Pre victory 22 conversion.

[firebrick43]

Good friend and I were talking. After much discussion about some pre victory model that were quite rough and chambered in 38 s&w to boot. After concluding that converting to 38 special was unwise financially we both liked converting to 22lr. I have a full machine shop and have lined barrels before.

I am am a ruger fan so my personal k fame is a police service six.
I have worked on a few smiths but am far from an expert.

I will sleeve, line bore, and chamber the cylinder. Cut a new ejector.

Question on is firing pin.

I have researched and found that some lend lease victory's were converted to 22 very similarly to what I am doing by some British firms and reimported back to the states. They apparently used a new or modified hammer mounted firing pin and a slot was cut into the top edge of a new firing pin bushing.
From my understanding of s&w k22 had frame mounted firing pins with a flat hammer. Can a k22 bushing and pin be fitted into a the gun??

[LAGS]

I just installed a .38 Special S&W cylinder with the same ejector in one of my Victory's and it shoots fine with the slightly larger bore.
Plus I still have the old cylinder and can still shoot 38/200 38 S&W's out of it if I want to.
The cylinder cost me a lot less than trying to modify the hammer and getting a new cylinder in 22 to boot, or making some cylinder liners, and sleving the barrel, or finding a 22 barrel.
I originally wanted to convert the Victory to 32 H&R, 32 Long, 32 S&W, 32 ACP combo, but the .32 cylinders and barrels are collector items it seems, and couldnt be found at the time.
But you might look into sleving the barrel and cylinder to .32 and shoot up to .32 long in it.
It would be way easier to stay in a centerfire caliber.

[firebrick43]

He has dozens of victories/pre victories and has some in 38 s&w with 38 special chambers that don't shoot 358 bullets well. He doesn't want to cast/load 360. Then I did suggest 25-20 or a 32 cal next but he doesn't want to load any additional calibers and I agree. I won't buy a gun out of my core calibers anymore either. I have always wanted a model 48(which this conversion will replicate) but the are well out of my reach financially.

Really the the barrel liners are free. After doing some 18-20" barrels you have some 10" of usable liner left, enough for a handgun or two. Also scraps of 4140 make for a nice cylinder sleeves. Of course a new ejector star is going to require some machining but so what, isn't that what a hobby for?

[LAGS]

I have an old Belgian top break 44/40 from the late 1800's that is totally shot and missing pieces.
The barrel was to thin to reline to .44, and the gun is just too big and clunky to make it to a .22
I sleeved the barrel to .38 and am making liners for the cylinders to make it into .38 Long Colt and then I will sell it to one of the Cowboy Shooters .

[Ballistics in Scotland]

How well the .38 S&W will shoot .357 bullets probably depends n how soft they are. If this rather modest pressure expands them to fit the throat, they should be fine. Really hard bullets probably won't. It is a bit of a mystery why this excellent cartridge (for the purposes for which the .38 Special is used) has died. There is very little difference in pressure, unless it is downloaded for safety in the flimsy old top-break pocket revolvers which are still around, and it could have offered a very useful reduction in cylinder length.