Found a "Holy Grail" Pistol

[Zeke Menuar]

Found it at the shop that is doing a cut and crown on my Enfield '06.

It is a P-38, coded AC41. No bluing left. Slide and frame match, mag and barrel do not. Tooling marks on the barrel suggest late war manufacture. Frame to slide fit is very good nonetheless. Would make a very good shooter. The shop is asking $425. That is the lowest price on a WWII P-38 I have seen for many years, mismatch or not. The shop actually has a warranty on used guns. The gun was disassembled, checked out, headspaced and test fired. He has no layaway however. The slushfund is empty due to buying the aforementioned Enfield sporter and a correctly stocked Mosin M38 in the last month.
The Imperial Red-Headed Scorpio said that I should get some more handguns because the rifles are taking over. I must say that is impeccable logic. Hopefully I can work enough OT and sock enough money away before it sells.

ZM

 

[thatguy]

I bought this Walther P-38 off one of the auction sites a few months ago for $199. It wasn't made during the war but this wasn't important to me since I just wanted a plinker. I see a bunch of them being offered all over the place for around $250 right now. If $425 for a gun with no finish is a good deal to you then buy it. Frankly, it doesn't sound that good to me. But like I said, wartime production was meaningless to me. In fact, I would avoid it since QC on these was often for crap. This one still has most of its finish and works just fine.

 

[Trebor]

FGS has been selling Russian capture P-38's for awhile now. They have most codes and dates. The guns are usualy 100% dip reblue finish. The condition of the original finish under the reblue varies. They run from $390 up. I'd get one of those before I'd spend the money on that mismatch no-blue gun.

Heck, I think you can do better from a seller on the P38 forum. www.p38forum.com

 

[Dr.Rob]

P-38's certainly aren't rare, but you reallt should know what you are fgetting into before paying a premium price for one.

Talk about the Holy Grail... at a Gun Show yesterday I saw a NIB Savage .32, A Howdah pistol, and an 1877 Colt Lightning in the original box.

Man i need to make more money. A lot more.

 

[Zeke Menuar]

I bought this Walther P-38 off one of the auction sites a few months ago for $199. It wasn't made during the war but this wasn't important to me since I just wanted a plinker. I see a bunch of them being offered all over the place for around $250 right now. If $425 for a gun with no finish is a good deal to you then buy it. Frankly, it doesn't sound that good to me. But like I said, wartime production was meaningless to me. In fact, I would avoid it since QC on these was often for crap. This one still has most of its finish and works just fine.

Your's is most likely an alloy framed, post-war P1 version. The P38's made before and during the war have steel frames. QC was crap from late 1943-45.

Trebor and Dr. Rob

$425 around here is CHEEP for a WWII P-38. Most of the folks up and down the I-5 corridor jack up their prices pretty good. Even the P-1 versions are going for $350 and up.

I think $425 is a pretty reasonable price. If I were to buy off the 'net I would have to pay overnight shipping-highway robbery and maybe even a transfer fee if the buyer doesn't accept an 03 license. That would put a wartime P38 out of my price range.

However I figure by the time I save up $425 it will be gone.

ZM