good looking pistol and well marked, can you take some pics of the right side a bit closer to view the markings ? E ~
very clean shot Chris, congrats, wish my cyq was so clean, I can barely tell the 3 eagles on the right side of the receiver but not the code numerations they are just so rubbed from in and out of the brown leather holster.
@ Chris yes I do will try to take close-ups for you, it is a break a way from what I understand though I am not too big on holsters like some of our members. this was a captured piece from a good friend who grabbed or should say unsholdered the side arm off an Heer NCO in Czechslovakia as there were many Wehrmacht soldiers present in this containment area he also grabbed and gave to me a German foresters scabbard and knife as well. His name was John Connelly and he was a B-26 pilot with some very intesne missions flown by his and his bomb group buddies during the Bulge battles in December of 44. He passed away at least 5 years ago, a great friend plus one of my work accounts. E ~
Nice BYF P-38. My first one was also a BYF but it was a 42 and was one of those alleged ""Battlefield Pickups" from Stalingrad-that came up for sale about 1993 or 1994? I bought that one for I think about $125.00 or so. I stupidly traded it off about a year after I got it. Since then I have owned a Nov 1941 made BYF P-38 *which was stolen from my apartment on Jan 6th 2000) and never "found" by the Lazy ones at the Corpus Christi PD. Im convinced my P-38 was found and now resides in som eCops collection. How I came to that conclusion was that the officer who came over to take my repor said he knew who stole it. After that my next P-38 was an AC 43-and thankfully I still have this one. I almost shot a Burglar wannabe-with it when I was living in Houston. Im on the hunt for another Walther.
Wow, great stories Erich and C.Evans. Yea this is the first weapon to my collection and I have to say Im addicted lol
Thanks Chris and-at least we knoow you KNOW a great weapon when you see it ;-)) I actually had a 4th P-38 but it was part of a trade that netted me an Artillery Majors Tunic and Peaked Vidor, and a minty pair of Generals Collartabs and a few other things thrown in. I hated parting with it but, part of the trade went towards the one and only WWII Colt .45 I ever owned. The .45 in question had green parkerization and had a Remington made slide and this pistol was given to General Francis P. Hardaway-who served under MacArthur as his Artillery General. This pistol was a fantastic piece and had only the slightest of holster-wear. Well, stupid me, I wound up trading that away for one of those so-called: "Black Widow" Lugers. And you guessed it, I wound up trading that Luger away for something else Did I ever mention that I could have had another Walther P-38? this ones serial number was 7777. It was offered to me by the gent who I got the Artillery majors Tunic, Cap, the BW Luger, the Generals Collartabs and the Hardaway gun-from. I had the money at the time to buy this piece-which was offered to me for $400.00-I turned it down because it was "ugly" (for lack of better words) Well, the next time I saw that weapon, it was on a dealers table at a local gunshow-some few months after it had been offered to me. The price was then-$700.00. Had I bought that pistol, I now would not have my Mauser Sniper variant-which the last time I was offered cash for it-it was for a cool $25,000. Needless to say, I still have this rifle and will always have it. I dont set any values on these things but, other collectors do ;-)) It will be fun to see what the next offer for it will be? If its for the right price? I might consider selling or trading it off. However, there isnt much I would get rid of it for-except for maybe a fully-functional MP-40 with spare parts-and has to be in great condition and all-matching Nrs-or a nice MG-42-of course fully-functional.
Haha sounds fun. Its interesting to know where those pieces you traded are now. Whether the person you traded them to still has them or he kept the flow going.
I think I do know where most of those traded guns are. I know the Hardaway pistol is still in the hands of one of two collectors who live in Corpus Christi. I dont know who has the BW Luger now but I suspect one of the two collectors I know there probably still has it. No telling about that Walther w/ the 7777 serial number, Its probably still in Texas though ;-))
Thanks for posting the pics of your new P.38 chris - it's a beauty ! It has the same markings as my 'byf43' which has the red/brown grips. Hereit is, complete with holster. Holster and pistol don't 'match', as the holster is dated 1941....( those spots aren't rust - they're dust which I only noticed after I took the pics )...... But together, they make a nice collectable..... Those holsters aren't too rare - good luck with your search for a good one !
Hey Martin, nice piece ;-)) Also if you ever want to sell the grips? please let me know as im in the market for a replacement pair. One of mine has a tiny hairline crack in it.
here is a closer view of what I suspect Martin has in the way of 9mm, mine are clean unfired as I have used other 9mm still workable though I fire it not so often as before ............... will post brown leather unpebbled holster soon a bit different than Martin's. Have to admit as well my P-38 is not very accurate my 7.62mm from WW 1, "beholla" aviator is still on the mark, it handles and firs like a dream
Here's one my Dad brought back. Doesn't have the nice machining that Chris and Martin's have but the price was right. He didn't have a story about how he got it but has mentioned they were rounding up lots of prisoners late in the war.
That's a most interesting gun in its own right, natman - it was made by Spreewerk of Grottau. These guns carried no year of manufacture and are noted for their 'war emergency'-type finish ( ie rough ! )
