AC-41 P-38 rig pics

[sneakerd]

Here for your enjoyment are some pix of a really nice early P-38 rig. Completely legitimate, but paperless, so I won't waste your time with the story. The P-38 is "a" pefix ac41. The mags are both numbered Walthers, but not matching. 1 is #ed 7918g, the other is an ac42 mag, #ed 1894a. The holster is a jba dated 1941, the belt buckle is tabbed and marked "J.C. Mandicke" over 1941 over Berlin in concentric ovals. The tab on the belt looks like "CHOSTEPHAN" over 1941 over ??? Also inside concentric ovals. It really talks to you when you hold it!

[sneakerd]

Pic2

[sneakerd]

Pic3

[sneakerd]

Pic4

[sneakerd]

The rig has no damage or tears or holes, the pistol has no pitting, only finish wear. The bore is dark but strong. I have put about 100 rounds thru it, supremely accurate, like most P-38s I've fired. A real talker, not like the minty put-together rigs.

[sneakerd]

This is a cool pic.

[roughshooter]

Hi There,

Yours has the that great 'been their' look. A loverly field used example. Go on tell us the story !

Regards Craig.

[sneakerd]

According to the old gent I bought this rig from, thru his son, he was a sergeant in the 2nd Armored. Somewhere in France, after a fight, everyone was walking around picking up souvenirs. He walked up on a burned-out German tank behind a hedgerow, saw a crewman hanging out of the hatch. He was wearing this rig, his son said. He reached up, tugged at the buckle and the rig dropped off in his hands.

[roughshooter]

Absolute magic and ! personally think its a totally believable story...not a black uniformed SS Officer in sight. I would believe it.

Even so, story or no story its still a great rig.

Sell it ! Please do ! But only from your cold dead hands....

[sneakerd]

I appreciate your comments! Sometimes I get a little tired of the doubters. Like you said, no SS officers in sight!!

[sneakerd]

Funny thing is, most all of these WW2 Nazi pistols, other than the imports, have one of these stories to tell. It's just that very, very few were ever told. Many GIs pawned their captured stuff after the war, sold it or dumped it years later. One of my P38s is a capture gun brought back by my father-in-law, who was a communications officer for Gen'l Mark Clark. I learned after I was given it by my mother-in-law, after his death, that he had boxes more stuff, flags daggers, etc. When I asked to see the stuff, she said that she had given most of it (all of it) to the guys she paid to clean out her attic. I was speechless. ad infinitum.

[sneakerd]

Just one more. My father was a S/Sgt in the 30th Inf Div, the Germans called that division "Roosevelt's SS". He told me that he took a Luger, a pair of German binoculars and a helmet on board the troopship when he left Europe in '46. All were stolen while on board.

[Matt Weber]

I love this P38 rig! It shows use, but not abuse. I like that. In my opinion much better than those minty looking rigs.

Nice find!
Matt

[stahlhelm47]

Love the rig and the story
Pete

[sneakerd]

I have a couple more if people are interested.