The attached pics are of a German P38 Walther side arm that my dad picked up from a pile of German equipment in 1944.

Apparently captured German troops had piled their equipment near a roadway and dad "confiscated" this P38 when no one was looking.

The weapon had never been fired. The holster was brand new, and both clips, (i.e. the one in the holster, and the one seated in the P38, were full of rounds). In fact, the P38 itself still had the cosmoline type grease on it as protectant.

The P38 takes standard 9mm rounds and shoots well, in fact, I have never experienced a jam/missfeed since dad gave it to me years ago.

Hope you enjoy these pics.

Side View of the 9mm, -- the grips are black plastic type material (bakelite according to SS-74)


The set, i.e. the leather holster, the P38, and the extra clip


The slide is retracted to the rear exposing the front workings of the piece


Slide is retracted exposing the chamber and the top of the clip (which is loaded in the grip)


This pic shows the rough milling on the front of the P38's frame -- appartently they were pushing them through production fast at this point.


Close up of the markings on the left side of the slide


Note these markings on the right side of the slide

My oh my! I wish I had that same baby. Very nice!

It sure looks brand new.

Is this in it's original finish or has it been re blued? If it is original than you have a very grade A+ specimen here. Thanks for sharing the photos.

really nice looking that is the lgo byf 44 the makers name and year of production? have you found out the maker?

Dave, this item is all original. Dad stored it for years and never fired it after running through the rounds that came with the original weapon.

Years ago, he passed it on to me. I occassionally put a box of 9mm's through it, but treasure it more as a historic memoribilia item, and the fact that its from my dad from a challenging time in his life. Makes a great conversation piece also with fellow shooters.

Davy, I have an article on the P38 from the October 2001 American Rifleman.

It states: "In 1942, the growing scale of the war forced the Germans to expand P.38 producton to include Mauser ("byf" and later, "svw") as well as Spreewerke ("cyq") nearl Berlin.

You will note the "byf" on this particular pistol, so its apparently an earlier Mauser production piece.

My initial post contains an error. I just talked to dad and he said this weapon was picked up near the end of the war in the area of the Oder River. Some German troop remnants were afraid to surrender to the Russians and had come towards the American lines, and their gear was deposited in a pile, which he grabbed this off of. Sorry for the confusion, even though he's 83, he remembers things a lot better than I do. :-)

Steve

You have a very nice treasure here Steve. I have collected a few old weapons throughout the years also. This is one the best examples I have seen.

fantastic weapon Steve with a marvelous history. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Cliff

PS> either your camera skills have inproved or some one else took the pics as they are better then the pics you take of your models :-) :-) :-) :-)

Steve all jokes aside on taking pictures. Will you allow me to copy these pictures to a refence section in the Gallery when I get it set up?

thanks
Cliff

Steve that P-38 is the type and condition that drive collectors nuts ! But I know it means a lot more to you!
P-38's were (are) very fine handguns, and yours is a beauty. Thanks for shareing with us amigo !

Cheers,

Garry

Steve,

Beautiful weapon. If you ever want to sell it...

Cody

Steve,
That is very nice. I take it you have your fire arms liscene? In the states are you allowed to have historical weapons that have been made so they can't be fired with out a liscene?