One of a kind P-38 ?

B

beenthere

New member
Back before a lot of you were born around 1960 I was working with a young guy who was here from Bermuda (British Citizen). He gave me his hangun to take home and shoot over a weekend. It was a P-38,9mm, Bright Chrome, Barrel ended about 1/8 inch beyond the slide. The Front sight was right on the top - front edge of the slide. He claimed it was taken from a German General Officer during WW2. It's the only one I ever saw with that configuration and I'm wondering if I saw a "one of a kind". Unfortunately I was too yound and inexperienced to even think of looking for markings or serial number etc.

Anyone out there ever run across anything like that? :confused:
 
D

Dfariswheel

New member
The shortened P-38 started (supposedly) as a Gestapo gun in WWII. There is evidence a tiny few P-38's were shortened for Gestapo, but this info may or may not be true.

After the Man From Uncle TV show, you started to see shortened P-38's around.

In the 1980's Walther imported a short run of P-38-K guns, which were shortened guns.

While it's not impossible that a German General would have a nickel plated short P-38, the actual chances are VERY slim.

After WWII it was VERY common for vets to have captured German pistols or all types nickel plated, and apparently there was a small industry in the business of plating Vets guns.

Later, it became common to have such guns accompanied by stories about the gun being captured from an SS officer or a General.

As far as anyone has ever been able to determine, there has never been a VERIFIED case of any German officer having a nickel plated Luger or P-38 pistol.

Cases of verified nickel plated small autos like the Mauser, Walther PPK, or Sauer 38 are so rare as to be nonexistent.
In most cases, nickel or gold plated pistols were usually presentation guns for high party officials, and were almost always engraved.

Best guess: this is another case of someone shortening a P-38 and having it plated.
 
B

beenthere

New member
I guess the one thing that made me think it wasn't a remake or shortened pistol was that the front sight was actually formed into the slide. No dovetail or line around the bottom to indicate a staked front sight. I don't know that much about plating but I would have thought there would have been some kind of line showing if the sight was (attached) to the slide.
 
S

Sir William

New member
IIRC, there was a Walther P-38k police version. I saw some in nickel before GCA 68. I didn't know they had mad anymore for importation. I have seen them at gunshows priced out of the ballpark. I haven't seen one in a few years as they are collectible variants.
 
D

Dfariswheel

New member
I've seen one or two of the home-made short P-38's with the front sight simply brazed in place.

This was a much simpler job than cutting a dovetail or building a staked sight.

Considering the time frame, (1960) there were no factory Walther P-38-K models at that time.

I'm betting it was a home-made job with a brazed sight, all covered up by the nickel plating.
 
B

beenthere

New member
P-38

Thanks folks. The one I held was different from the P-4 in that the barrel only extended about 1/8" beyond the slide. Perhaps they had different barrel lengths available. It cerainly felt different and had different balance than any P-38 I've handled since.
 
A

abelew

New member
Not to be a na-puss

I realize the neat-ness of old guns, I just can't stand the look of them, esp the ones with the barrel that isn't covered by the slide, BUT I would like to have one for the collectable value.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top