Yet no matter how well liked these new guns were, the .38 S&W was still primarily found in the small break-open pocket revolvers. With new cartridges like the .357 Magnum being introduced in 1935 along with small semi-automatic pistols like those from Colt, the .38 S&W appeared to be on a short road to obsolescence. Then a savior came from the most unlikely of places, the British Empire.
For the latter part of the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth centuries the British supplied Her Majesty’s soldiers with large-caliber revolvers. After the end of WWI someone in charge of British Ordnance came to the conclusion that a 200-grain bullet in .38 caliber would be just as effective in combat as their tried-and-true 260-grain .455 Webley. So in 1922 the new Enfield No. 2 top break revolver was unveiled and chambered in the British version of the .38 S&W. The British round differed from the American .38 S &W with its heavier 200-grain lead round-nose bullet that was backed with 2.8 grains of “Neonite” powder for a muzzle velocity of 630 fps and a muzzle energy of 175 ft. lbs. The new round was dubbed the .380/200 Cartridge Revolver Mk I. Prior to World War II, however, the British feared that the 200-grain lead bullet of the .380/200 violated the Hague Convention of 1899’s ban on “exploding bullets,” so they replaced them with a 178-grain jacketed round-nose bullet. This new round was called the Cartridge Pistol .380 Mk IIz. The British continued to use the older .380/200 rounds for training purposes, but when World War II broke out both the 200- and 178-grain loads were issued to the troops as ammunition was in short supply.
The outbreak of the war found the British also lacking in handguns, so they quickly turned to the United States for help. This came in the form of the Smith & Wesson Military & Police revolver. The British had originally contracted Smith & Wesson to produce a lightweight 9mm semi-automatic rifle. The gun proved to be unreliable and the idea and the rifles were scrapped. To make up for the money that had been advanced to Smith & Wesson, a deal was struck to provide the British with Military & Police revolvers at the rate of $20 each.
In March, 1940 Smith & Wesson began producing Military & Police revolvers chambered in .38 S&W, and these were so marked on the right side of the barrel. Other than the caliber, these guns were mechanically identical to the .38 Smith & Wesson Special guns that were already being turned out. Soon the entire factory was dedicated to the production of revolvers that were to be shipped to England. By December of 1940, 112,584 Military & Police revolvers chambered in .38 S&W had been manufactured and sent overseas as part of the Lend-Lease program. While these guns have the look of the Smith & Wesson Victory model revolvers with their lanyard rings and plain finish, they lack the V and SV serial number prefixes that did not start until April of 1942 at serial number 1,000,000. These earlier Lend-Lease revolvers were marked with “UNITED STATES PROPERTY” and “U.S. PROPERTY” on the top strap with ordnance markings on the butt.
These two photos show the United States property markings that are found on British Lend Lease revolvers.
Throughout the war, the .38 S&W Military & Police revolvers were used by British, Canadian, New Zealand, and Australian armed forces. Some of the Australian M&Ps were in service long after the war, remaining in use until the 1980s.
Small .38 S&W-chambered revolvers like this one from US Revolver Company were made by the hundreds of thousands
Other countries enjoyed the use of surplus .38 S&W revolvers as well. The Royal Hong Kong and Royal Singaporean Police were both supplied with Webley Mk III and Mk IV .38 S&W revolvers that were not retired until the 1970s. The Ordnance Factory Board of India to this day still manufactures ammunition for surplus .38 S&Ws in the form of the 178-grain .380 Mk IIz cartridge.
After World War II, Smith & Wesson continued production of the .38 S&W Military & Police revolvers and sold them to British Commonwealth countries. The gun was never officially catalogued but did become known as the Model 11 in 1957. Production finally stopped in 1965, and now any post-WWII Military & Police .38 S&W revolvers are desirable collector’s items.
Five-shot group from 15 yards with vintage Military .380 Mk IIz rounds.
Five-shot group from 15 yards with Remington 146-grain lead bullets.
Five-shot group at 15 yards with handloads using 3.1 grains of Unique and 146-grain lead bullets.
Smith & Wesson continued to produce their smaller I-frame Terrier and .38 Regulation Police revolvers (later the Model 32 and Model 33, respectively) in the little cartridge, but with the introduction of the Smith & Wesson Chief’s Special in 1950 and the rival Colt Detective Special both chambered in .38 S&W Special, there was not much interest in the little .38 S&W revolvers anymore. They soldiered on until 1974, when Smith & Wesson made their last .38 S&W handgun.
Yet while the .38 S&W has been on the brink of extinction at one time or another, it just refuses to throw in the towel. This is in no small part due to the sheer multitude of handguns around the world chambered for it. Not counting the more than half million Military & Police revolvers produced for the British, Smith & Wesson made over 1,000,000 handguns of the little pocket variety over a period of 60 years. Then there were the countless thousands of revolvers made by various other companies all over the world. .38 S&W ammunition is still very easy to obtain, with Remington and Winchester both offering loads using the venerable old 146-grain lead bullet that is advertised at 685 fps and has a muzzle energy of 150 ft. lbs. These modern smokeless loads can be safely used in the break-open revolvers as long as the gun itself is in safe working order.
A word to the wise on some of the old .38 S&W pocket revolvers: those from Smith & Wesson were the best quality break-open guns of all that were produced, with the possible exception of the Webleys. The copies of those little S&W handguns range from excellent to barely functional, so if you have an old .38 S&W revolver and are considering shooting it, have it checked by a competent gunsmith first.
More powerful ammunition can also be had for the stronger revolvers like the Smith & Wesson M&Ps and the I-frame revolvers. Fiocchi loads their 145-grain lead bullet at 780 fps, which will work just fine in the swing-out cylinder revolvers but are too hot for the break-open guns. Surplus military ammunition can still be found, and more often than not it is the full metal jacketed .380 Mk IIz.
A word of warning when it comes to shooting .38 S&W ammunition out of guns that are chambered in .38 Special: Don’t even think about it. The .38 Special has a bullet diameter of .358 whereas the .38 S&W’s is .361. Even though a large number of the surplus British M&P revolvers have been rechambered to .38 Special, their bores are oversized and accuracy won’t be the greatest. Some of these guns were not converted properly and can even be dangerous to shoot. Stick to guns that are original .38 S&W guns; you will be happier and safer in the long run.
Recently I decided to take an original .38 S&W Smith & Wesson Military & Police revolver to the range with some factory ammunition as well as some handloads to see what I could make of the old warhorse and the cartridge. This particular Military & Police was part of the first batch of pre-Victory Model revolvers in 1940. It was shipped to the U.S. Government Hartford Ordnance Depot in Springfield, Massachusetts, but somehow ended up here in the states for the duration of the war.
I managed to scrounge up some original military ball ammunition, which was the 178-grain jacketed round-nose .380 Mk IIz loads. Velocity was less than