PistolVictoryManufacturerS&WCartridge.38 Special,.38/200Overall Length8.5″ActionDbl/Sngl S&WBarrel Length4″Magazine6 rnds swing cylWeight1.9 lbThe Victory represents a specific subset of the Smith and Wesson Model 1905 commercial revolver. For the sake of this article, however, we’ll expand our interests just a bit and cover the general use of the S&W K-frame revolver in the war.In the years just before the outbreak of WWII, the U.S. Arms industry saw a growing trickle of purchases from European nations.
Aug 17, 2017 - I know it's a double-action revolver on Smith & Wesson's square butt K frame. Top strap, but isn't marked “PROPERTY OF U.S. NAVY” as some were. Strangely, I just purchased a S&W Victory 22lr for plinking at the range. S&W Victory Model - U.S. P.S.a little trivia: The 'GHD' after 'US PROPERTY' is the Military Inspector's mark for Guy H.
After the events of 1939, this became a flood of demand. In response the U.S.
Government initiated the Lend-Lease program, which streamlined and increased shipments of war materiel to the allied nations. During this same period the U.S. Was slowly putting itself on a war footing, in case it became involved.The most common handgun shipped to allied nations was a slight modification of the Smith and Wesson Model 1905 4 th Change revolver, named the “Military and Police.” Smith and Wesson also identifies this as a “K-Frame” revolver. Originally chambered in.38 Special for guards and law enforcement, this pistol began being purchased by the British soon after Dunkirk in order to free up more standard equipment for front line use. These early, smaller lot purchases were bright blue and very much commercial in appearance. Additional Colt and S&W plain commercial pistols were also purchased.The boys across the pond had also contracted with S&W, and paid a large advance, to develop a light carbine that would serve a role similar to the M1 Carbine. Unfortunately, S&W’s work wasn’t up to the inspector’s standards and the project was scrapped.
When the British demanded their advance back, S&W couldn’t pay, having spent it on tooling up and initial production. Instead, in 1940 an agreement was made to produce the M&P in a.38 S&W chambering (equivalent to the British.38/200 chambering for Enfield No.1 MkI and Webley MkIV revolvers) at a reduced cost in large numbers to repay their debt.
These revolvers have a deep, dark bluing and slightly rougher finish, but are still actually quite nice.It is also worth noting that Canada acquired significant numbers of the S&W M&P in five and six inch barrel lengths. Many of these were acquired in 1940 and sent to serve with the Royal Canadian Air Force.
They will be marked with a broad arrow within the letter “C” and perhaps “RCAF.”. A scale comparison of a Canadian M&P and well-worn British Enfield No.2 MkI.Both chamber.38/200Late in 1941, the Lend-Lease Program took over the allied revolver contracts. These were the same as the British contract, but now marked “US Property” before being shipped off as aid to Britain and other allies.
The chambering remained in.38 S&W. Few of these revolvers remained in the U.S. And those that did seem to have been used for guard duty.When the U.S. Entered the war in 1941 it had only partially built up its military forces, due in part to prioritizing arms shipments to allied nations during the lead up.
While the manufacturing base was huge and growing larger, much of this had been dedicated to serving the allies and many manufacturers were already near or at capacity.Back in 1940, the U.S. Navy was expanding fast and had placed orders for thousands of S&W Model 1905s with lanyard rings.
While these are not exactly Victories, they are nearly identical and from the same production line. These revolvers were marked on the backstrap with “U.S.N.C.P.C.” and were issued to free up M1911A1 pistols for front line use (keeping just one pistol cartridge on the battlefield).
By 1942 the U.S. Navy would acquire more than 85,000 S&W revolvers. Interestingly, they would eventually be favored by air crew in both the Navy and Army with units even surrendering their 1911A1 pistols for Victory revolvers.With the Navy, Army, allies, and others clamoring for S&W M&P revolvers, the situation was beginning to unwind. Prioritization was first-come, first-serve and the various inspections, or lack-thereof, weren’t ensuring good quality.
In 1942 the Army asked for, and received, control of all available revolver production in the U.S. During 1943 all Army, Navy, and Lend-Lease revolvers were brought into the same pattern, with the same inspection process.
From here on out we see the standardization of the “Victory” pattern, with a grey parkerized finish and four inch barrel (although a small number of two inch barrels were produced and appear to have mostly gone to the OSS). The top straps were marked “U.S. Property,” same as the Lend-Lease. An easy way to tell these apart is whether or not they are marked with a British Crown of BNP or a US flaming bomb near the hammer. Some common M&P markingsAnother player in the revolver market was the Defense Supply Corporation, which procured.38 caliber revolvers for non-military government agencies (police, defense plants, etc).
DSC contracted directly with S&W and then distributed accordingly. When production was taken over by the army, the DSC still behaved relatively independently, as the Army kept their acquisition requests separate.
DSC revolvers usually do not display the “U.S. Property” mark, although due to some loans of equipment back and forth, anything might be found in small numbers.With the Army fully involved the S&W M&P revolver hit the 1,000,000 serial mark. Generally this is solved by instituting a letter prefix, beginning with “A”. But as a nod to the war effort, a “V” was assigned, for Victory. This gave the M&P, as used by the U.S.
And allies, its nickname. Victory production continued until about roughly serial V770,000, when an additional improved hammer block was added in response to a memo from the Navy complaining of an accidental discharge from a dropped gun. Revolvers after the improvement have an “S” somewhere in front of the “V,” on the other side of the lanyard ring from the main serial (the position changed around a bit).The bulk of Victory revolvers seem to have gone through the Navy, to be issued to Marines and Coast Guard.
The Army issued theirs to the Air Corp. The OSS acquired the same revolvers through both the Army and the Navy, arming their personnel with the.38 Special and, apparently, providing.38 S&W versions to allied forces in the field. The Victories in all branches served on after the war and many saw a re-arsenal program beginning in 1945. Additional two inch barrels were assembled for air crew especially (though still rare to encounter). These were still noted in use as late as the Vietnam War.Post-war use of the Victory was not limited to the U.S. Many were issued to police forces in Japan and Germany and may display regional police or government markings.
These should be addressed and researched on a case-by-case basis as they are numerous. Post-war Austrian police markingThe S&W K-Frame revolvers are a solid frame, swing out cylinder, 6-shot series of handguns. The military variations include 2,4,5, and 6” barrel lengths, all “military” versions are square-butted with a lanyard ring fitted near center. To load the S&W K-Frame press forward on the thumbpiece set on the left side of the frame. This releases the cylinder, which will swing down to the left.
Load six cartridges and close the cylinder back into the frame. The revolver may be fired single or double action.In double action a pull of the trigger initiates a clockwork process. Several operations occur simultaneously when the trigger is pulled rearward:. A projection on the front of the trigger assembly pushes down on and rocks the cylinder stop, disengaging it from the cylinder (allowing it to be spun).
A sort of piston, known as the “ hand,” and set with two pins into the trigger, is lifted. A small lever inside the trigger ( hand lever), powered by a spring, keeps pressure on one of the two pins, keeping the hand tilted forward.
As the hand is lifted its tip bears against notches cut in the ejector assembly in the cylinder, rotating it throughout the trigger pull. A projection at the rear of the trigger assembly lifts up on the spring-loaded hammer nose (a hinged “finger at the front of the hammer assembly). As the trigger projection slips off the nose, another projection just below has engaged and is still moving against another lower projection on the hammer (sorry, look at the animation, these are complicated shapes). At a certain point, the projection at the front of the trigger slips out of the cylinder stop, allowing it to spring upwards against the cylinder. As the cylinder is rotated by the hand, the cylinder stop is now dragging along its circumference. As the next notch cut into the cylinder comes around, the cylinder stop clicks firmly into place and halts rotation.
This aligns the next chamber with the barrel. EARLY HAMMER BLOCK: (Not pictured in animation) By now the hand’s motion has also pressed down on a flat spring set in the side plate, which is the hammer block. This flat spring has a notch that, when released, sits between the hammer and interior wall of the frame, keeping it from contacting a cartridge unintentionally. LATE HAMMER BLOCK: (Not pictured in animation) A rebound slide assembly sits behind the trigger, and is compressed by a pin on the rear of the trigger throughout its pull. Improved hammer block K-Frames have a pin on this rebound slide that engages an almost key-shaped block with an oblong window cut in its body. Movement rearward causes the block to bear against the side plate and fall out of the way of the hammer.
Original and Improved hammer blocksOnce all the cartridges are spent there is no automatic extraction. Instead the operator must swing out the cylinder and press the extractor rod passing through the cylinder. This forces the extractor assembly partially out of the cylinder, pulling the spent casings and throwing them from the action.Hearty, reliable, and plentiful, these M&P revolvers are still common on the surplus market. A word of warning, however, many of the.38 S&W chambered British contract handguns found their way back to the U.S. Importers converted quite a few with simple re-boring of the cylinders and barrel swaps. Be a little wary of any M&P with British crown markings and an unmarked.38 Special barrel. A great many fake 2” barrels exist as well.
The easiest tell is that the fakes generally don’t have the barrel lug set in front of the extractor rod. Original 2” barrels have a shorter (often annoying) extractor rod designed to sit behind a traditional lug, just like the 4” or 5” barrels.I’ve had the pleasure of shooting both the.38 S&W and.38 Special and they were definitely different. The milder cartridge made follow up easy and the heavy revolver meant little perceived recoil. The.38 Special was the original partner to the K-Frame, so the gun still functions fine and accurately, but tries to rock the wrist a bit more. However, it does provide a much improved punch and the ammunition is much easier to find. These simple revolvers are often still trading inexpensively and display a rather broad variety of markings for a single model. Definitely a good collectible.
After a little more research, I can answer most of my own questions-The “GHD” stamp (following the “U S PROPERTY” stamp on the Top-Strap) is an acceptance mark consisting of the initials of the Ordnance Officer (Guy H. Drewry)-The “P” stamp, on the left side near the hammer, is a proof mark denoting that the gun was delivered under an Army contract.-The “S” stamp on the right side-plate is identical to the “S” stamp added to the serial number, denoting that it has the improved hammer-block.The only numbers I cannot find any info on are the matching numbers found on the crane and on the frame where the crane closes. I can only assume that the cranes were made specific to each gun and the numbers allow them to be paired.I found that there are (5) places where the Serial Number is stamped: The grips, barrel, cylinder, extractor-star, and the butt of the frame ( I was pleased to find that mine all matched). Andrew, read the discussion about the hammer block changes above. The key shaped stamped metal block was implemented on later Victory models. Someone more knowledgeable on the subject than me can please feel free to correct me. The side plate is different on the early models not just in the hammer block, but also the location of the hammer pin hole to mate with the pin in the frame.
Therefore, a Model 10 side plate cannot be installed on an earlier model frame because of interference in the pin hole/pin fit. Also, the 5-screw model side plate does not have the spur on the top peak and has a bit of a counter bore for the side plate screw at the top. The other difference I am aware of is the cylinder stop. Model 10 type cylinder stops have a counter bore for the stop spring.
Earlier models do not and you can see in the animation above that the spring plunger bears on the flat surface of the stop. Model 10 K frames do not have the screw in the trigger guard for the stop spring. Someone mentioned above in the comments about filling in the hole and polishing the surface flat to make a 10 model stop work in an older gun. They are identical otherwise so that would work if you can’t find an older model stop.
I have a victory that has the V prefix, it is a 4″, with “Us Property” on the left side of the top strap with 3 letters that I can’t make out. The serial number is in the high 600,000. The action is “like butta” As far as fit and finish go, It has been nickel plated at some time in the past. Wanted a parkerized one, but have not found one yet.
The marking of cal. Should be for.38/200 for Britain and.38 Special on US guns.
The rounds are not compatible, as the.38/200 is a.361 bullet and will not chamber in.38 Spec unless forced.The.38/200 Brit will not chamber into a.38 spec as the case is too long. Can anyone tell me if the nickel plate is a military sub species of finishes, or just a civilian abomination. I have the same model at the bottom of grips next to serial # marks W.B and then a a lil symbol of some sort to me looks like a 3 or w and then the “p”but under the “made in u.s.a” i have FTR/ M1 (or could be a faded A) continuing with the number 54 next to itAlso to the right uper side of “U.S.A” then it has a D an arrow pointing upwards fallowed by another D all carved in. Under the T on “FTR” is an “L” and under the “L” is an Arrow pointing up and under the arrow is a 19 to the right of the 19 is another arrow pointing up.
Can anyone help understand what these marking mean please? Hi Jose,Your pistol is Australian issued in WW2 and rebuilt in the 1950’s.D arrow D stands for Defence DepartmentL over arrow over number an inspection stampFTR stands for Factory Through RepairMA stands for the Lithgow Small Arms Factory54 is 1954So your pistol has Australian WW2 inspection and ownership markings.It then has markings to signify that it was repair/rebuilt for further use in the 1950’s.The following link is for No1 MkIII rifle markings, but they are the same on your pistol file:///C:/Users/Kevin/Downloads/fs001smlemarkings.pdfHope this helps.
If anybody has a Victory model which has been to Britain in WWII as a.38-200, then returned to the US for rechambering to.38 Special, I’d like to know if the original extractor pin length is enough to completely eject the longer.38 Spl cases (1.2 vs 0.8 inch). This has historical interest as this is the model (with modification) in possession of Lee Harvey Oswald after he was arrested Nov. 22, 1963 for the murder of office JD Tippit in Dallas, 40 minutes before (and 80 minutes after the murder of president JFK).Several eyewitnesses observed the assassin unloading the gun, perhaps with some difficulty (rather than instantly) as he fled the scene, and 4 empty shells were found. But unloading should be easy if the original extractor works for.38 Specials. If would be interesting if it’s harder than normal, only pushing cases partway out, in these rechambered Victory pistols.