I located an extreme sleeper at the Augusta, ME gun show this weekend. Until I picked this up from the table, I had only seen very limited pictured examples of this rare and early Walther factory variant.
The gun itself is fully matching, down to the grips. The jvd mag is not matched to the gun, unnumbered and from a later build. The pistol was part of a surcharged manufacturing run in late 1940, where the '40 date' was added by pantograph on its own line of the slide below the ac Walther factory code. Only 6,000 were produced, and a high percentage of them were lost in the war on the Eastern Front. So finding one with all of its original parts is one of the needles in the haystack of P.38 collecting. My serial number of 3324a falls right in the middle range of 9988-5942a which are recorded for the ac 40 added production.
Not a perfect specimen, as the slide does not exhibit the deep polished luster of rust bluing which is a hallmark of early Walther production. I believe it was refinished with a dip blue (salt), much like the finish of Russian Captures. But this rebluing was done a long time ago, as much wear ensued after the refinish, and patina has long since set in. It was not buffed before refinsh, as the final acceptance mark on the right slide is still sharp and raised. The paint inside the S and F of the safety positions was lost.
Whether this refinish was done by the Germans, Russians, or even post-war US, it is impossible to tell. There are no typical markers for Russian Capture, nor import marks. The "story" was that the pistol resided in a New Jersey State Trooper's collection since the mid 1970's.
The frame and barrel, as well as the hammer, safety, slide lock and other small parts, exhibit the deep reddish brown patina under the concentrated light test and loupe, and appear as original finishes to me. The same light test on the slide simply absorbs the light into the matte finish, with only a trace of the original deep rust blue. But the matching locking block is still in the white, and all E/359 inspection stamps are present in the proper places.
So, I'll take it, even with its refinished slide quirk. It's just something that I never expected to see in person, let alone add to the collection. Now just needing an ac 44 to fill out all years of Walther production.
Aside from very thin finish and wear on the right slide, the pistol is in great shape at about 85%. The bore has seen some service, with worn rifling and moderate pitting.
Here are a couple of great P.38 links to browse.
http://pistole38.nl/
http://www.p38guns.com/
Some pics, enjoy, and thanks for looking.
The gun itself is fully matching, down to the grips. The jvd mag is not matched to the gun, unnumbered and from a later build. The pistol was part of a surcharged manufacturing run in late 1940, where the '40 date' was added by pantograph on its own line of the slide below the ac Walther factory code. Only 6,000 were produced, and a high percentage of them were lost in the war on the Eastern Front. So finding one with all of its original parts is one of the needles in the haystack of P.38 collecting. My serial number of 3324a falls right in the middle range of 9988-5942a which are recorded for the ac 40 added production.
Not a perfect specimen, as the slide does not exhibit the deep polished luster of rust bluing which is a hallmark of early Walther production. I believe it was refinished with a dip blue (salt), much like the finish of Russian Captures. But this rebluing was done a long time ago, as much wear ensued after the refinish, and patina has long since set in. It was not buffed before refinsh, as the final acceptance mark on the right slide is still sharp and raised. The paint inside the S and F of the safety positions was lost.
Whether this refinish was done by the Germans, Russians, or even post-war US, it is impossible to tell. There are no typical markers for Russian Capture, nor import marks. The "story" was that the pistol resided in a New Jersey State Trooper's collection since the mid 1970's.
The frame and barrel, as well as the hammer, safety, slide lock and other small parts, exhibit the deep reddish brown patina under the concentrated light test and loupe, and appear as original finishes to me. The same light test on the slide simply absorbs the light into the matte finish, with only a trace of the original deep rust blue. But the matching locking block is still in the white, and all E/359 inspection stamps are present in the proper places.
So, I'll take it, even with its refinished slide quirk. It's just something that I never expected to see in person, let alone add to the collection. Now just needing an ac 44 to fill out all years of Walther production.
Aside from very thin finish and wear on the right slide, the pistol is in great shape at about 85%. The bore has seen some service, with worn rifling and moderate pitting.
Here are a couple of great P.38 links to browse.
http://pistole38.nl/
http://www.p38guns.com/
Some pics, enjoy, and thanks for looking.
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