[AngelDeville]

realistically $350-450

great pistol/cartrige if you hand load

 

[USMM guy]

They were altered mostly to make them easier to sell as the .38 Special was a more popular cartridge by that time. The fact that is sometimes split the brass was of no concern. Mail order outfit's like Klein's of Chicago sold them by mail Indeed it was a former British service revolver so re chambered with the barrel shortened that was used by Lee Harvey Oswald to shoot Dallas police officer J.D. Tippet. Note the lack of the front lug supporting the ejector rod typical of a Smith & Wesson revolver indicating the crudely chopped barrel.

Swedish Mausers for 30 bucks, Sporterized Springfields 03s for forty bucks, Wow!

 

[magazineman]

My Colt 1917 revolver is a 1950's era "hack job" -------- converted to .357 via a barrel & cylinder swap. And I don't mind!

 

[old tanker]

Swedish Mausers for 30 bucks, Sporterized Springfields 03s for forty bucks, Wow!

Did you miss the Webley shaved to shoot .45 ACP for 14.95? or the irony of an Enfield No. 2 revolver for the same money as an Rohm 22?

 

[USMM guy]

Did you miss the Webley shaved to shoot .45 ACP for 14.95? or the irony of an Enfield No. 2 revolver for the same money as an Rohm 22?

Yep back when you could get a Hershey bar for a nickel.

 

[mlin]

]

Don't look at the prices for US NAVY marked Victory Models. As a former US Navy Aircrewman myself, I always thought I should have one. I haven't seen a half-decent one under a grand in over a decade.

That is on my watchlist and never saw a bargain on US Navy marked Victory.

I do have a later Victory delivered to Navy, but by that time S&W marked them with US Property GHD inspected marks only.

 

[Michael W Cuber]

Hence the title “Curio”long before these items became “Highly Collectible”—shot a lot of sporterized Springfields, Mausers, and Enfields, back when they were Garden Variety Relics, but times have changed!

 

[Chance-dg]

I remember the ads and the era. It was a great time to grow up!!!

 

[magazineman]

One of my rifles is a Swiss Schmidt Rubin straight-pull. It was bought from Golden State Arms in Hollywood, back in the 1950's . They sold them "Sporterized" and re-chambered to .308. It's actually a pretty good rifle. I believe that they were under $30 at the time.

Conversions & sporterization is okay by me. Heck, my most recent car has been Converted and Sporterized too!

 

[martin08]

Pre-Victory

Victory

 

[fkienast]

You can use the proper shell holder and 9mm Luger dies to reload it.
I'm thinking $400 is a pretty good price for a Victory model in 38 S&W. Quite a bit more for the S&W British Service Revolver which preceeded the Victory model.
I think they'll handle a lot stouter charge than what you normally see listed for a .38 S&W. Nominally they have a .361 bore, but I'm not really sure that they are. I have a belief that the bores are closer to .357 but I can't justify that.

 

[Sweetvictor]

Pre-Victory

Victory

Beautiful

 

[Sweetvictor]

I'm just watching and reading all of the knowledge going on here. I love to learn, and you guys are making this pretty easy with simple, educated conversation. Thanks guys!

 

[Sweetvictor]

I went out today with a friend while he purchased a gun and did a little fishing. I asked a dealer what would he pay for a victory 38 Smith & Wesson all original, he told me 280 bucks. I just laughed.

 

[old tanker]

Remember that the British stuffed a 200 grain bullet into their 38 S&W chambers.


Here's my British Service Revolver. The "UNITED STATES PROPERTY" stamp on the top strap indicates it was a Lend-Lease gun. At some point it was in Australia, as it went through FTR at Lithgow in 1954. An NEI #169a bullet over 2.0 grains of Bullseye, duplicates the service load, 200 grain bullet at 650 fps. At 25 yards slow fire it groups pretty well, if a tad high.

The British seemed to have a knack for designing bullets that yawed quickly when they hit. I suspect that one of those would equal the old time, and reputedly effective, Super Police loads.

With a stash of brass from Starline, I'll not feel any urge to convert butcher this old warhorse to .38 Long Colt made longer like Bubba did in the Fifties.

 

[Sweetvictor]

I have the US PROPERTY GHD there but nothing else anywhere

 

[Sweetvictor]

That's a pretty tight pattern

 

[martin08]

I went out today with a friend while he purchased a gun and did a little fishing. I asked a dealer what would he pay for a victory 38 Smith & Wesson all original, he told me 280 bucks. I just laughed.

That is actually a pretty standard dealer wholesale offer for the Victory in 38-200. They buy low, and hopefully sell higher to keep the lights on.

 

[AngelDeville]

slug the bore, they are much larger than the .357 and .355 bullets readily available.

a true .38 calibre

 

[magazineman]

My Victory was very poorly plated & had fake stag grips installed. The nickel on the working surfaces has mostly rubbed away. It's a mess. So bad that I've considered spraying a black matte finish over the whole thing to look sorta as-issued. Plus adding some decent used grips, of course.