Victory Model (Post war) markings

[jeff kelland]

Hello all,

Trying to help out a customer in my shop who has a Victory Model with what appears to be post-war agency markings. It has all the standard military markings (US property, GHD, Ord bomb, etc.) as well as original grips, lanyard ring and finish. However on the left side of the frame in all caps is stamped:
DNCD
KLA 5
Laid out just like that, and in a different font and much larger than the factory markings. My question is, can anyone tell me what those markings stand for, or to which agency or company they can be attributed to??

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Jeff

 

[Old Fuff]

Post the serial number on the butt, and include any letter prefix such as "V" or "SV".

The most likely probability is that it was sold to a defense plant or Civil Defense outfit during the war, through the Defense Supply Corp. (DSC) which was a government agency in charge of supplying domestic police and other critical needs.

Then again, almost anyone could have bought it as a war surplus revolver after the war.

 

[rmfnla]

New guns were in short supply after WWI (the big one!) so surplus guns were often put into service.

As Old Fluff intimated, those markings could have been stamped by almost anyone.

 

[jeff kelland]

Serial number is V420***

 

[dfariswheel]

Also, after the war, a great many of these were given to police departments and Civil Defense agencies.

About 15 years or so ago, a batch that were held by the local Civil Defense were sold off. These guns had CD stamps added along with some police department stamps.
Apparently they were given to the CD, then in turn passed on to a police department, each adding their own stamps.

 

[jeff kelland]

That's kind of where I was heading with this one. The "DNCD" being some sort of Civil Defence organization, and then the "KLA 5" either being a control number or some such number for that unit, or a seperate number applied later by another organization. The only hang up on the last option is that the font and stamp size are identical on both seperate stamps. Thanks for the continued info.

 

[Old Fuff]

If your friend is seriously interested he can pay a reasonable $50.00 research fee and Smith & Wesson's historian, Roy Jinks will go back into the (uncomputerized) original records and look up this particular revolver. An official letter will follow detailing what information they have found. Usually that includes the date it was shipped, and to who. It is likely the receiver would be one of the military services or the DSC. However they occasionally made DSC shipments directly to the designated department or company.

Pay you're money, and take your chances.

 

[Oro]

Jeff,

There's very little was to figure these out unless it's something pretty obvious. The only tip I have is that usually, though not always, "CD" means "Corrections Department." How to reconcile that with "DN" I don't propose to make sense out of. A factory letter might satisfy your customers desire to know more about the gun, but it won't offer anything about the later markings.