SCmarksman
Member
To all S&W buffs:
I’m just back from the gun show. After spending 6 hours looking at every available J and K-frame, I found and ended up purchasing this one. I got it to teach newbies how revolvers work, and to shoot it in our yearly IDPA BUG-matches, but I’m also fascinated by its history.
The revolver appears (to my untrained eye) to be a .38 caliber snub-nosed S&W K-frame, but there are no S&W markings, and instead of S&W grips it wears a set of (imitation stag?) wooden ones marked 130519 on the inside panel. The serial number marked on the butt and cylinder is V31***. It is stamped “15 80 835” inside the yoke. The cylinder is stamped with a crowned BNP behind each cylinder flute and ENGLAND at the rear edge of the cylinder. The underside of the barrel is marked with a crowned BNP and “ .38’’ .767’’ 31/2 tons ” The seller told me that the person he bought it from had brought the gun back from Germany. It locks up as tightly as any S&W I found today, but has a tiny amount of end-shake.
What have I just bought? What do the marks mean? Any ideas when the S&W markings were removed and why? If the "130519" mark is a date (May 13, 1919) would this indicate the removal of S&W marks happened in England because of the DDMMYY (instead of MMDDYY) format? What was the intended caliber?
Finally, it was worth $350 to me, but would it have been worth that to you?
Thanks,
SCmarksman
I’m just back from the gun show. After spending 6 hours looking at every available J and K-frame, I found and ended up purchasing this one. I got it to teach newbies how revolvers work, and to shoot it in our yearly IDPA BUG-matches, but I’m also fascinated by its history.
The revolver appears (to my untrained eye) to be a .38 caliber snub-nosed S&W K-frame, but there are no S&W markings, and instead of S&W grips it wears a set of (imitation stag?) wooden ones marked 130519 on the inside panel. The serial number marked on the butt and cylinder is V31***. It is stamped “15 80 835” inside the yoke. The cylinder is stamped with a crowned BNP behind each cylinder flute and ENGLAND at the rear edge of the cylinder. The underside of the barrel is marked with a crowned BNP and “ .38’’ .767’’ 31/2 tons ” The seller told me that the person he bought it from had brought the gun back from Germany. It locks up as tightly as any S&W I found today, but has a tiny amount of end-shake.
What have I just bought? What do the marks mean? Any ideas when the S&W markings were removed and why? If the "130519" mark is a date (May 13, 1919) would this indicate the removal of S&W marks happened in England because of the DDMMYY (instead of MMDDYY) format? What was the intended caliber?
Finally, it was worth $350 to me, but would it have been worth that to you?
Thanks,
SCmarksman