Acquired a special WWII P38 pistol at the last gun show

Winchester_73 · November 6, 2012, 06:57 PM

About 2 weeks at a local gunshow a guy walked past me with either a P38 hardshell holster or a luger holster, and either way, I'm interested! I stop him and talk to him, and he tells me he has a AC41 P38 rig for sale. "AC" was the code for Walther during WWII and "41" is the year 1941. The Germans used to make codes so that the Allies could not find out which factory made which weapons. The holster looked good as did the gun. He wanted more money than I had in my pocket, but the gun was really nice. Then he dropped the bomb on me "it has 2 matching magazines". So I looked the gun over, and it checked out. The frame bothered me some with the plum color it has, but I read that sometimes different nickel concentrations in the steel can cause this. Certainly the gun was never reblued. The mags are marked across the toe, with 2 E/359 marks on each spine. The gun seems to be completely right, E/359 on nearly all parts, not dipped, no import mark or X mark, etc. I then had to ask him to hold it, so I could leave the show to go to my bank, and then return back. He kept it for me as promised. I think I reeled in a good one here.

Finding any of these WWII guns with 2 serial numbered mags is a rare find, esp army guns. Police guns more often have 2 matching mags IMO based on the nature of their duties vs army. A rule of thumb with these guns and 2 matching mags doubles the value of the gun, on average.

In previous posts, I've mentioned when I bought P38s, and I was asked to post pics of them. I don't always post such guns for various reasons but I figured I would for those of you who appreciate guns like this.

h2otoo · November 6, 2012, 07:30 PM

Nice. I collected P-38s at one time. Had samples of all three manufactures and early/mid/late war time manufactures. Like so many other firearms that I had, I sold/traded them off over the years. With all the P-38s I had I NEVER had matching serial #'d mags. Darn, good catch!

Bob

RsqVet · November 7, 2012, 04:12 AM

Wow, Just wow. That would be a heck of a nice P38 without the mags and holster.

Very glad that is survived all this time intact, and rust free.

Just have to love those sleepers when you find them. Reminds me of the german paratrooper helmet I found when I was a kid...

November 6, 2012, 06:57 PM	#1
Winchester_73 Senior Member Join Date: December 20, 2008 Location: Pittsburgh PA Posts: 2,863	Acquired a special WWII P38 pistol at the last gun show About 2 weeks at a local gunshow a guy walked past me with either a P38 hardshell holster or a luger holster, and either way, I'm interested! I stop him and talk to him, and he tells me he has a AC41 P38 rig for sale. "AC" was the code for Walther during WWII and "41" is the year 1941. The Germans used to make codes so that the Allies could not find out which factory made which weapons. The holster looked good as did the gun. He wanted more money than I had in my pocket, but the gun was really nice. Then he dropped the bomb on me "it has 2 matching magazines". So I looked the gun over, and it checked out. The frame bothered me some with the plum color it has, but I read that sometimes different nickel concentrations in the steel can cause this. Certainly the gun was never reblued. The mags are marked across the toe, with 2 E/359 marks on each spine. The gun seems to be completely right, E/359 on nearly all parts, not dipped, no import mark or X mark, etc. I then had to ask him to hold it, so I could leave the show to go to my bank, and then return back. He kept it for me as promised. I think I reeled in a good one here. Finding any of these WWII guns with 2 serial numbered mags is a rare find, esp army guns. Police guns more often have 2 matching mags IMO based on the nature of their duties vs army. A rule of thumb with these guns and 2 matching mags doubles the value of the gun, on average. In previous posts, I've mentioned when I bought P38s, and I was asked to post pics of them. I don't always post such guns for various reasons but I figured I would for those of you who appreciate guns like this. __________________ Winchester 73, the TFL user that won the west

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November 6, 2012, 07:30 PM	#2
h2otoo Member Join Date: October 29, 2012 Posts: 89	Nice. I collected P-38s at one time. Had samples of all three manufactures and early/mid/late war time manufactures. Like so many other firearms that I had, I sold/traded them off over the years. With all the P-38s I had I NEVER had matching serial #'d mags. Darn, good catch! Bob

November 7, 2012, 04:12 AM	#3
RsqVet Senior Member Join Date: February 20, 2005 Posts: 2,474	Wow, Just wow. That would be a heck of a nice P38 without the mags and holster. Very glad that is survived all this time intact, and rust free. Just have to love those sleepers when you find them. Reminds me of the german paratrooper helmet I found when I was a kid...