Depends what you're looking for... and how much you're willing to spend.
If you are looking for a WW2 beware that they have been known to break lock blocks and crack slides,
so I wouldn't recommend getting a nice one if you plan to shoot it.
A decent mis-matched WW2 shooter can be had for $500 or so with some patience.
A post-war P1 or P38 should run about the same.
Correct matched WW2 will run more and like anything else condition, original / matched parts and no import markings drive the boat.
You need to be on the ball to get a good deal at a show;
if you're looking at WW2 I'd recommend going to the P38 forum with a want to buy ad, or a good dealer that specializes in them.
Now that you have C&R in hand the world is your oyster.
Well, most of the US is anyway.
Western German post war manufacture would be fine. I am not terribly in to collecting specific eras or rarities beyond having the thing that goes bang in hand (or in safe). Which doesn’t mean I don’t find the stuff cool, more just I don’t have enough interest to be willing to spend much extra money. I mean, I’d spend a few bucks more, but if it was $380 for a post war P38 in okay shape be an all numbers matching 1943 P38 SS issue for $500...I’d probably buy the post war :-D
If it was $400...I might splurge the $20 extra. As my neighbor likes to say, I am tighter than two coats of paint.
For right now I am cooling it. I’ve got about 2-3 weeks of down time with getting PRK on my left eye tomorrow and having bought a shit load of guns recently. Or for me a shit load. Depending on point of view anything from 2-6 in the last 6 months. A couple of CAV-15 poly lowers, an M-5 Aero AR-10 lower, M57, G1898 and I have a CMP Garand that should be shipping any day now.
Oh and about 3 months ago I finished assembly my poly 80 Glock 17. Though it’s been 3 months of tinkering and figuring out what has been causing reliability issues (I think I’ve finally solved all issues).
So sort of 7? I’ll ignore 2 of the lowers as they are collecting dust for the next few years probably, but I built one CAV-15 lower and slapped my “loose” 6.5 grendel upper on it (I now have 4 uppers and 3 built lowers). So that’s still a lot of firearms. For me. Especially since it’ll be years before my wife is going to allow me to out grow my 25 gun safe. I’ve got room for maybe 4 more long guns before I am having to get creative. Perhaps 5. I could sure fit a crap ton more handguns in there, but my wife maybe, sort of knows about the M57.
She isn’t really cool with me owning handguns. So I can’t just redirect everything towards collecting those for a few years. Slow and steady with her. So I really need to maximize my wants when I buy stuff for a while now. Not just get stuff because I can.
Though I am keeping my eye open on new C&R stuff or a handful of inexpensive bucket list firearms to see if a deal floats up. I may look at getting a CZ-50 in a month or two if my finances work out. I know they aren’t too expensive, but money is probably tight as my tenants are leaving my rental and my rental also needs a new roof. If I can get it re-rent fast and the roof isn’t too expensive, I’ll run out and grab one. I really want a CZ and I also would like a small handgun at some point and .32ACP for a small frame seems like it would be a fun shooter.
Otherwise probably no other guns for a long time. Though I’ll likely get the itch to start building an AR-10 by next year and start collecting parts when there are deals...
Hey, my name is Matt and I have a problem...