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James K · January 21, 2014, 06:57 PM

The P.38 is the reloader's friend. It ejects to the left and usually drops all the cases in a neat pile at a right-hand shooter's left foot.

If the seller made a point about a Mauser frame, he might have meant that the slide was not Mauser and the gun was mismatched. Since all major parts of the wartime P.38 (like the Luger) are numbered, a mismatch is easily determined.

Wartime P.38's were made by Walther (code ac, the developer and original maker), Mauser (Code byf, began production in 1942 after Luger production was stopped), and Spreewerke (codes cyq). The P.38 is often called a Walther, the same as a GI .45 is often called a Colt, even though it may have been made by another company.

Edited to add: In view of some current controversies, it may be worth noting that in the 1940's and 1950's the P.38 was widely denounced by American gun writers as a cheap, stamped out piece of junk, inferior in every way to the sacred "Colt .45" carried by American GI's. Anti-gun writers, riding on the gun writer's nonsense, claimed that it was worthless, the "choice of criminals", and souvenir guns should be rounded up and destroyed. Now the P.38 is recognized as a very good gun, made by traditional methods and acceptable as a collectible.

Jim

January 21, 2014, 06:57 PM	#9
James K Member In Memoriam Join Date: March 17, 1999 Posts: 24,383	The P.38 is the reloader's friend. It ejects to the left and usually drops all the cases in a neat pile at a right-hand shooter's left foot. If the seller made a point about a Mauser frame, he might have meant that the slide was not Mauser and the gun was mismatched. Since all major parts of the wartime P.38 (like the Luger) are numbered, a mismatch is easily determined. Wartime P.38's were made by Walther (code ac, the developer and original maker), Mauser (Code byf, began production in 1942 after Luger production was stopped), and Spreewerke (codes cyq). The P.38 is often called a Walther, the same as a GI .45 is often called a Colt, even though it may have been made by another company. Edited to add: In view of some current controversies, it may be worth noting that in the 1940's and 1950's the P.38 was widely denounced by American gun writers as a cheap, stamped out piece of junk, inferior in every way to the sacred "Colt .45" carried by American GI's. Anti-gun writers, riding on the gun writer's nonsense, claimed that it was worthless, the "choice of criminals", and souvenir guns should be rounded up and destroyed. Now the P.38 is recognized as a very good gun, made by traditional methods and acceptable as a collectible. Jim Last edited by James K; January 21, 2014 at 07:11 PM.