Nice guns, I love the little Sauer 38H... have you taken off the grips and checked to see if they are original? When you put the grip screw's back on make sure you don't put them on too tight as these grips are prone to cracking.
No Robert, I haven't. What would I look for to tell if they are original. I believe they are both complete as a frind of mine picked them up from a vet in OKLA. Of course I wasn't there so it's just a story told.
It feels like the grips have been there since it was made.
Both good looking pistols. As a P38 fan I noticed that your's is a byf43 "C" just like mine But 824C makes your's a bit older than my 8688C. Is your's also matching numbers? It looks like it's in good condition also which is nice. Actually it's the first I've seen with a 3 digit serial so thanks for posting
Very nice late war commercial Sauer model H. I've got one just like it, and the serial range is very close too. However, mine is a military proofed example, "eagle/37".
You can tell the late war Sauer Hs' by the lack of the Sauer legand on the slide. It only has "Cal 7.65" on the slide. Also the magazine release button was changes, as was the magazine base and body.
The grips look to be correct, since they are not too shiney. However, I would check them to make sure. Robert is correct though, be careful, since they do have a tendancy to crack easily.
To whom ever was authorized to buy them! The Nazis had very strict gun controll laws (sound familiar? ), so you had to be licensed by the party to purchase a firearms commercially.
Many Generals or officers usually privately purchased thier pistols. Two reason for this are:
1. They could pic out a pistol design that they liked or preferred better than an issued pistol.
2. It also showed a high status symbol if you could afford and were authorized to purchase your own pistol!
I don´t know if you already know that, but yours is a Mauser-made P-38 (code byf). MAuser started to do the P-38 in late 1942 (December?) and assuming that they produced an average of 10.000 per month and considering that they took sometime to reach the full power of their production, an educated guess put yours as made in the first semester of 1943 (April or May?).
Maybe someone else with the Buxton´s books can give more precise date.
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