Mauser P-38 WWII Outfit

[DocB]

Actually a much better gun than the Luger in most regards. I kept one as my personal handgun from 1972-1995. This one is a 1943 Vet bring back from Middle Georgia that I picked up about 5 years ago. I got to missing the one I sold off in 1995. . .$550 seemed like a terrible price to me at the time. Now they are all $1200 and up. I can't figure out why. When I grabbed up this gun, I told them I didn't want the holster. They insisted that I take it. I was having a stupid day. I'm glad they forced me to take it. The gun is mint. It is apparent that Mauser didn't like being forced to produce the P-38. The exterior of the barrel is like a very fine screw. There are also machine marks here and there. Basically an unfired and unused gun that the GI picked up and carried around for his duration in the War. You can see how the soldiers stored their collections of war artifacts. They cut the straps off the back of the holster, poked holes in the leather, and kept all the medals and pins they had picked up with holster. The Nazi markings are still visible on the back of the holster, but just barely. The medals and pins wore down the markings over time during the War. I didn't get those with the gun, but have a ton of them anyway. There was a Walther sitting next to this one when I bought it, but I passed for lack of money. Now I wish I had bought it too.

 

[PALADIN85020]

Nice specimen! The P.38 pistol was a real milestone in handgun development - more modern production techniques including the use of stampings, and the double action mechanism. I've had two; the first bought from a pawn shop when I was on active duty in the Army. I traded that off some time ago. Here is the one I currently own - in decent shape and still working fine. I do have a 1943-dated German military holster for it.

John

 

[DWalt]

I have a superb condition byf 44 P-38 and what I believe is its original soft leather flap holster with a little damage, mainly worn stitching. I retired it from shooting about 10 years ago when it was evident that prices on good examples were heading North. Last one I saw at a gun show a week ago was tagged at $1100, in less-than-average condition and with no holster. A far cry from the days that you could buy all of them you wanted for $25 each.

 

[DocB]

Just looking on EBAY and the holsters are $300 and up while the magazines are $200 and up. . .and they actually sell for that. Things have sure changed in the 5 years since I bought this one. Who would have thought.

 

[OLDSTER]

Beautiful, and right up there with the greatest semi-autos of all time

 

[STCM(SW)]

Only P 38. My wife wanted it for some reason.

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She has not shot it, just sits in the safe.....

 

[apotter11]

P-38

Mine is handed down from the WW2 warrior, my father. I also have his original war trophy documentation.

Al

 

[moddler]

I also have a nice p38 that was a bring back and I periodically check gun values and I am not seeing many or any that are bringing in $1200. Please inform me as to where these pistols are selling for this price.

Thanks

 

[Jessie]

Nice! I always liked that model. It didn't seem to be as popular as the Luger, probably because it wasn't as exotic, but it was more so in function.
Wasn't it about the first da/sa made?

 

[toofartogo]

The Beretta 92 is a straight up copy of the P-38 w/different
sheet metal.

 

[DocB]

Yeah. The Smith M39 was basically a remake of the P-38 with that double action/single action transition. Websites consistently show the nice ones in the $1200 range. . .that's a fixed price. I doubt auction sites have gotten that high yet. The P-38's are not all the same. Some argument regarding the Walther or Mauser as being the most desirable. I prefer the Walther by just a tad. The Spreworks (sp) is the trashy one and priced way below the others. It's functionally fine and a good gun. Just an Eastern European thing.

 

[PALADIN85020]

Nice! I always liked that model. It didn't seem to be as popular as the Luger, probably because it wasn't as exotic, but it was more so in function.
Wasn't it about the first da/sa made?

The first, arguably, was the Knoble pistol of 1905. The Walther PP, which was invented in 1928, was the first commercially viable DA/SA, and came on the market in 1929. Fritz Walther, son of the deceased founder of the firm, headed the design team. The P.38 used the same trigger mechanism, but was locked-breech with a falling locking block. The Beretta Model 92 (U.S. M9 service pistol) copied that locking system.

John

 

[k22fan]

[...] Wasn't it about the first da/sa made?

The Walther PP came out before the P-38. No earlier DA/SAs pop up in my memory.

P-38s were the bad guy's gun in about a zillion Hollywood films. Their commonly recognized distinctive shape and association with the evil guy with the mustache made them perfect for the role.

DocB picked up a great historical artifact.

 

[Andrew2105]

I was told that the decocking function of the safety is not as trustworthy as those on newer pistols. I've never had a problem. Is this another fable making the rounds?

 

[italiansport]

I have several of these ranging from early WW II up through the aluminium examples issued to the German services into the 1970s. I still shoot the late examples but I've retired the early ones. Curiously enough; the first one i ever handled was about the last one I acquired. My uncle brought a Walther example back and I remember him showing it to me when I was a lad. When no one in his immediate family wanted it he presented it to me before he died. I still have it of course complete with the capture paper and this is one pistol that will stay in the family.
Jim

 

[Cyrano]

I was told that the decocking function of the safety is not as trustworthy as those on newer pistols. I've never had a problem. Is this another fable making the rounds?

I know that when Austria was rearmed with them after WW II they modified the safety. Apparentl the wartime ones had a porblem, whether with design, metallurgy on late guns or machining shortcuts, I don't know.

 

[Andyd]

I had a bunch of wartime P.38s from Walther, Mauser, and Spreewerke and none of them shot as well as a good post-war P 1, so I sold them all and kept just the P1. On the other hand I kept two Mauser made P.08s that are outstanding shooters.

In the West German military the P1 wasn't very popular and while I found some guns with very good accuracy, other well-worn specimens lacked accuracy. I always found them not working great in fast shooting strings.

This comes from my oberservation of having served in a Panzergrenadier unit and we shot a whole lot more than combat support units and spent a lot of time at the firing range, day and night time. I was usually sighting the P1s in and have shot a lot of them, probably over 100 different ones.

 

[PALADIN85020]

I was told that the decocking function of the safety is not as trustworthy as those on newer pistols. I've never had a problem. Is this another fable making the rounds?

Not a fable at all. Slave labor was used in making the late war P.38s, and sabotage was a fact. The metallurgy in the safety had to be just right, or it could crystallize with use. Be particularly leery of those dated 1945, and have a qualified gunsmith check the gun in question very thoroughly for safety.

I have had personal experience with this phenomenon. Quite a number of years ago I bought a 1945-dated P.38. In my back yard, I applied the safety, inserted a magazine loaded with 1 round, pointed the gun at the ground and jacked a round into the chamber. As you may know, the P.38 safety drops the hammer, which falls on the interposing round portion of the safety. If this is not intact, it goes BOOM. It went BOOM. Had there been more than one round loaded, that baby would have gone full automatic.

I returned the gun to the previous owner as defective, and told him I wanted a P.38, not an MP.38!

This fact needs to be more widely known - a word to the wise.

John

 

[jeeps]

The Japanese Nambu had the safety problem not the P-38!