Lend lease pistols part 1

During World War II after the Dunkirk evacuation the British military was in dire straits for weapons that were lost.

There was a shortage of revolvers. Smith & Wesson was contracted to provide replacement handguns for England. Due to the urgent need there was no time for Smith & Wesson to design a new revolver so the M&P pistol was used. This weapon was designed to shoot the 38 special and with some minor modifications  implemented to convert this handgun to the British caliber .38/200.

The initial orders for this handgun were for South Africa but the British military staff in Washington DC diverted it to the United Kingdom.

Originally the Smith & Wesson M&P model came in four, five and 6 inch length barrels, with checkered would grips and commercial bluing. Due to the demands for faster and more economical production Smith & Wesson changed to a plane wood grip, 5 inch barrel and a phosphated finish.

The pistol were talking about today is one of the standard ones that were made.

There were 586,200 Smith & Wesson M&P  pistols produced. This is one of the of the 8000 pistols that Australia received.

You could see that it’s marked United States property which is part of the lend lease package to the United Kingdom.

Looking at this photograph you can seal the stampings that indicated it was used by Australia.

You can see the broad arrow stamp on the bottom of the frame.

For more information on Smith & Wesson victory models please look at the following books:

https://www.amazon.com/U-S-Handguns-World-War-II/dp/0917218752/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472402174&sr=8-1&keywords=U.S.+handguns+of+WW2

https://www.amazon.com/Timothy-Mullin-K-Frame-Revolver-Phenomenon/dp/B00RWQZEZ6/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1472402271&sr=1-2&keywords=The+K+frame+revolver

Or go to the webpage.

http://forums.gunboards.com/