Smith & Wesson Victory Model

The Smith & Wesson Victory Model was born from yet another request by the U.S. Military (during war time) to supplement their issued sidearms with quickly tooled up civilian handguns. From 1940 - 1942 , before the United States entered WWII, the company sold Smith & Wesson Military & Police revolvers (parkerized and chambered for .38 S&W or 38/200) to both British and British Commonwealth forces (e.g. Australia, Canada, New Zealand). Beginning in 1942, Smith & Wesson placed a "V" in the serial number prefix for "Victory" against the Axis powers and renamed the M&P the Victory Model. When their own supplies of M1911 pistols were stretched, the U.S. Army adopted the Smith & Wesson Victory Model for their own troops. 
The failure of the Smith & Wesson Light Rifle M1940 put Smith & Wesson in a difficult situation. The company had been advanced $1,000,000 from the British (approximately $21,000,000 in 2022) and the British wanted the money refunded, but S&W had spent it developing the rifle as well as on other expenses. The company offered the British the equivalent of one million dollars' worth of revolvers instead. Desperate for handguns the British readily accepted and the result was the Smith & Wesson Victory Model in 38/200 caliber. Author Charles Pate in his seminal work U.S. Handguns of World War II writes that S&W produced the 38/200 M&P exclusively from March 1940 to February 1941 when the factory's production capacity was expanded, and the company was able to return to manufacturing 38 Special revolvers as well. 
The revolver was given plain wooden grips, a parkerized 'gray' finish, and was chambered for .38 Special. It never replaced the M1911 as the primary side arm of frontline units, but it saw plenty of service as the handgun of secondary or support units. It also saw use with civilian users such as defense plant guards and U.S. Postal Police. It was especially popular with aviators and military dog handlers. Regulations prohibited carry of the M1911 pistol with a live round in the chamber, but one can't drop a dog's leash or fly an aircraft hands-free while one cycles the slide to load a cartridge. Army helicopter pilots continued to use the Victory model until the early 1960s. 
After the war, Victory models were given to the German police forces when they were reconstructed during the Allied occupation of Germany. Occasionally, Victory models with "Bavarian Rural Police" and "Bavarian Municipal Police" will surface on the collector market. There is even a (unconfirmed) report that U.S. National Park Service rangers were still being issued Victory models as late as the late 1980s. There are reports that that the British continued to use the revolvers into the 1960s and the Australians into the 1980s. 
==Specifications==
(1942 - 1945)
* Type: Revolver
* Caliber: .38 S&W, .38 Special
* Barrel length(s): 2 in (5.1 cm), 4 in (10.2 cm), 5 in (12.7 cm), 6 in (15.2 cm)
* Capacity: 6-round cylinder
* Fire Modes: SA/DA
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===Film===
|-
|They Were Expendable|| Russell Simpson || 'Dad' Knowland || ||1945
|-
| Restless Youth (Trevozhnaya molodost) || Yuri Lavrov || Zenon Pecheritsa || || 1955
|-
| Pavel Korchagin || Vasiliy Lanovoy || Pavel Korchagin || || 1956
|-
|rowspan=2|Operation Amsterdam|| Tony Britton || Maj. Dillon || rowspan=2| || rowspan=2|1959
|-
| || Dutch officers
|-
|rowspan=2|Treasure of Silver Lake|| Herbert Lom || Cornel Brinkley || rowspan=2| ||rowspan=2|1962
|-
| || Bandits
|-
| rowspan=6|The Puzzle of the Red Orchid (Das Rätsel der roten Orchidee) || Christopher Lee || Captain Allerman || rowspan=6| || rowspan=6|1962
|-
| Adrian Hoven || Inspector Weston
|-
| Pinkas Braun || Edwin Tanner
|-
| Eddi Arent || Parker
|-
| Edgar Wenzel || Babyface
|-
| || Scotland Yard plainclothes detectives, gangsters
|-
| rowspan=2|Dr. Mabuse vs. Scotland Yard || Walter Rilla || Professor Pohland || rowspan=2| || rowspan=2|1963
|-
| Klaus Kinski || Inspector Joe Wright
|-
| Lemonade Joe || Oldrich Lukes || Sheriff || || 1964
|-
| None But the Brave || Clint Walker || Capt. Dennis Bourke || || 1965
|-
| rowspan=5|The Sons of Great Bear (Die Söhne der großen Bärin) || Jirí Vrstála || Fred "Red Fox" Clark || rowspan=5| || rowspan=5|1966
|-
| Rolf Römer || Tobias
|-
| Hans Hardt-Hardtloff || Maj. Smith
|-
| Rolf Ripperger || Jok
|-
| || Mercenaries and settlers
|-
| rowspan=2|Nevada Smith || Steve McQueen || Max Sand/Nevada Smith || Anachronistic || rowspan=2|1966
|-
| Pat Hingle || Big Foot || Seen only in holster; Anachronistic
|-
| How I Won the War || Michael Crawford || Lt. Earnest Goodbody|| || 1967
|-
|Sorrel Flower (Fleur d'oseille) || Amidou || Francis || || 1967
|-
| rowspan=2|Let Them Rest || Lou Castel || "Requiescant" || rowspan=2| || rowspan=2|1967
|-
| Attilio Severini || The stagecoach driver
|-
|rowspan=4|The Southern Star|| George Segal || Dan Rockland || rowspan=4| ||rowspan=4|1968
|-
| Michel Constantin || Jose
|-
| Sylvain Levignac || Louis
|-
| Guy Delorme || Michael
|-
|rowspan=2|With Clean Hands (Cu mainile curate) || Sergiu Nicolaescu || Tudor Miclovan || rowspan=2| || rowspan=2|1972
|-
| || Romanian police
|-
| The Godfather || Richard Bright || Al Neri || ||1972
|-
| rowspan=3|The Grand Duel || Lee Van Cleef || Sheriff Clayton || rowspan=3| Anachronistic || rowspan=3|1972
|-
| Alberto Dentice || Philipp Wermeer
|-
| Sergio Sagnotti || Bounty hunter
|-
| rowspan=3|The Last Cartridge (Ultimul cartus) || Ilarion Ciobanu || Mihai Roman || rowspan=3| || rowspan=3|1973
|-
| Jean Constantin || Floacă
|-
| || Criminals 
|-
|rowspan=2|A Police Commissioner Accuses (Un comisar acuza) || Sergiu Nicolaescu || Tudor Moldovan || rowspan=2| || rowspan=2|1974
|-
| || Iron Guard legionnaires
|-
|rowspan=4|Borsalino and Co.||Alain Delon||Roch Siffredi|| rowspan=4| ||rowspan=4|1974
|-
| Adolfo Lastretti||Luciano
|-
| Lionel Vitrant||Fernand
|-
| ||Siffredi and Volpone henchmen
|-
| Street People (Gli esecutori) || || A mobster || || 1976
|-
|Revenge (Revansa) || Sergiu Nicolaescu || Tudor Moldovan || || 1978
|-
|The Duel (Duelul) || Sergiu Nicolaescu || Tudor Moldovan || || 1981
|-
|Harry and the Hendersons||||homeowner||snub-nose conversion||1987
|-
| The Commander || || Duclaud's henchman || || 1988
|-
| Killer's Wedge (Sposob ubiystva) || Aleksandr Milyutin || Det. Meyer Meyer || || 1993
|-
| Female Agents || || Maquisards || || 2008
|-
| rowspan=3|Day of the Falcon (Or noir)|| Tahar Rahim || Prince Auda || rowspan=3| || rowspan=3|2011
|-
| Riz Ahmed || Ali
|-
| || Nasib's officers, Auda´s men
|-
| rowspan="2"|Hotel Lux || Valery Grishko || Josef Stalin|| || rowspan="2"| 2011
|-
| Jürgen Vogel || Siggi Meyer || 
|-
| A Dark Truth || Devon Bostick || Renaldo || || 2012
|-
| Killing Kennedy||Will Rothhaar||Lee Harvey Oswald||snub-nose||2013
|-
| Old Henry || Max Arciniega || Stilwell || || 2021
|-
|}
===Television===
|-
| Born by Revolution: Assault (Rozhdyonnaya revolyutsiey: Napadenie) || Evgeniy Zharikov || Nikolay Kondratyev || || 1974
|-
| Born by Revolution: On Fire (Rozhdyonnaya revolyutsiey: V ogne) || Evgeniy Zharikov || Nikolay Kondratyev || || 1974
|-
| Born by Revolution: We Will Help You (Rozhdyonnaya revolyutsiey: My pomozhem tebe) || Evgeniy Zharikov || Nikolay Kondratyev || || 1975
|-
|Baa Baa Black Sheep||Jeff McKay ||Lt. Don French ||Mother of Pearl K-Frame Grips ||1976 - 1978
|-
| rowspan=2|Bergerac || Derek Farr || Laurence Mitchell || "Portrait of Yesterday" (S01E06) || rowspan=2|1981
|-
| Terence Alexander || Charlie Hungerford || "Last Chance for a Loser" (S01E07)
|-
| Bergerac || Jolyon Baker || DC Barry Goddard || "The Last Interview" (S04E01) || 1985
|-
| Wounded Stones (Ranenyye kamni) || Stepan Starchikov || Anton || || 1988
|-
| Around the World in 80 Days || || A British Army officer || || 1989
|-
|Agatha Christie's Miss Marple || Neal Swettenham || Edgar Lawson || "They Do It with Mirrors" || 1991
|-
|Mail Call|| || || ||2002 - 2009
|-
| King Solomon's Mines || Morne Visser || Petre || || 2004
|-
| Midsomer Murders || James Richard Marshall || Young Peter Fossett || "Death in the Slow Lane" (S14E1) || 2010
|-
| Boardwalk Empire || Jack Huston || Richard Harrow || ||2010-Present
|-
| Lewis || Mark Aiken || Donald Voss || "The Gift of Promise" (S05E04) || 2011
|-
|Supernatural - Season 6|| Peter Ciuffa || H.P. Lovecraft || "Let It Bleed" (S06E21) ||2011
|-
|Supernatural - Season 7|| Nicholas Lea || Eliot Ness || "Time After Time" (S07E12) ||2012
|-
| Peaky Blinders - Season 2 || || various characters || anachronistic ||2014
|-
| Father Brown - Season 5 || Benjamin Fisher || Raymond Worrall || "The Eagle and the Daw" (S05E06) || 2017
|-
| rowspan=3|Eldorado KaDeWe || Joel Basman || Harry Jandorf || Ep. 01 and 06 || rowspan=3| 2021
|-
| Martin Bruchmann || Harry's Friend || Ep. 06
|-
| || A German soldier || Ep. 01
|-
|}
===Video Games===
|-
| Driver: Parallel Lines || || || || 2006
|}
=See Also=
* Smith & Wesson - A list of all firearms manufactured by Smith & Wesson.
Category:Gun
Category:Revolver