P.38

L

lten1063

Inactive
I have a P.38 that was given to me that one of the three uncles that served during WW II and when the war was over his unit raided a firearms manufactory in Germany and each member took one as a war throphy.

I have seen pictures of other P.38's with black and brown handgrips. Can any one tell me why the two differant colors, what the markings mean and the original cost was and what it is worth today.

Discription of mine: Has black handgrips, Left side has the markings: P.38 byf44 and 9112 s three times it also has the Natzi emblem with eagle on top on the right side, also found other markings that looks like a eagle or a airplane (poorly marked) with this below: Wa/8A135 three times once on the left side and twice on the right side with the Natzi emblem in the center.

Also it has a holster but don't know it is the correct one. The holster has P 35 stamp on the inside.
 

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byf 44 = Made by Mauser in 1944
9112S = Serial number
(Eagle)Waa/135 = German Army acceptance mark for the district of the Mauser plant
(Eagle)(Swastika) = Proof mark

Color of the grips doesn't mean much, just what plastic they had available at the time to make them out of.

Doesn't look like the right holster to me, most German leather was black or very dark brown and had hard shell flaps, but I am not expert.

Cost in 1940 was 5.60 Reichmarks, value today is a few hundred dollars. Check Gunsamerica.com or AuctionArms.com for sale prices and bids.
 
The above info pretty well covers the gun.

The Germans used Bakelite for the grips.
This is made of ground up wood chips mixed with a polymer resin.
Both Reddish-Brown and Black grips were used during the war, especially later in the war.

The holster looks like a typical European-type full flap military holster that someone cut the full flap down on.
I have seen similar holsters owned by vets, who wanted a more open holster to carry their war trophy in, so they just took a knife and cut the flap off or down on a suitable holster.
It's possible that particular holster was originally for a Model P-35 Browning Hi-Power pistol.

WWII P-38 pistols, ESPECIALLY veteran's war trophy's bring some surprisingly high prices these days.
A look on the internet gun auction and sales sites show non-recent import P-38's going from $400.00 to over $800.00, and even more for some special versions.
 
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