Appraisal of P38

[stache]

I own a P38 Luger brought back from World War II and I would like to
know how much this item is worth. I will give a brief description. It
is
in very good condition, serial #5528, on the right side markings are
P.38, AC over 43, 5528f on the receiver. On the frame, 5528fm. On the
left side markings are, M, in the middle a swastika and an M next to
it.
Clip has P38 on it. Grips are brown plastic.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

 

[swampsniper]

I own a P38 Luger brought back from World War II and I would like to
know how much this item is worth. I will give a brief description. It
is
in very good condition, serial #5528, on the right side markings are
P.38, AC over 43, 5528f on the receiver. On the frame, 5528fm. On the
left side markings are, M, in the middle a swastika and an M next to
it.
Clip has P38 on it. Grips are brown plastic.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

The P-38 is not a Luger, it is a Walther design. They are not bad guns in good shape, but I've seem them discharge and go full auto. I don't recall which part is prone to fail, been 40 years since I was around one.

 

[dfariswheel]

I'm not an expert on the markings of the P-38, but here's some info on yours.

As above it's a P-38 pistol, not a Luger. The Luger is a totally different gun.

The slide markings of "P-38" "AC" and 5528 f mean:
This is a German military P-38 pistol.

It was made by Walther, who from the early war to the end was assigned the code "AC".
This was designed to disguise from the Allies just which factory had made the gun.

"43" indicates the year made, 1943.

The serial number is 5528 f. NOTE that the small case "f" is PART of the serial number and is very important.

The grips are made of brown Bakelite.

This sounds like a more or less standard Walther-produced 1943 P-38, made in the "f' block.

About the serial number: The P-38 was made by three makers during the war: Walther, Mauser, and Spreewerke.

Walther and Mauser assigned 4 digit serial numbers running from 0001 to 9999.
The way this system worked is, starting on January 1st, the first gun off the line would have serial number 0001.
When the serial numbers reached 9999, the sequence would start over at 0001 with an "a" added on the end. This block of guns would have numbers running from 0001a, to 9999a.

At that point, the next block would start at 0001b, and run to 9999b, and so on.

This is why the small case letter after the serial number is so important.
Due to the numbering system, during 1943 alone, between Walther and Mauser, there could be literally dozens of P-38 pistols with serial number 5528.

How they are separated is by maker, year, and the small case letter block codes.

Value on WWII P-38 pistols has been steadily climbing over the past years.
Actual value depends on several factors:
Actual condition.
Maker. Walther (AC) guns are often more valuable.
Whether the gun is import marked.
Whether the gun's serial numbers all match. The slide, frame, barrel, and barrel locking block will all be numbered.
Whether the gun has ever been refinished.
The year made. As the war went on the quality of the guns deteriorated. The earlier the gun, the more it's worth.

A good way to fix a price would be to look at finished auctions on the gun auction sites:
http://www.gunbroker.com/

http://www.auctionarms.com/search/search.aspx

http://www.gunsamerica.com/

 

[Cap n Ball]

"I've seem them discharge and go full auto."

My guess would be that it was due to a weak sear spring or one that was worn down. The same thing can happen with the PO8.

 

[Jim K]

Nope. The reason P.38's sometimes go full auto is that the safety breaks inside and the firing pin block is no longer there.

When the safety is pushed down to drop the hammer, the firing pin is blocked internally by shoulders in the safety cylinder, while the hammer drops on the head of the firing pin. If the safety is broken, dropping the hammer on a chambered round will fire the round, the gun will cock, then drop the hammer again as the slide closes, firing the next round, and so on, until the magazine is empty. The gun can't be "shut off" and the trigger is irrelevant.

It doesn't happen often, but I have seen one that did it, so I consider it a good practice to ease the hammer down when using the hammer drop safety.

The problem does not happen in the post-war P.38/P1 types or in the Walther PP/PPK or Super since in those guns the safety shrouds the firing pin rather than blocking it. Actually, the original HP design had a firing pin shroud safety, but when the German army adopted the pistol as the P.38, they wanted the hammer block type since it was a bit cheaper to make. Not a wise decision.

Jim