1943 P38

[6pack]

This is my P38 that I just got from the Widener's cache. She was heavily oiled, with a little grease in the corners. Everything functions smoothly. The machining marks are surprising; I would have expected a nicer finish. It's mismatched/force matched, but for my first P38 I'm happy with her.

Can the experts chime in on what I have?

 

[iH8DemLibz]

Looks nice.

Like they rebuilt them and reblued them.

And a mid 40's Mosin is the very definition of rough machining.

 

[somd_mustangs]

You have representatives of all three manufacturers there!

That's a 1944 Mauser frame, a 1942 Walther (AC42) slide, can't tell the barrel (Walther but can't tell what year), and Spreewerk grips with a Mauser magazine.

The frame would have been phosphate from a BYF44 dual-tone (WaA135 marked, in the C-block).
I guess "1943" came from the frame S/N, which is actually kind of cool.
That's why the 1943 is E.P.'d on the barrel and slide, not because it's the date.

The rough machining on the slide is from post-war re-work, an AC42 slide would still have been well-built at that point in the war.

It also looks like you're missing the extractor plunger and spring.... it will go bang once but probably not twice

 

[6pack]

Cool info. Thanks! Can you get replacements for the extractor splunger and spring?

 

[BigDaddy]

Like they rebuilt them and reblued them.

The P38 Forum refers to it as a "dip" that can be removed. Exactly what it is I'm not sure. Russian dip ........ you don't want to google that if are at work

The process for removing was never written in the forum but members were willing to share FTF at various collectors functions. I never understood the need for secrecy and have no further knowledge of how to do it.

 

[somd_mustangs]

I/ve never replaced one, I think the early war parts are the same as post war but not 100% sure.
They changed the profile of the "cutout" later in the war (made it smaller) but I believe the plunger stayed the same.

If you want a WW2 part try Tom Heller, the LugerDoc (I'll get you contact info).
Numrich has the plunger but the spring is out of stock.
http://www.gunpartscorp.com/Manufacturers/Walther-33560/P38-42521.htm?page=2

you could also try making Widener's get the parts for you...

 

[6pack]

you could also try making Widener's get the parts for you...

Good point.

Are you certain they are missing? Can I get you a better pic?

 

[somd_mustangs]

The P38 Forum refers to it as a "dip" that can be removed. Exactly what it is I'm not sure. Russian dip ........ you don't want to google that if are at work

The process for removing was never written in the forum but members were willing to share FTF at various collectors functions. I never understood the need for secrecy and have no further knowledge of how to do it.

This one may actually be re-blued vice dipped, it doesn't have the black jelly-bean look and the lock block is "in the white".

Anyway, the "secrecy" is to discourage folks from
(a) trying to do it themselves and ruining a gun
(b) cleaning and then misrepresenting a gun

To me if you can clean it properly it's A-OK.
But it's not easy to do correctly, and you can destroy the original finish (if it's still intact).

There's two types of dips, one is a light bluing that typically comes off pretty easily, and the other is the discoloration caused by dumping these in barrels full of some evil goop for storage. That is much harder to fix.

 

[BigDaddy]

Cool info. Thanks! Can you get replacements for the extractor splunger and spring?

This placed poped up on Google
http://www.robertrtg.com/store/pc/Walther-P1-P38-c23.htm

 

[somd_mustangs]

yup, good call, they have a lot of P38 parts too but they are post-war (which may work just fine).
some stuff wont work on WW2 P38's, so you have to be careful.