UBB.threads Forums General Militaria Historic and Period Firearms Forum Show us your TR era P-38 pistols

If you have a P38 from the TR era, Lets see it !

Here is mine

means I have to dig my camera out.....
any french markings on the slide ,ect. ?
I like it a lot ,I got this weird thing for late war items.
will post mine soon.
jeff

I do not believe there are any French Markings. A few Waffen marks but that is all.

I bought this 40 years ago at a pawn shop outside Ft Knox. they had a second one that was rough metal on the outside. I regret to this day not buying that. I assume this pistol was taken from the factory by some GI along with the other one. Truly late war production or produced from parts. 100% matching serial numbers and clear Nazi markings.

Shoots good.

Jim,
You showed your good taste by picking this one over the one with, I assume you mean, metal grips? The ac45 code was changed to svw45 in the "c" through mid "f" block with about 15k being manufactured. They were finished in all blue, all phosphate (as yours looks to be) and a combination of blue & phosphate. The metal gripped svw's were put together after the French occupied the Mauser plant and don't command nearly the collector price of the German ones like yours. Nice catch!
p.s. All svw45 pistols I have seen have black grips. I'm not sure, but think your grips may be incorrect. You might want to look for a replacement set.
p.s.s. Here are a couple pics of my svw45 blued/phosphate combo #1867f. Note the blued barrel, take-down lever and safety.

Here is another late P.38 - this one is a Spreewerke "cvq" #9477z made in February, 1945. Notice also the late war style hammer.

Gentleman,
All these pistols are beautiful. I've been collecting pistols for about 30 years but quit a while back. I would like to eventually buy a P-38 and a Luger to go with my dagger collection. In the condition of these beauties shown, what would one expect to pay for one of these on average? Very nice pictures.

Thank you
Rich

Great pistols.

I am trying to shake loose a P-38 from a family member so this is why I asked the question.

Stay tuned.

Dave

It's a poor quality picture, but most of my firearms are put away in storage and aren't handy for photographs. Here's two byf 44's and a 1944 cyq.

Here's a P.38 I sold a few years ago. I bought this in 1981 from a veteran who stated he took it from the Walther factory. It has a dural frame and no proofs or serial numbers anywhere but the barrel, which was #6114c. He also said it had these grips on it, but I suspect they are post war home-made. Also notice that it has no lanyard loop, although the frame had the holes punched for one. I sort of regret selling this unique piece, but it paid for an Alaskan cruise for my wife & I.

Hare is my ac41 2nd variation, manufactured in September 1941. At this point, the Walther guys were still doing a pretty nice finishing job on their pistols.

Here is an ac43 "single-line" variation. Walther switched from the "stacked" code/date to "single-line" in the mid "L" block through late "N" block. Earlier 1943 dated pistols used the stacked code/date on the slide. Consequently, only about 20,000 "single-line" pistols were manufactured in 1943. This particular pistol was made in November/December.
From this point forward, Walther used the "single-line code/date until war's end.

I got this pistol from the late Bill Stump in a long-winded 1977 trade deal also involving a Knight's Cross and a duv43 coded G41. Ahhhh, sweet memories of an OLD collector! ME!

Here is a matching ac45 from this 1st series run - #5805. There were under 40,000 made before the Walther plant was occupied by American soldiers. Serials ran through to the "d" block. Matching guns will be found up through the early "c" block with most of the later guns being unfinished pistols with scrambled serial numbers that were put together for the souvenir hunting GI's.

Last one for a while....
This is a Mauser byf44, #2956r. Standard 1944 all-blue variation. In 1944, there were approximately 91,000 Mauser P.38's produced. The serial number of this pistol indicates March/April 1944 manufacture.

here's my AC 44, late mags, fake holster.

other side same AC44.

ac44 ,close up on the markings.
jeff

my byf 44 ,again late mags, original holster the the gun.

same , other side.

close up of the same. note no #s on this side.

And just LOST the other side photo with the # , ect.
Technology is good , when it works.
jeff

Hi Jeff,
What is the serial number of your byf44 - and where is it located? Thanks for showing your nice stuff!

Denny took a ton of photos in one day , up loaded them and "one" missing.......
this came from a vets family to another guy( a want a be dealer) , then to me.
No numbers on this p-38 anywhere, except a small hand stamped set on the right side slide, along with 3 initials ,a waffen amt ,& "firing proof style" eagle.
# 13,0xx ; no letter.
jeff

OK guys this is my one and only, and it came with a story to boot, imagine that . Is it true? I didn't care at the time. It's a mis-match, but I wanted a P38 because Lugers were out of my reach on my budget at the time. Oddly the slide and the frame have the same letter suffix. I bought it in the mid-80's, and how it got that way I don't know. I'm the third US owner of it.
I've been thinking I would like to add a new one, maybe a 480 code or a nice matching 40 or 41, with one matched clip.
Regards, Steve.