Date a S&W?

[Clickjack]

My brother inherited an Old S&W .38 my grandfather had. My grandfather (life long military and former MP) said it was an MP gun. And that it was a 38 long that had been converted to a 38 special by the military at some point.

On the butt it says V on the left of the screw hole. And on the left of the screw hole it says 567794
On the left side of the gun it says “converted by Cogswell & Harrison LTD London”

Anything you can tell me about it I’d appreciate it

[sfe187]

Victory Model 1940-1945.

[Black Majik]

Yep, sounds like a Victory model .38 S&W that was converted to .38 Special. Pretty common. The conversion was commercially done, though.

[ojisan]

https://www.gunblast.com/Cumpston_SW-MP.htm

With a V pre-fix your gun could be a Victory model, produced in .38 S&W and .38 Special.
The .38 S&W chambered version was primarily for the British, they reworked the loading and called it a 38/200 (200 grain lead bullet).
The round was later modified again to a 178 grain jacketed bullet.
The .38 Special version was primarily for US use.

Note that the .38S&W round is shorter in length but larger in case diameter that a .38 Special.
Many revolvers and parts in .38 S&W - 38/200 were returned to the US after WW2 under the Lend Lease program....what was returned di not have to be paid for.
These guns were snapped up by surplus dealers for sale to the US civilian market.
However, US customers much preferred the .38 Special chambered guns, so many of these .38 S&Ws had their chambers bored out lengthwise to accept the longer .38 Special cartridge.
The problem with doing this is that the back half of the chamber, being larger than the .38 Special case, left the rear half of the .38 Special case unsupported and case swelling, cracking and sticky extraction resulted.
Many will advise that these rechambered guns should not be fired including S&W.
Standard pressure rounds can be used by I would limit the use of them.

So the reason I mention all this is that while there were some early M&P Hand Ejectors that were chambered in .38 Long Colt for the US military that may have been rechambered for the .38 Special, the English connection and the V serial number prefix makes me think that your gun was a WW2 Victory model originally chambered in .38 S&W for the British.

More:

http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-hand-ejectors-1896-1961/287974-pre-victory-victory-model-timeline.html

[hambam105]

Is it true that those old obsolete military revolvers marked with a 'V' meant that the bullets would go faster with these guns?