S&W Victory .38 pistol

[RKarum]

I am looking for as much help as I can get on iding exactly what year this was made.

It is a very nice condition S & W Victory 38 revolver. It has the lanyard hole in the bottom but no lanyard. I think the serial number is pre-1945 as it is not into the 300,000 numbers yet. Not sure what the markings are for on the right side of the barrel above the Smith markings.

All your expertise is welcomed.

[RKarum]

3 & 4

[RKarum]

5 & 6

These are the markings I am referring to. It does not shoot standard 38 special rounds. It shoots 38 carbine rounds I think.

[RKarum]

7 & 8

[RKarum]

9 & 10

some different type of markings on the cylinder. 6 in total.

[RKarum]

11 & 12

Serial numbers match 100% of the weapon.

[SCHUPO]

Your revolver started out life as a Smith & Wesson "Victory" model made for lend lease to Great Britian. It shoots the shorter .38 S&W cartridge not the .38 special. The markings are British proofs and the revolver has been extensively reworked by cutting off 1" of the barrel, adding a non-S&W front sight, removing the lanyard ring, replacing the grips, etc. Not military in this postwar reworked configuration.

[Johnny Peppers]

Your S&W was originally finished in phosphate, but in the modifications mentioned previously it was polished and blued. Not only is the .38 S&W cartridge shorter than the .38 S&W Special, it is also larger in diameter. When first imported into the U.S., some of the .38 S&W caliber pistols had the cylinders reamed so it would take the longer .38 Special cartridge. When .38 Special cartridges were fired in the revolver, the lower part of the cartridge ballooned out in the larger chamber.

Your revolver was sold commercially in England some time after 1954 according to the London proofs.

[james m]

The information you have received so far is correct. There was a company in Great Britian that specialized in the modifications described and had these made up for resale in the American market. Reaming the chambers to 38SPL was supposed to make them more "markeable".I will provide the name of the Company if I can find it. However; as this was done prior to the GCA of 1968, neither the company who made the modifications nor the importer was required to mark these for identification in any way.
I believe the British firm of Parker Hale was the principal modifier of these pistols.
Jim

[RKarum]

Thanks to all the information I have received. It's much more clearer now and I will be able to sell it in good faith as a "shooter" and not an "original" military weapon with all the work done to it.

I knew that the front sight had been ground down but would have never guessed the barrel had been shortened too. I did try to fit a modern 38spl round in the cylinder which fit fine but when I fit the bullet into the barrel, it fit very loosely, so I knew it was not the right caliber for this weapon.

Thanks again to those who answered my questions.