.38-200 Lease/Loan Revolver

[Matt Almeda]

Hi Gang,
I just did some work on a .38-200 Lease/Loan gun.
Pictures are in the "Projects" section of my website.

http://www.revolverarmorer.com/Projects.html


As I was working on it, I got a little bit curious about the revolver.
I know that these were a .38 caliber 200 grain projectile cartridge but did not know anything else. It does have the U.S. Markings on it and the GHD inspectors mark.

I'm assuming that these guns went to police departments under a police lease program but what else were they used for? Any guesses?

Have a great day!

 

[Deanimator]

Actually, most of those guns went to British and Commonwealth military units as part of Lend-Lease. They couldn't make enough Enfield or Webley revolvers to fill their needs. They were [often?] US marked, as they were provided ostensibly via the US Government, not the manufacturer directly.

Many came back after the war. I believe that few of the .38-200 guns went to police departments, since by that time .38 Special was almost universal.

.38-200 is merely a variant of the .38 S&W cartridge with a heavier bullet. Neither is interchangeable with the .38 Special.

Back in the early '80s, I had a .38-200 Lend Lease gun. It was one of the nicest revolvers I've ever owned.

 

[OPOEFC]

The only Police Depts that these Victory Model LendLease revolvers went to were the civilian German Police units in Allied occupied Germany after WW2. You find them with stampings on the frames like "Bavarian Rural Police, Osteriech Railway Police, etc." These stampings are in English so that Allied troops would know the guns were authorized by the Occupation authorities. They were all in .38S&W calier (38/200) , however many of them were poorly converted to .38 Special by reaming the cylinders to accept the longer .38Special cartridge, after they were later sold as surplus. This resulted in poor accuracy and split cases as the .38Spec. is a small diameter round than the .38S&W. Victory models sold to US Police Depts through the Defense Supply Commission, in WW2 are not marked "US Property" and are .38 Special caliber with 4 inch barrels. Lendlease guns had 5 inch barrels.

 

[Old Fuff]

Some domestic police departments, and many defense plant guards were armed with S&W .38-200 revolvers, supplied through the Defense Supply Corporation. They have "U.S. Property" or "United States Property" stamps on the topstrap - for the simple reason that all frames were so marked before they were bulit up into revolvers. One exception was some (but not all) of the guns that were supplied to the O.S.S. After the British and their Commonwealth the "spooks" were the single largest buyer of .38-200 revolvers during the war.

The history of the .38-200 is an interesting one. It literally saved Smith & Wesson from bankruptcy in 1940.

Use the forum's search feature (found in the green bar at the top of the page) and the key word 38-200 any you will find a lot of information, both historical and otherwise.