Another P38

[roughshooter]

Dear Gentlemen,

My latest purchase. Lets see what the experts make of it.

Enjoy !

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[DennyB]

Has it been reblued?

[roughshooter]

A very good question..but no this is totally original. I knew you US collectors would be on the hound trail straight away ! The clue is its 1941 and in the 'H' block.

[Douglas Jr.]

Congratulations!
An early production Walther with matching magazine is something very hard to find these days! The highly polished finish (almost "commercial") was used up til the end of 1941 (if I remember correctly), which make these guns very different from the later ones (with rough finish).

Douglas

[Ostmark]

Hi Mr. Iamaguncollectaaaaa

Its a nice one, my first thought was, its reblued because of the finish.
A friend of mine has also a P38 with that polished finish from a vet.
I alway thought its reblued, but now i think i have to grab it ..

[roughshooter]

Congratulations!
An early production Walther with matching magazine is something very hard to find these days! The highly polished finish (almost "commercial") was used up til the end of 1941 (if I remember correctly), which make these guns very different from the later ones (with rough finish).

Douglas

Dear Douglas Junior,

You were the first to stick his neck out...well spotted !

I had to steal this, so rare in Austria !

Its October 1941 the very last of the commercial Walthers !

Now I have the first and nearly the last, with genuine matching magazine also.

Thank you and enjoy.

[leondes]

Hi Douglas,

The highly polished finish on the Walthers ended in the middle of the "i" block of 1941. So, there are 3 basic variations in 1941. The first two are highly polished, the last has the military finish.

Hi roughshooter,

Here is a link to my "h" block 1941 Walther with the original finish. The big giveaway on the high polish guns is the stamps on the right side of the slide. Look at my example and I think you can see what I mean. The right two stamps were applied after the gun was blued. When I look at a high polish Walther, those stamps are the first thing I look for. If they don't look pretty much like what's on my example, I pass. So, on a refinished high polish, those stamps will usually be totally blued. However, I have seen a few for sale that were reblued and had the stamps redone also.

http://lmd-militaria.com/page160.html

Regards, Leon

[Von Hoth]

wait, you found an paid for an all matching 41 p-38 with matching magazine and you are asking "let's what the experts say"

dude, you ARE THE EXPERT. GOOD FIND>


that gun would be very expensive to buy here.


hardly and p-38's have matching magazines, which is why the early ones are worth money, because they do.

[roughshooter]

Dear Mr Von Hoth,

Thank you for your kind words. I think its always better in this hobby to be humble. Its always just when I think I am getting a reasonable knowledge that I meet somebody that knows more than I ever will !

I must admit I did do some reasearch before I bought this gun and I was lucky to find it. I found out that the super finish ended in the early 'i' block P38's and I just knew I had to have one. I originally looked to America to see if I could find one their but the prices as you say are not cheap. But this stuff is over 60 years old now and nothing is cheap anymore.


I already own a few lugers and although I like them I prefer the P38 as a shooting gun. I have a post war model for the shooting range and PPW. I would never be without it.

My ethos now is always go for quality with firearms and not quantity. I look at what I will enjoy and value for money. Lugers are still cheap in Austria. Nobody except collectors wants them. You can buy a really nice mismatched rebluded shooting Luger for $400. But the good collectors items are in collections and get sold on a telephone call. You rarely see them in the gun shops and if something nice comes into a gun shop the shopkeeper will already have a buyer for it on the other end of the phone.

My tip for the the top now is early P38's. The P38 has long been overlooked in my opinion in favour of the Luger. P38's can still be had for around $600 all matching, again only collectors want them and Austria is so small the market is not like Germany. Compared to a nice interwar Luger or a First world war one an early P38 represents incredable value for money.

Shoot safe and straight,

Regards Craig.