Couple of Strange new guns help please

[Airboss]

ok I bought a model 34-1 S&W today very nice mint 31/2" barrel TT Th stag S&W grips wood grips numbered to the gun and with a .22 WMR cyclinder fitted to the gun nice gun right but ho hum well the frame says M34-1 and the barrel say .22 WMR CTG.what have I got??
While i was picking this gun up i got offered a Victory Model 5"Barrel marked .38CTG. british proofs but the gun had been sleved for .22 8 grove barrel and proofed again British and maked U.S. Property and has a adjustable rear sight miled into the sight grove and a partiage front sight a Parkerized Finish any Ideas

 

[Jim Watson]

Obviously the Kit gun is a parts gun with M51 parts on a 34 frame. Factory or gunsmith shop, I dunno.

The other is a Lend-Lease M&P .38 S&W/.38-200 British that was surplused out and converted to .22 in the 1960s. The ads from Ye Olde Western Scrounger said they were done by Cogswell & Harrison.

 

[Airboss]

M&P

Whats the M&P worth?

 

[Jim K]

Actually it is probably worth less than if it was unaltered. If the gun was actually re-proved in England for .22, it was likely sold there and converted for use there. At one point, when individuals were still allowed to own pistols, there were few outdoor ranges, so people had guns like that converted to .22 so they could fire them indoors.

An unaltered .38 S&W caliber Victory Model can bring up to $400 depending on condition. I would think yours is worth about half that, more as a novelty than as a using gun.

On the Kit Gun, I seem to recall that S&W did chamber some Model 34's for the .22 WMR before they redesignated that caliber as the Model 51. It should be easy enough to determine from the barrel and cylinder serial numbers if the parts are original to the gun. Or a letter to the S&W historian (I forget the cost, but try their web site) should confirm whether it was shipped in the .22 WRM caliber.

Jim