wood P38 grips.

[robert]

For your viewing pleasure here's some pics of a set of rare wartime factory P38 grips that are made of wood.

[robert]

more pics

As you can see they are very similar to the late war PP wood grips with a beveled edge.

[Barry G]

they are classy. Much nicer than plastic. Never saw before.

[martin08]

Are these for the HP (commercial) model?

Also the top rear inside of the right grip looks to have some crude extra inletting, could it have been intended to be installed on a gun with a horse-shoe sear?

[james m]

Are these for the HP (commercial) model?

Also the top rear inside of the right grip looks to have some crude extra inletting, could it have been intended to be installed on a gun with a horse-shoe sear?

The only ones I've ever seen with wood grips were commercial examples.
Jim

[james m]

Are these for the HP (commercial) model?

Also the top rear inside of the right grip looks to have some crude extra inletting, could it have been intended to be installed on a gun with a horse-shoe sear?

The only ones I've ever seen with wood grips were commercial examples.
Jim

[herd118]

The only ones I've ever seen with wood grips were commercial examples.
Jim

And the commercial wood grips look nothing like these. I've never seen any wartime variant like these in any reference.
The Walther wartime PP wood grips were pressed checkering and banner, these appear to be machine cut checkering.
Is there some documentation that shows these to be anything other than something made post-war?

[robert]

I had another pair, identical these posted here now, about 10 years ago.

Also, I had a p38 with wood grips that looks original back in the 70s . those grips from back then looked nothing like these, more rounded but did look factory, and assume they were commercial. Very nicely made and probably off an early HP but then on a 43 dated gun. I was just a kid then.

I would assume these are from the time period when they were making up the wood grips for PP and are prototypes, maybe only 50 or 100 sets made for test purposes. Who knows.I guess they didn't work or weren't economical to make and then they then did not go into general production.

[robert]

The ones I had 10 years ago were on a zero series cyq. Everyone that looked at them insisted they were not factory, that they were aftermarket form the 50s or home made etc. The checkering was clearly factory tho and not hand done, even though some people insisted they know someone who could duplicate the checkering. But every single P38 expert and advanced dealer insisted they were not WWII, until one scout from a Texas outfit saw them, knew what they were and grabbed them. They traveled at $1500 as I recall.

About 10 minutes later Warren buxton came running up, very excited and wanting to see the wood grips. alas they were gone, but I described them to him and he knew what they were. Yep, he'd seen a pair 30 years ago and never seen another set. He was chagrinned that he missed them.

they were really interesting grips. Not sure what happened to them and have never seen them in a book, but I believe Randy Thompson could tell you.

[zimmerit]

These are not for a military pistol IMO

[robert]

I would think that these grips were intended as prototypes for testing to see if they could substitute wood for plastic, as they did with the Walther PP. I think whoever designed the PP grips designed these, just these didn't go into mass production and remained at the factory and were thrown on whatever guns, probably zero series AC or CYQs late in the war. I would think there are prototypes of the PP grips out there now but not sure how you would tell if they were worn.

[herd118]

These are not for a military pistol IMO

Agreed. Again, there's no documentation provided that these are not post war.
Post these pics on the P38 forum, they'll give you the same answer.
http://p38forum.com/forums/index.php

[zimmerit]

I would think that these grips were intended as prototypes for testing to see if they could substitute wood for plastic, as they did with the Walther PP. I think whoever designed the PP grips designed these, just these didn't go into mass production and remained at the factory and were thrown on whatever guns, probably zero series AC or CYQs late in the war. I would think there are prototypes of the PP grips out there now but not sure how you would tell if they were worn.

Its possible and I could be dead wrong, but without period documentation I think you will have a tough time convincing anyone of that.

[101combatvet]

Workmanship is German, but they could be post-war. The design has similarities with the Mauser HSc grips.

[martin08]

I agree with the sentiment that there would not be documented wooden grips on a military model. But I'm wondering if the HP commercial is a possibility.

And, as I addressed in my first reply, the grips seem to have inletting which will accommodate the larger prototype horse-shoe sear (1940-1941). Why would post-war grips have this inletting?