[jesterforever]

Heres my conundrum. I have come into possesion of a heavily modified smith and wesson model 10 victory. here are some pics.

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i80/harlequin1982/gun1.jpg

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i80/harlequin1982/serialwithv.jpg

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i80/harlequin1982/englandstamp.jpg

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i80/harlequin1982/swstampbarrel.jpg

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i80/harlequin1982/usastamp.jpg

The gun has belonged to my grandfather for at least 20-30 years, and he is far too infirm to describe to me exactly where and when he obtained it. From the pictures you can safely surmise that this is in fact a model 10 V and it is from the 40s era, but has indeed been heavily modified since the lanyard loop has been removed and filled in, and the finish has been reworked from blued to chrome. Also it appears to have had the chambers bored out to fit the more common and popular .38 special round (which is all i have ever fired through it) instead of the .38 S&W, which was in fact much shorter as I am quite sure you well know.
The gun technically belongs to my grandmother, who is still quite fully in control of all of her facilities, and she put forth the proposition to me to trade this piece for a more modernized, smaller framed, similar caliber, and lighter weight piece since she owns 15 rental properties most of which are in a bad section of greenville, sc. She in turn collects rent from these properties, and, being a 25 year old Iraq War Veteran who is now disabled I cannot make these ventres with her for the most part.
Since I went to a gun show in Spartanburg SC and found out exactly what the England stamps and crown stamps meant exactly I would say that it is quite possible that it could have belonged to someone of stature in England, and maybe the value of it has increased therein.
My grandfather was a residential and commercial painter for 40+ years after his stint in the navy in the mid to late 50s. Obviously retired now, he has not ever been to my knowledge a modifier of weaponry although you could call him a casual enthusiast and small time collector in his early years. (He doesnt know how to modify guns in this matter, and frankly wouldn't care to have it blued or chrome, lanyard loop or not) so I can quite safely assume that the modifications to this particular piece occuered before he came into possession of it and quite possibly done in England while it was there.
What i need to do is to run the serial number if possible (V-398208) and see if i can find out who in England was the proud owner and possible modifier of this piece, how it came to be back in the states. In fact my grandmother has just informed me that he aquired the piece around 1968, but doesnt know where he got it. He found it quite enjoyable to trade guns and whatnot.
If you could help me with this situation please post your answer for me here. I am currently a resident of Greenville SC.

[jesterforever]

PS sorry for the poor quality pics, i can describe each marking fully if needed.

Smith & Wesson Left Side Barrel
Made In Usa Right Side Above Trigger
V 398208 Bottom Of Handgrip
398208 Inside Cylinder
England Side of Cylinder
Crown Insignia On Every Chamber Outside On Cylinder
Trade Mark w/ Coat of Arms Reg.Us.Pat.Off between Cylinder and Handgrip Right Side

[Brian Williams]

The best way to find where it was originally sent is to get a letter directly from S&W. It will cost you $30 and a few week wait.

[Jim Watson]

Smith & Wesson sent a zillion Victory Model S&W .38-200s (.38 S&W with 200 gr lead or 178 gr jacketed bullet) to England after they could not make the Smith & Wesson Light Rifle amount to much and England needed them to supplement Enfields, Webleys and Inglis sidearms. The crown marks are British proof marks required for any firearm made or imported there.

After WW II, England demobilized and surplused nearly all their revolvers, staying with the Inglis Canadian made Browning High Powers as their service pistol. Many of the S&Ws, Webleys, and Enfields were sold here at low prices. The S&Ws were often rechambered to the more popular .38 Special and still sold for much less than a new or even US surplus revolver. The Webley and Enfield cylinders were too short for that, so they were cheaper still.

In addition to rechambering, removal of the military lanyard loop, nickel or chrome plating, and plastic "stag" grips as illustrated were fairly common upgrades to enhance their sale in the Colonies. I must tell you, I have seen a number of guns just like this over the years and do not think there is any indication it belonged to anyone of stature in England. I should be surprised if there remained any record at all of its issue.

That Grandma remembers Grandpa got it in 1968 is significant. That was the last year a private American Citizen could have bought a firearm by mailorder. The Gun Control Act of 1968 put a stop to that at the end of that year. Surplus sales dropped off drastically for many years until the current program of sales of leftover Nazi and Communist weapons under Curio and Relic status started the fad back to army surplus.

[Old Fuff]

The following links to past threads may help. We have a lot of archived threads on the S&W .38-200 revolver.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=318641&highlight=.38+S%26W

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=313504&highlight=.38+S%26W

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=295850&highlight=.38+S%26W

[Jim K]

The combination of "Model 10" and "Victory Model" is not really correct since S&W did not use model numbers until 1957-1958. During WWII, the gun was known as the Military and Police model; technically, the term "Victory Model" applies only to those guns with a "V" or "VS" serial number prefix. The "V" was used when the serial numbers went over 999,999 and S&W had only a 6 digit numbering machine. The "V" was put on separately from the number but was considered part of the number.

Those guns were not imported with plating or stag grips, though most of the rechambering and barrel cutting (to a 2" barrel) was done in England. Whoever did the plating and changed grips cut the value of the gun from perhaps several hundred dollars to about $150. You can try selling it privately (if that is legally OK in your state) or try to trade it on a more modern gun if that is what is wanted.

Jim

[jesterforever]

I didnt think so but hey you can hope eh? Just bought a Mossberg Maverick with ACOG and a CZ 70 .32 auto. Thanks for the input guys and I am glad I joined this forum.