Late war Mauser P38 grips variations

Larcheveque

Larcheveque

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I have two sets of late war Mauser P38 grips. I join a picure of my two sets. The one at the bottom is the typical type with a glossy black finish and with the mid grip sprue on the right grip. My other set is the one with the circles inside both right and left grips. But the outside is dull black? This is the only set of Mauser grips I saw with a dull black finish. The inside is glossy black like the more common variation. Anybody seen this type of grips before?


Vbh9UfJ.jpg
 
Look up online on how to distinguish Bakelite from modern plastics using hot water. It will not damage the original Bakelite or repro grip panels.
 
I never seen repros like these. If they are repros, they are very good quality.

As far as I understand they are made of Polyamid-6, a different material than bakelite. Here are few more informations:

http://pistole38.nl/p38-accessories/p38-grips

'' Polyamid-6 Grips
No company codes, trade names, serial numbers, or Waffenamts were found in the softer black grips that were seen predominantly on the late Mauser P.38s. These also were found to a much smaller degree on the late Walther P.38s. To date, it has not been proven that they have ever been found on Spreewerk P.38s. Typical characteristics of these slightly lighter weight and not-so-precisely-manufactured grips are their shiny, jet-black. Their external appearance is identical to the AEG grips. According to the grip’s internal configuration, two types (identified as I and II are known. On the lower inner surface of the left grip of both types, two empty circles are situated. The inner center of the right grip of the type I variety shows an inordinate warping, which corresponds to the feeding opening of the injection material. Other characteristics cannot be found on the type I right grip. On type II grips, the left and the right grip have matching markings (each marked with two circles in the inner lower half of the grip); less the inordinate amounts of warping found on the type I right grips.

It is not known to date where these grips were manufactured.''

I think they mention this variation on this page:

http://p38guns.com/Gripinfo.htm

'' The rest of Mauser production is the same as the Walther grips until Mauser switched to the soft, black plastic grips around the "v" block. These can be identified by two low circles on the left grip and mid grip sprue on the right grip as the most common. The inside of these grips will be a "dull" black, another variation is the right grip having the same two low circles as the left grip with a more glossy appearance on the inside of some sets.''

But I have never seen grips like mine.
 
Post clearer images of the markings. Any wartime grip has markings regarding mold position, and maker. If there is no markings, then post war or repro
 
Not on Polyamid-6 grips, there is no mold position an maker markings like the bakelite grips we see most of the time.

The Polyamid-6 version with the mid grip sprue and glossy finish is common on late war mauser pistol. Here is an example like the ones I have:

http://p38guns.com/5441y.htm

This is the other variation with empty circles on both sides that I would like to see other examples. I bought several reproductions myself and the ones I have do not look like they are repros at all. I'm very surprised that nobody on this forum seems to have a late mauser pistol with these grips on it....
 
Nabs said:
I'm not an expert but could they be P1 grips ?
Click to expand...

So far, all the original P1 grips I have seen are like these:

http://p38guns.com/19681.htm

I am still trying to find more infromations about my flat black grips but this is what I found so far:

They are Polyamid-6 grips, probably made by “Kunstharzpresserei Schwaben Ing. Otto Single” and this variation is known among collectors as the ''Type II''. We can see these grips mostly on late war Mauser P38 and some Walther P38 too. The only weird thing is the flat black finish on the outside. Now I try to find if they were made like this at the factory of if they have been modified on a later date.

This is a better picture to show the difference of the normal shiny finish compared to my weird type II grips:

wDMJSeY.jpg



More to come soon... I hope!
 
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