Well, I was having so much fun with Lugers, that I thought I'd better get a P.38 before the prices went into orbit. They have actually climbed quite a bit in the last couple of years, and while I didn't really want another P.38 (I had had three previously), I figured that my collection wouldn't really be complete without one.
Actually, the desire to get another P.38 was what started my latest binge of German pistol collecting. It was almost two years ago when I noticed former West German Polizei P1/P38 pistols were being imported for about $250 or less! I figured that for that price, I should have another P-38.
I looked around, and I thought a bit, and pretty soon, those pristine German Police P38's just didn't seem worth the money when I could get a WW2 P38 for just a little bit more, and that might actually appreciate in value. So I started searching.
Two years later I finally found the right one: decent shape, AC (Walther) marked, all matching serial numbers, with my preferred black grips, and in my second preferred year of production (The AC43 I really wanted seems to already command a much higher price), for a price I was willing to pay! Not perfect, but very close, and it cost about the same as my "shooter" grade Luger, so "Hurray" for that!
Interesting levels of oxidation showed up under the camera's flash that are totally invisible to the naked eye.
Left side markings. Some "freckling" apparent under the light, but not bad.
Right side views showing the Nazi proof marks which make a $300 pistol worth over twice that.
History.
That's what the price buys. Pure, unadulterated history.
Evil, tragic history to be sure, but a history best not forgotten.
Where did this one serve? And who carried it? What fate befell them? And how did it get here?
The top looks ok, but the grip strap and trigger guard are showing their age. Very common wear areas of these and all pistols.
The P.38 was adopted by the Nazi Wehrmacht just before the war. It proved itself as a capable weapon on every front, and in every branch of the German armed forces during the Second World War. It is a testimony to its design that after the war, its production was continued in France on captured machinery, and, when West Germany was again allowed to bear arms, it was the P.38 that was again adopted as the new Democracies side arm. With a few modifications, the pistol saw service as the P.38, the P.1 (aluminum frame), the P.4 (shortened barrel), and the P.5 (numerous changes and shorter barrel). Production in one form or another as well as service with the Bundeswehr and Polizei units continued well into the 1990's. A fine service history which does little to allay the pistols sinister Nazi origins.
I was very happy to have this one in my collection.
