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Old September 24, 2010, 09:13 AM   #3
carguychris
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Join Date: October 20, 2007
Location: Richardson, TX
Posts: 7,523
Quote:
The first gun is a Smith & Wesson Military & Police, Model 1905, Fourth Change, made in .38 S&W caliber (that is the name of the cartridge) for the British about the time of U.S. entry into WWII... In average good condition, they bring around $600 or so, retail.
Although Jim is otherwise correct, I would like to make a couple of comments on the value estimate.

First, IMHO the value estimate is 20-30% high for a garden-variety British WWII S&W service revolver with export proof marks. These are probably the most commonplace WWII Victory-type firearms because oodles of them were sold as surplus on the American market in the 1950s and 1960s. $600 is more in line with American .38 Special Victories, which are less common.

Second, the value estimate assumes the revolver is all-original. Many of these guns were modified by 1950s & 1960s importers to make them more appealing to US civilian buyers, most of whom were buying the gun as a cheap personal self-defense piece rather than a military collectible. Common modifications include non-original nickel finish, removing the lanyard loop from the butt and plugging the hole, installing cheap plastic faux-mother-of-pearl or faux-stag grips, .38 Special conversions (see above), and cutting the barrel. Most British guns had 5" barrels, although a few early examples had 4" or 6" tubes; if your gun has a 2"-3" barrel, it has almost certainly been cut. Any of these modifications will typically knock the gun's value down to the $100-$150 range.
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