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S&W .38 S&W Victory Model - Help with Identification

6K views 14 replies 8 participants last post by  Absalom 
#1 · (Edited)
Would like help identifying this revolver. My father picked it up thinking it was a US military revolver, but what we are reading, it seems it may have gone overseas. It obviously is a .38 S&W vs a .38 special. It has the "US Property G.H.D." markings. Any help with age, and where it may have been sent or used would be greatly appreciated.

Oops, I guess the SN is helpful... it is V 386263. A p Proof mark is beside the V on the bottom of the grip

It does have an import mark from Vega Sac, CA. All SNs matching.
641606
641607
641608
641609
641610
641611
 
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#3 ·
Interesting. You don’t give the serial, so all I can say in terms of dating it is that it is a British Service version of the Victory model, with a V prefix serial at or above the upper V 200-thousands, from mid-1943 to at the latest January 1945.

It was made for the British and marked for Lend-Lease, and likely shipped to Britain. The interesting thing is that it has no post-war British commercial proofs, so it wasn’t officially surplused out in Britain.

It does, however, have the Vega import mark, and to my knowledge the Vega Victorys were all imported from Australia. If this is a WW II Australian gun, that would explain the absence of British post-war proofs. However, almost all Australian Victorys imported by Vega in the 1980s had been FTR’d (refurbished and refinished) and are clearly marked. Your gun is obviously all original.

So, pretty cool gun. It most likely is a Lend-Lease gun assigned to Australian forces that escaped being refurbished after the war but then was re-imported by Vega with the others.
 
#8 ·
The coolgunsite Victory entry is a pretty decent, if slightly sloppy, summary of the chapter in Charles Pate’s book. Waldemar Broberg turns into Bromberg, there were no 6” Victorys (only pre-Victorys), and the final finish wasn’t parkerized. Yours isn’t either. After a brief experiment with actual trademark Parkerizing in the pre-V serial range in May/June 1942, only about 2000 guns, the finish on all Victory production remained “sandblast Black Magic”, in factory documents just referenced as sandblast.
 
#14 ·
Very interesting. I know most were not parkerized but do you know when the parkerized guns were produced and were they in 38 S&W? I have one that was parkerized and have always assumed it was refinished. It is early with no V prefix, wood grips, 6 inch and 38 S&W. It looks like the finish could be original or when redone they were gentle on the prep.
 
#10 ·
Not presuming to speak for Bill, but I don‘t believe that‘s how he meant it.

These weren‘t accepted by the US Army as such, but by US Army Ordnance-employed inspectors stationed at the S&W factory. That’s also where they got the military proofs, acceptance stamps, and property marking. Then they were shipped to Hartford Ordnance Depot, which also served as the regional distribution center for the Lend-Lease program, and arranged shipment to the Allies.

These received the same US property marking as the 4“ .38 Special Victorys going to the Navy because under the legalities of the Lend-Lease program they were only loaned and remained the property of Uncle Sam. The US Army actually did not use the Victory at all in any appreciable quantity; they mostly got the Colt equivalent, the .38 Commando.
 
#12 ·
Reminds me of the days of my youth, when I was a Crusader pilot, flying out of NAS GTMO, during the Bay of Pigs/Cuban Missile Crisis era. We carried the standard Navy-issue .38 Special, 4” Victories, in shoulder holsters. I never flew a hop there, or elsewhere in the Caribbean-Atlantic theater without being armed with one. I tried to get them to let me carry it back to the States, but no deal. So, some years ago, I found one at a gun show, in practically pristine shape, lanyard ring and all, and bought it. It’s exactly like the one I carried, serial no. excepted. Found a Navy shoulder holster, too. Now, all I need is a Crusader...
 
#13 ·
I was going from memory mostly. My reference is "U.S. Handguns of WWII" by Charles W. Pate. The GHD was the initials of the U.S inspector, Guy H. Drewry. From page 131:"It is not a generally known fact, but the U.S. Army also used these arms [ the 38-200 caliber] though on a very limited basis. There are a few documented cases of U.S. Army issue in the continental United States...." He goes on to say more substantial numbers were used by the O.S.S.

Bill
 
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