Same Serial Numbers on P-38s

[DennyB]

A friend in the military tried to register his P-38 with the post MPs and they seized the weapon, saying it was stolen in California in 1977.
His is an AC-44
My question is:
With the amount of P-38s manufactured by different makers, what are the chances that there are two P-38s with the same serial number?
A similar thing happened to a friend once who was trading in a Luger in Houston Texas to upgrade to a nicer one when he was informed that his Luger was a stolen weapon.
As it turned out, the weapon that had been reported stolen had the same serial number as his Luger (if I recall correctly, it was a P-38) but the police agency couldn't figure out who was the manufacturer because it only had wartime codes so they simply entered it in the computer as "German 9mm".
It is also possible that any letters in the serial numbers might have been left off.
I advised him to have the MPs get a copy of the original police report from California to see if there are any other identifiers on the weapon that was reported stolen.
Any helpful information would be appreciated.

[phild]

I have heard of these problems before and don't whether to laugh or to cry.

Great example for these idiots who think that it (registration )is all a simple matter of recording a firearm model and serial number.

Of course as you suggested hundreds of the same model of firearm made by and for the Germans during WWII will bear the same serial number IF the letter suffix is not noted by one much less both parties involved in logging/checking it! Even if the letter (if present and readable as is not easy by most Americans on Lugers for instance!!) is understood and noted as part of the serial number.....there will be still be many duplicate examples unless the maker (or code) and year (good luck on the cyq with the year or is it cvq?) as there will be repeats with the SpreeWerke unless the letter is recorded as a prefix or suffix.....wait until we get into the c block of AC 45 and start seeing the factory mis-matched.....which number do I use question

Have fun with this nightmare! The silver lining is that serial numbers with P.38s and Lugers are about 100X less likely to cause confusion than those of G98s and K98ks.

[DennyB]

Thank you very much!
I will pass this along to my friend.

[logictox]

The Germans for the most part used the same serial number sequence for the Walther, the Mauser and the CYQ from Spreewerk. It is very possible to find multiple serial numbers the same. What would vary is the manufacture and the year.

[sszza2]

The Germans for the most part used the same serial number sequence for the Walther, the Mauser and the CYQ from Spreewerk. It is very possible to find multiple serial numbers the same. What would vary is the manufacture and the year.

Yes a 1 in 9999 chance for the same serial number in a given year or manufacturer but only if you disregard letter suffix, or in some cases prefix.