5 screw nickel revolver

[bill boucher]

I am not sure what I have. It has a 5 " barrel 5 screws, fixed sights and a lanyard on the butt. the caliber is written on the right side of the barrel. it says "38 s&w ctg." there is a maltese cross before and after the caliber stamping. the sn# is 966475 on the butt and under the barrel and on the cylinder face. In front of the lanyard are
the letters"wp" followed by a flaming bomb ordinance mark then the letter "p". the left side of the barrel is stamped "SMITH & WESSON" the number on the crane is 10053 with the letter "A" above the numbers. the right hand side of the sideplate is a large S&W logo. made in u.s.a. is stamped under the cylider. the patent dates on top of the barrel are feb 6,06- sept 14, 09 - dec 28, 14. To the left of the sight groove is stamped "UNITED STATES PROPERTY". so what do i have if anything and how old is it and is there any historical value. would the dept of defense have some kind of record where this pistol has been? hate to ask so many questions but i know nothing on this subject thanks in advance -Bill

 

[XavierBreath]

Looks like a nickel plated K-200, (AKA a British Victory Model) to me.

These were lend/lease revolvers shipped to Great Britian before and during WWII.

Any historical value was lost when it was nickel plated.

These were originally chambered in .38 S&W. When they returned to the US, many were converted to .38 special, further lowering their value. The .38 special case is just a smidgen smaller around than the.38 S&W, and case ruptures and bulging were frequent on such conversions.

The grips appear to be original and may be numbered to the gun.

 

[Jim Watson]

Combination of US Property and .38 S&W (parent cartridge of the British .38-200 service round) tells me it was a lend-lease revolver from WW II. Old Fuff has a lot of details on those guns, he should be along shortly.

Nickel plated after being sold surplus. At least they did it right, S&W does not nickel plate hammers and triggers.

I see little chance of tracing its service history and its collector-speculator dollar value is low due to the aftermarket plating.

 

[woad_yurt]

Has it been rechambered to .38 SPL? They did that to a lot of them. Look in the chambers and see if there are two shoulders (has it been throated twice.)

If it's been rechambered, all the better for you. I just recently sold a rechambered one that was a great shooter.

No matter what's been done to it it's probably worth $250 max if it's in nice, nice condition. An original one is worth considerably more.

Is there a "V" in front of the serial number? Pop the cylinder out and look for the serial number on the front of the frame. It's usually covered by the cylinder pin area when the cylinder is in place.

 

[bill boucher]

Thanks everyone for the great replys-this gun has NOT been rechambered- it still shoots the 38 s&w. also the sn# matches in all 3 locations and there is NO "V" prefix- thanks bill

 

[woad_yurt]

bill boucher:
You have a gorgeous oldie there. Do you reload?

 

[bill boucher]

woad yurt=thanks- no I do not reload but i do have several boxes of 38 s&w. did they make victory models w/ no"v"prefix - thanks Bill

 

[Old Fuff]

There is a lot of previous background information on your revolver archived on the forum, and I will try to find some links when I have more time.

Great Britain entered what became World War Two in 1939. They quickly discovered that they didn’t have enough service revolvers for both they’re military and police services, and lacked the capacity to make them. As a consequence they contracted with both Smith & Wesson and Colt to supplement those needs. At the time .38 Webley and Enfield service revolvers used a version of the .38 S&W cartridge loaded with a 200-grain bullet. As a consequence those revolvers that were made specifically for the United Kingdom and her allies in the Commonwealth were called the “model .38-200” at Smith & Wesson.

Prior to December 7, 1941 - when after Pearl Harbor we became involved in the war, The British themselves bought the revolvers, and they contained no U.S. Government stamps or inspection marks. But shortly after March 1941 we started Lend Leasing war material to them, and technically the revolvers were first purchased and inspected by the U.S. Army, even though they had no intention of using them themselves. Later this perspective changed.

Smith & Wesson reached serial number 999,999 on or about April 24, 1942, and couldn’t go any higher because that was as high as the machine that stamped the numbers would go. So they adopted the letter “V” (for victory) as a prefix, and started over at V 1.

Your serial number indicates it was one of the relative few that was made after the Lend Lease program was instituted, but before the “V” serial number series was started.