S&W .38 Victory Model Austrian Police

[Elk Man]

Today I picked up at the local Pawn a S&W .38 Victory Model Austrian Police.

I've been doing some research online and this is what I know so far.

Issue Date is approx 1943. The Serial # is in the V500000.

The rail is stamped US PROPERTY GHD.

It has the Osterreich Polizei stamp on the right side above the grips.

All of the serial #'s match, i.e. barrel, butt, cylinder, etc.

The barrel measure 3 1/4 inches from Cylinder to tip. It measure 2.5 inches from tip to what I would call "start of gun" which is if you were to cut off the entire barrel, you'd cut at where the barrel starts to go into the gun before the cylinder.

So I don't know if this is considered a 3 inch or 2 inch?

All of the markings are on my barrel. It has the Smith & Wesson on one side and the 38 S&W CTG on the other.

Anybody have more information for me as to what I have acquired?

Here's some photos of the Barrel.

 

[Elk Man]

**It has the Osterreich Polizei stamp on the right side above the grips.**

The OP stamp is on the left side if I were holding the revolver.

 

[Mike Irwin]

The barrel is measured from the muzzle all the way to the other end of the barrel where it adjoins the cylinder. Don't include the cylinder length in the measurement.

What you're describing is a non-standard barrel length that was created by someone cutting off the barrel.

The telling clues are the front sight and the logo on the barrel.

The front sight for a gun of this period should be a half a circle that rests on a somewhat squarish boss. The sight on your gun appears to be a later sight (or possibly a homemade sight) that has been simply brazed onto the barrel.

The other clue is the Smith & Wesson name on left side of the barrel. This marking is ALWAYS centered. I've heard rumors of non-centered names, but I have yet to see an authentic non-centered name on a factory produced gun.

After World War II Germany and Austria were divided into Occupation Zones by the victorious powers.

All military weapons were confiscated, and the occupying forces armed the German police units with firearms produced in that nation -- S&W revolvers and M1 Carbines in the US zone, Enfield revolvers and Lee Enfield rifles in the British zone, etc.

 

[Elk Man]

Thank you Mike for this detailed information. I had read that most of the sawed off barrels were missing the markings. Do you know what markings were missing? Or did we just get lucky that they didn't saw off as much as others?

Do you know an approximate value for these guns?

Also, we're missing the loop on the butt. Is there a place to purchase one?

 

[Mike Irwin]

Markings would have been Smith & Wesson on the left side of the barrel and the caliber designation on the right side of the barrel.

As a cut-back, value is significantly impacted; unless the barrel is replaced with a proper barrel, it's simply a shooter.

Gun prices are highly regional, but you're probably looking no more than $250 to $300 as a shooter.

With a replaced barrel, you could probably take that up to $500. The Austrian police marking does make it a bit more interesting for collectors.

The lanyard loop can probably be obtained through Gun Parts Corporation.

 

[madcratebuilder]

This Victory may be worth re-barreling. Prices on these has sky rocketed in the past few years. I used to buy Vic's for $100+/-. I see Vic barrels on Gunbroker fairly often. A good Smith can swap it out for a reasonable price. Don't jump on the first barrel you see, wait for a good finish match.

You can make it look like this one fairly easy.