Finally got one I've wanted for over 30 years.

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grelmar

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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Because life is short.

Ever since I can remember, I've wanted a P-38. Probably the influence of old war movies, to an extent. For some reason, I just thought it was the classiest, neatest looking handgun of WWII.

In the early 80's, when I was 12, my dad buckled to incessant harranguing, and got me a Marushin replica. Most people don't remember these, but they were available in hobby and model shops back then. They were, visually, extremely accurate replicas. Even mechanically. Other than the frame and barrel were made from plastic, the internals even matched the real thing. They came with a detachable magazine and some special "shells" that you could load with a speical blank/cap, and they would fire and cycle and eject the "shell". It was possibly the coolest toy I ever got.

Of course, because "reasons" - replicas that accurate became prohibited. And mine was lost to the sands of time. Marushin still makes them, and this is what they look like firing:


Anyway...

Time goes on, and for whatever reason, I just never got around to replacing my lost (and now prohibited and irreplaceable) replica with the real thing.

The Russian Captures are fairly widely available, but overpriced, IMHO, for a mixmaster gun.

I saw a vet bringback Spreewerk P-38 come up for auction, and my finances are in good enough shape that it occurred to me "you know, there's no reason I can't afford this." But first, I figured I should ask here what the going rate is.

And I'm glad I did. The price was definitely heading to the high end of value for a Spreewerk (possibly the least desireable, from a collector's standpoint). But, the CGN community being what it is, a member piped up and offered to sell me his for significantly less than the auction price of the one I was watching.

A few emails, an EMT, a remarkably quick transfer through Miramachi, and a postal pick up later...

I finally have the one pistol I've wanted more than any other. For whatever reason, I let myself get distracted and buy "several" other handguns over the past few years. But now I have the one I actually always wanted.

Thanks, Purple, you're a stand up guy, and made a dream I've had for over 30 years come true.

My vet bring back, all matching numbers (even has a matching magazine), Spreewerk P-38. It may not be the most desirable one for some collectors, but I'm dang proud to have it in my collection:

p-38-1.jpg


p-38-2.jpg
 
Congratulations.

A nice collectors piece, and still a good, serviceable gun.

Only the advent of the "WonderNines" made these guns obsolete; it certainly wasn't because of poor design, etc..
 
highlander said:
Congratulations.

A nice collectors piece, and still a good, serviceable gun.

Only the advent of the "WonderNines" made these guns obsolete; it certainly wasn't because of poor design, etc..
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Certainly not, the German police were still carrying the P-1 until quite recently, essentially an aluminum framed post war version. Many complained that the new service pistols were not as accurate or user friendly as the 1930's design...

Nice pistol. I've wanted one for some time as well....
 
Jonny_Cannon said:
Not to mention those of us old enough to remember - Megatron was originally a Walther P-38!

Cannon
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You know, I might have that in a box somewhere, or it might be in a box at the folks. I'll have to look around for it.

Also, might have traded it for a baseball card or some such. Remember when a Megatron was worth roughly the same as a Pete Rose rookie card? Good times.

gewehr76 said:
Watch out for high pressure loads or heavy bullet reloads. These are known to crack slides right in half. CYQs are known to be worst quality of P38 ww2 production. There was a thread on this not long ago.
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I'm only going to fire it on rare occasions, and no hot loads or defensive loads. I've a 92FS (in many ways a direct descendent of the P-38) for that kind of stuff.
 
Glad you like that one grel. I got it from a fellow in Sask about 30 yrs ago when I was into P08s and P38s bigtime. He had gotten it from the original owner who brought it back from Europe. I never fired the piece, but enjoyed it as a typical representation of a late war Spreewerke. The Waa88 stamp on the back of the mag is really itty-bitty.
 
donthedrummer said:
Now go to IMA USA . com and buy a holster for that P-38.
They have fantastic repros available for a very decent price.
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Better yet, give Del Selin's in Vernon BC a call. He has them in stock and at better prices than IMA. Del is a sponsor on this site. His phone number is 250 545 6413. Of course his hours are PST and he is open Tuesday to Saturday.
 
purple said:
Glad you like that one grel. I got it from a fellow in Sask about 30 yrs ago when I was into P08s and P38s bigtime. He had gotten it from the original owner who brought it back from Europe. I never fired the piece, but enjoyed it as a typical representation of a late war Spreewerke. The Waa88 stamp on the back of the mag is really itty-bitty.
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Thanks again for this. It might just be the beginning of a larger collection of WWII era pistols (to go with my growing collection of WWII era long guns... gotta have match sets for all the major players).

It took me a while, but I could make out the Waa88 stamp at the base of the spine of the magazine.

donthedrummer said:
Now go to IMA USA . com and buy a holster for that P-38.
They have fantastic repros available for a very decent price.
Click to expand...

bearhunter said:
Better yet, give Del Selin's in Vernon BC a call. He has them in stock and at better prices than IMA. Del is a sponsor on this site. His phone number is 250 545 6413. Of course his hours are PST and he is open Tuesday to Saturday.
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Will try and contact Del Selin's first - I like to keep the money within Canada whenever possible and reasonable. But I also looked at the IMA sight and... Those are some nice holsters, and quite reasonably priced.
 
9mm smg only ammo was NATO fad that western countries chose to use in order to get most out of the 9mm cartridge and to prolong service life of certain smgs that were in inventory or adopt newer designs that on paper show better ballistics. Germans or Russians during ww2 never differentiated ammo between smg or pistol. Ammo was supposed to be used in both.
What I was referring to is that there was a thread here where guy shot hot reloads out of his CYQ and he had slide failure where it cracked in half, right through ejection port.
 
grelmar said:
Because life is short.

Ever since I can remember, I've wanted a P-38.

I finally have the one pistol I've wanted more than any other.

Thanks, Purple, you're a stand up guy, and made a dream I've had for over 30 years come true.

My vet bring back, all matching numbers (even has a matching magazine), Spreewerk P-38. It may not be the most desirable one for some collectors, but I'm dang proud to have it in my collection
Click to expand...

Congratulations: these are the great stories of our sport.
 
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