wood P38 grips.

[robert]

previous grips

Hi, I found the pictures of the grips i had in 2011. Here are some JPGs.

I think if each of these sets fo grips were made by gunsmiths they would show had work and also it would be an incredible coincidence that two gunsmith would make the same grip design.

It these are postwar, then who would have made something this complicated back in the 50s or 60s (these both have a good bit of age on them) and only two have show up after all these years. With something this complicated i would think they would have had to run of hundreds or thousands of grips to make it worthwhile. Also if this postwar manufacturer made p38 grips this perfect rendered and this complicated, i would thing they would have made other grips for other guns?

[robert]

more pics

also these grips are of the same distinct format, design and "gestalt" as the WOOD walther PP grips which we all accept as wartime. (Don't know if there is factory documentation or records on those?)

Both the PP and P38 wood grips show a distinct flat surface and peculiarly beveled edge that I've seen on no other wood grips out there. I would assume they were both designed at the same time by the same source.

My guess is that the WOOD PP grips went into production and were placed on numerous pistols, the P38 grips were not and probably sat in the factory until late in the war and the few they had would up on late guns?

When were they designed? Probably both PP and P38 grips at the same time but could have been in 1940 or 41 and then not put into production until 1943 or 44? And then only the PP grips, as the P38 were probably too complicated.

An engineer could look at a pp and a p38 and see that while the PP would be somewhat easy, a P38 grip that worked would be a monumental undertaking, while a military director would not see how complicated the P38 would be and order it made.

also I believe there are some WOOD prototype PPK grips out there too.

I'm told that some of the early PP marked PPKs have wood grips, though my PP marked PPK (which is, I think, the earliest one known) does not have wood grips tho probably replaced with the brown plastic grips.

Just my thought, what do you think?

[robert]

also the grips are raw wood (like the WOOD PP grips), with no shellac or wood finish and if a post war after market grip manufacturer or a wood craftsman made these, I would think that they would have been rather proud of them and probably not left them raw but polished them up with a finish to make them look nice.

to me these look like they were made from a die, and die stamped just like the WOOD PP grips or the WOOD P35 Vis Radom grips. Tho when i had the first set and was assuming that these were machine produced, some gun experts I showed them to, insisted they "knew wood grip makers that could imitate the quality of checkering" on these.

I did show them to a couple of old woodworking grip guys (at SOS / NAT GUN DAY) and they said they could tell they were definitely machine checked - and they thought a real good guy could get close but not that perfect by hand and it would cost a fortune to do even that.


anyone know of a fine grip maker in the 50s or 60s that made other grips like these?

[herd118]

"anyone know of a fine grip maker in the 50s or 60s that made other grips like these?"

The flat checkering and border look like the Italian grips that Sile imported in the 60's and 70's. These are not war time grips.
If you need further verification that these are post war, please post your pics to http://p38forum.com/forums/index.php

[robert]

sile grips

thanks for the input herd. I'll keep an eye out for those.

I googled sile wood grips and didn't see anything like it in all the images that showed up. do you, or any other members have any pictures you could post of these flat grips from the 50s, 60s?
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I've been to and set up at hundreds and hundreds of gun shows since the 70s and have never seen anything close to these, - manufactured or hand crafted - in all this years. Of course I have them in hand and can see them in person.

[robert]

sile grips

This is all i found in a google search, and these don't look even close.

these are rounded and have a fine wood finish to them. not raw wood.

[herd118]

I took the liberty of posting these pics to the P38 Forum, and they also indicate these grips are post war.
http://p38forum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38327