British Ordnance Collectors Network
This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
Revolver Part ID Please
- Thread starter Weasel
- Start date
What Jim said. The S&W M&P revolver in the various 38 cal. cartridges was used by virtually every Allied country during WW2. More than a million of them were made. Yours was very likely de-milled (cut to pieces) after the war and the parts somehow ended up where you found them.
Here's one that I have.
Ray
Here's one that I have.
Ray
Last edited:
Slick
Well-Known Member
For the full story: http://www.coolgunsite.com/pistols/victory_model_smith_and_wesson.htm
I am not an expert in revolvers and handguns but I have had to handle a Webley long enough to wonder how can you tell on these parts that it's from a Smith and Wesson and not from a Webley.
The Webley was the standard issue service pistol for the armed forces of the United Kingdom, the British Empire, and the Commonwealth from 1887 until 1963, so frequency argument is in favor of the Webley. The Webley Mk IV .38/200 was the standard post 1914 issue, externally almost identical to the Webley .455 ww1 issue.
The second most frequent revolver in the UK in ww2 was the RSAF Enfield No. 2....which was a copy of the .38 Webley!!!! (the whole legal story of the development and production RSAF enfield is a crazy one - totally impossible nowadays).
If the parts were collected in the UK, all the probability is towards one of these 2 models, not the Smith and Wesson, an US made model, that, to the best of my knowledge was never a British Army issue.
The Webley was the standard issue service pistol for the armed forces of the United Kingdom, the British Empire, and the Commonwealth from 1887 until 1963, so frequency argument is in favor of the Webley. The Webley Mk IV .38/200 was the standard post 1914 issue, externally almost identical to the Webley .455 ww1 issue.
The second most frequent revolver in the UK in ww2 was the RSAF Enfield No. 2....which was a copy of the .38 Webley!!!! (the whole legal story of the development and production RSAF enfield is a crazy one - totally impossible nowadays).
If the parts were collected in the UK, all the probability is towards one of these 2 models, not the Smith and Wesson, an US made model, that, to the best of my knowledge was never a British Army issue.
Last edited:
Slick
Well-Known Member
S&W 
Webley 
A most apparent ID point is the "action". S&W has a swing out cylinder. The Webley is of the top break design with attendant hinge forward and below the cylinder. The conjecture, for me, is that area of the remains. The frame in the trigger guard area and grip cutout are a similar match.
To quote the previously mentioned article: "38/200 British Service Revolver (S&W Caliber) - There were over 571,629 of these models produced between October 1941 and May 1945 for the British Common wealth countries. These countries include the Union of South Africa (21,347), Canada (45,328), and Australia (8,000). The remaining 384,100 shipped between 1941 and the end of World War II were supplied by the U.S. Army Ordnance through the lend lease program to Britain for distribution."
"Victory model 38 Special – 352,000 shipped to the Army and Navy. Some of these were shipped to a commission responsible for supplying the civilian industries. They will usually have no property marks. Uses included guarding factories, ports, and federal/local government agencies."
352,000 + 384,100 examples - Not an uncommon sidearm in the UK.
Webley A most apparent ID point is the "action". S&W has a swing out cylinder. The Webley is of the top break design with attendant hinge forward and below the cylinder. The conjecture, for me, is that area of the remains. The frame in the trigger guard area and grip cutout are a similar match.
To quote the previously mentioned article: "38/200 British Service Revolver (S&W Caliber) - There were over 571,629 of these models produced between October 1941 and May 1945 for the British Common wealth countries. These countries include the Union of South Africa (21,347), Canada (45,328), and Australia (8,000). The remaining 384,100 shipped between 1941 and the end of World War II were supplied by the U.S. Army Ordnance through the lend lease program to Britain for distribution."
"Victory model 38 Special – 352,000 shipped to the Army and Navy. Some of these were shipped to a commission responsible for supplying the civilian industries. They will usually have no property marks. Uses included guarding factories, ports, and federal/local government agencies."
352,000 + 384,100 examples - Not an uncommon sidearm in the UK.
Last edited:
peregrinvs
Well-Known Member
You might want to lose the cylinder. They're a licensable firearm component and rusty + seized up is not the same thing as deactivated.