S&W wartime revolver?

[old tanker]

I have its twin, serial number 688554. It has a British style lanyard ring instead of the S&W/Colt type on yours. I thought the small proof in front of the trigger guard on the left side of yours and behind the trigger guard on mine are British military but could be wrong. My guess is they were all prewar purchase prior to Lend lease and used in WW2. There were 110,379 purchased by the British starting around sn. 680000 according to the 39th edition, Blue Book of Gun Values

I also have two of the 5" LL revolvers, one with a Canadian ownership mark and the other an Australian owned revolver that's Parkerized with post WW2 Aussie FTR markings.

I also have one of the five inch Lend-Lease revolvers with post war Australian FTR marks. I've sent off to the S&W Historical Society for a letter on this most recent revolver. Here's picture of the Lend-Lease BSR. It is a pretty good shooter with my 38-200 reloads.

Information

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[old tanker]

Got the letter from the Smith & Wesson historian.

Except for the post war proofs, the revolver is like it left Springfield in May of 1940. As someone surmised earlier, it is one of a shipment that went to South Africa early in the war.

[Brian Dick]

The Australian .38-200 revolver I have is also FTR 1954 if memory serves. Parkerized and in excellent condition. Imported to the USA post 1986. The Canadian revolver is original with lots of finish wear but is still tight and sound.

Nice shooting. Are you using 174 grain cast bullets? These revolvers shoot low with the usual 145 grain American loads.

[old tanker]

The Australian .38-200 revolver I have is also FTR 1954 if memory serves. Parkerized and in excellent condition. Imported to the USA post 1986. The Canadian revolver is original with lots of finish wear but is still tight and sound.

Nice shooting. Are you using 174 grain cast bullets? These revolvers shoot low with the usual 145 grain American loads.

The load used was a bullet cast from an old NEI #169a mould. 2.0 grains of Bullseye approximates the .380 Mk 1 service load, 200 grain bullet at 650 fps. At 25 yards slow fire it groups pretty well, if a tad high.

I quite like the bullet. While designed to duplicate the service slug of the British Empire's 38/200 load, 3.0 grains of Unique gives the same 700 FPS that the old 38 Special 200 grain Super Police loads did. The bullet has more of a secant ogive rather than hemispherical nose of the Lyman 358430. It may be even more likely to yaw. In my opinion, the Brits seemed to have a knack for designing bullets that were nasty or effective, depending on your point of view.

[browningautorifle]

Not to be recommended

Exactly.

the Brits seemed to have a knack for designing bullets that were nasty or effective

The old soft lead bullets obturated nicely and travelling slow didn't lead like we do now days. They flattened out some when hitting too...

[Daan Kemp]

A normal 9x19 will fire in the 38S&W. Not to be recommended but they work.

[Brian Dick]

I had a chinwag with a British WW2 veteran many years ago at an AGCA show in Birmingham, Alabama. He stopped because I had a couple of Enfield revolvers in my glass case for sale at the time. The discussion turned to the relative unpopularity of the cartridge in the USA. He told me that he witnessed many Germans and Italians being shot by soldiers with Enfield No.2 and S&W .38-200 revolvers from North Africa through Italy and Western Europe and he never saw one get up afterwards. You really have to reload and cast the heavier bullets since the prevalent American loading is still the 145-grain RN bullet load.

Jim, I recently caught that film clip you mentioned with RM Goering surrendering his revolver to US forces. It looked like a big Colt New Service in .45 to me. He didn't look happy handing it over either!

[browningautorifle]

Jim, I recently caught that film clip you mentioned with RM Goering surrendering his revolver to US forces. It looked like a big Colt New Service in .45 to me. He didn't look happy handing it over either!

No, very unhappy. I always wondered what happened to that revolver. It was hard to see and even look at if you tried to stop it, thought it was an M&P type frame... I'd still love to handle that revolver.

The point in that story was always that he was a "Gun guy" which I would think would go undisputed. After all he was an aristocrat and the head Jäger for Germany for decades. He wrote hunting laws that still stand...

[green]

Goring's S&W was an M&P (now K frame) 38 Special.
Google goerings guns
It is in the West Point Army Museum

[browningautorifle]

Goring's S&W was an M&P (now K frame) 38 Special.

That's what I thought... West point, OK.