot + cast Lee 158 grain swc unsized -

 

[nutsforsmiths]

The bottom pistols has most of the same markings as the one you have, but has no US Property marks on it. Has Not English Made and all the proofs and on the backstrap, POL. LUN 76. it shipped in 1944. It also was reblued, but not very well, at some point in its post-war life.

The one above it is another BSR shipped in 1941 and it has the 1955 style British proofing on the barrel.

Top is a US Navy marked Victory shipped to Norfolk, VA in 1942. The other is a Victory shipped to the United States Maritime Commission in Hoboken, NJ in 1942. It has no markings on it at all.

I always find these pistols interesting.

 

[Mk VII]

should be in here somewhere.

 

[Absalom]

The bottom pistol has most of the same markings as the one you have, but has no US Property marks on it. Has Not English Made and all the proofs and on the backstrap, POL. LUN 76. it shipped in 1944. It also was reblued, but not very well, .....

Polizei Lüneburg. As a 1944 shipped Victory, it had to have the property mark, no exceptions, so that was scrubbed during the refinish.

 

[DCWilson]

The small mark that involves crossed swords and characters sounds like a Birmingham view mark. The characters in the left and right quadrants seem to have been alphabetical, and the mark in the lower quadrant could be a punch (or a few punches) or a numeral depending on the year. Search Google for Birmingham view marks and go straight to Images when the results page loads. EDITED TO ADD: Or just look at post 10 above, which I somehow missed in my first reading of this thread.

As to "Not English Made." If you look closely, you should find that the phrase is "Not English Make," with a K.That sounds odd to American ears, but not to the people stamping it on foreign-made revolvers -- or "revolvers of foreign make," to stay with the theme.

 

[2152hq]

That each chamber is individualy proof marked is also an indication that it was civilian proof under the 1925 (theu 1954/55) Proof Law.
Proofing at either London or Birmingham was/is required before the x-surplus firearm could be sold on the commercial-civilian market.

When the Proof LAw was changed in 54/55, a single proof mark usually applied to the back face of the cylinder was adapted.
The 54/55 Law also changed the stamped bbl proof info to include the Caliber, the cartridge case length and the service pressure in English Ton(nes) /per sq in.

A few showing with the 'every chamber proof marked' style of the 1925 Law are around even though they have the later 1954/55 style proof markings otherwise on them.
Old habits I guess.

The Birmingham Proof Date code has been explained and a nice chart given above.
Use a magnifier to pick out the correct style and then the letter stamp & placement on yours and decode the Proof Year from the chart .

That's an awfully nice revolver and a great price,,congrats!!