I would like to have one of the "victory" models myself. Were they the ones chambered in 38 S&W?
Yes and no.
The .38-200 model, which was nothing more nor less then a regular .38 Military & Police revolver with a standard 5" barrel (other lengths were also supplied), chambered in .38 S&W - which the British had adopted as their standard military handgun round. It was loaded with a 200 grain bullet, hence the name .38-200.
In Europe World War Two started in the Fall of 1939, and England was soon making deals to buy arms from U.S. makers. Smith & Wesson, who were for all practical purpose flat broke, accepted a contract to design and build a 9mm carbine, and to do this received a one million dollar advance payment.
Unfortunately while they made outstanding revolvers they knew little about semi-automatic carbines and what they came up with flopped. When the customer ask the company for their money back S&W found themselves between a rock and a hard place. Revolvers they had, but no money.
Great Britain was no better off, as Hitler was knocking at the door, so they quickly accepted a proposal from Smith & Wesson to pay off the past due bill with guns rather then cash, and the S&W .38-200 M&P revolver was born.
Between 1899 and 1942, some one million .38 M&P revolvers were made. By far the most common chambering was .38 Special. The .38-200 was in second place, although it was never cataloged for sale in the United States. Third in rankings was the .32 WCF (.32-20), and after that .22 Long Rifle. A handful were in .32 S&W Long.
When we entered the War after Pearl Harbor in December 1941 Smith & Wesson exclusively made K-frame revolvers. They were all serial numbered in the same series, and made either in .38 Special (to fill U.S. contracts) or .38 S&W (to fill contracts from the U.K and Commonwealth countries.)
Although it is is little known a substantial number of .38-200 revolvers were diverted and sent to arm domestic law enforcement departments and guards at defense plants in this country.
As time passes and more of the background history is discovered they have been attracting increasing interest by collectors Back in 1955 I thought that $17.00 was an outrageous price for such a clunker. Boy, did I blow that one!