Help ID a WW II P38

[steven58]

Hi everyone,

An acquaintance of mine has recently inherited this P38 that was “liberated” by his grandfather in WW II. He was an officer in EOD.

From the codes it seems to have been made by Mauser in 1943. All the part #s match up. It came with a correct 43 brown leather holster as well. The nickel job appears very well done (Factory?). The proof marks are all sharp and clear, even the small acceptance stamps show up well. The pistol appears tight and very lightly fired if at all.

Can any of you give me more information about this pistol? What Nazi would have had a nickel plated P38?

 

[VHinch]

Just an educated guess based on the pics, but I'd wager that the nickel is not original. It appears to be a refinish, which was fairly common in the post WWII era.

 

[equitytrader]

That nickel is for sure not original, I can see all the sanding and the rust pitting that's being covered up by it. Yes, it was a Mauser manufactured in 1943 and it has the Nazi armor acceptance stamp.

If I were to value it I'd expect to see it at a retail price around $200-300. Sorry to say, it's quite butchered.

 

[nwilliams]

You may find this helpful....

http://www.p38guns.com/

 

[SDC]

As said, this is a refinished P38; this would have been the 57,805th P-38 built by Mauser in 1943. Each year, each factory in the German wartime system restarted their serial numbers at 1, built up to 9999, then started again at 1a, built up to 9999a, then back to 1b, and so on.

 

[steven58]

Refinished P38

Thanks for all the input.

Now that I look at the pictures I can see what you are talking about! Much better than looking with the naked eye (at least mine). Thanks for the P-38 site I will forward to him.

 

[buttrap]

Ciggybutt gun, right after the war in germany people would plate GIs guns for them for somthing like half a carton of camels.

 

[Jim Watson]

I had a highschool teacher in 1961 who had been in college at the end of WW I.
He would silver plate guns and other souvenirs for $3. He would take his pay in silver dollars and use them as the anode in a plating bath. Not enough was plated off any individual dollar to be obvious, so it was all profit.