P38 & P08 ammo? Any opinions?

[woad_yurt]

My father just bought 2 pristine pistols, a P38 and a P08, both of wartime manufacture and I'm envious. Anyway, what's a good round, feed-wise, for these? I have no 9MM experience whatsoever and neither does he. He has an HSc that's very cranky and would like to avoid hit or miss experimentation w/the ammo. I figure that mil-spec would be best but how about with other-than-brass casings? We want few jams. Any recommendations? Thanks.

On a personal note:
GHODDD, the pistols are gorgeous. Every number matches on both, capture papers and the P08 has 2 matching magazines.

 

[aka108]

The P38 will handle any standard 9mm rounds you feed it. I found th P08 to be pretty jam prone. Stick with fmj roundnose bullets and if reloading, the slowest powder in the tables for 9mm and, in my experience, reliability was greatly improved but not enough for a self defense weapon. My P38 has never hung up. The P08 is pretty and fun and accurate but that's as far as it goes. Sounds like you have a nice pair. Enjoy.

 

[HisSoldier]

Oh, please post a photo!

 

[denfoote]

Any standard ball ammo Should feed.
I would not try hollow points in the Luger.
Experiment to see what the P38 likes.

 

[huntershooter]

These pistols were designed to feed 124 gr. "ball"/FMJ. The Luger may require a moderately hot load to function 100%.