Third Party Press

BYF44 P.38 - Rework?

Oldnrth

Oldnrth

Well-known member
I came across this BYf44 locally, guy is asking $900 on it which is too high in my opinion so I won’t be picking it up. The pictures he sent are what interested me the most. The slide had the serial’s stamped out and the serial added (no alpha) to match the rest of the gun (force matched) the bluing looks “off” as well and no paint on the “F/S” selector so it’s definitely been refinished. Still has the dirty birds and no importer mark, is this an East German re-work or could this have been wartime?

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The frame is from a cyq, P38. See the e/88 next to the serial number on the frame... Post war rework...
 
slow10ker said:
The frame is from a cyq, P38. See the e/88 next to the serial number on the frame... Post war rework...
Click to expand...

Sure enough, didn’t notice that. Yeah I offered him $500 to have a shooter again and you would’ve thought I killed his first born. “It’s a very valuable pistol” [emoji23]


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sprat said:
Blued locking block, dead give away
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Not always - I actually learned that earlier this year b/c I always went with the assumption of “no paint on F&S” & blued locking lug. McFarb I believe it was showed that some were in fact factory blued.


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The better way to tell (when in hand) is checking the pins and internal springs.
 
Oldnrth said:
Not always - I actually learned that earlier this year b/c I always went with the assumption of “no paint on F&S” & blued locking lug. McFarb I believe it was showed that some were in fact factory blued.


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Click to expand...

Many Spreewerkes had blued locking blocks. That is a fact.
 
Warrior1354 said:
What Ty said that is an important thing to remember when collecting P38 you got to break him down and check the internal parts.
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Random question - I was just talking to an old timer here today. He was talking about some P.38s made by walther in 1942 that we’re experimental and made of a Zinc/steel mix specifically for the Kreigsmarine? Said it was done in the D block. I’ve never heard of such a thing


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I have heard of early Dural framed P38s and I think that's about it.
 
Oldnrth said:
Not always - I actually learned that earlier this year b/c I always went with the assumption of “no paint on F&S” & blued locking lug. McFarb I believe it was showed that some were in fact factory blued.


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oldnrth

you like to contradict me, third time and all three times you were off base

glad you learned earlier about assumptions???

I was talking EAST GERMAN reworks, someone asked if it was possibly a east german re-work! The east germans typically did not blue the lugs, they were GENERALLY left them white, from the 100's east german P-38's I have handled and looked at over the past 30 yrs.

I did not feel the need to explain myself. The red and white is also missing from the east german reworks & czech P-38's
Click to expand...
 
sprat said:
Oldnrth said:
Not always - I actually learned that earlier this year b/c I always went with the assumption of “no paint on F&S” & blued locking lug. McFarb I believe it was showed that some were in fact factory blued.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk[/QUOTE
oldnrth

you like to contradict me, third time and all three times you were off base

glad you learned earlier about assumptions???

I was talking EAST GERMAN reworks, someone asked if it was possibly a east german re-work! The east germans typically did not blue the lugs, they were GENERALLY left them white, from the 100's east german P-38's I have handled and looked at over the past 30 yrs.

I did not feel the need to explain myself. The red and white is also missing from the east german reworks & czech P-38's
Click to expand...

Third times a charm? Haha - sorry, I guess I don’t remember the other two. Either way, thanks for your expertise!


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Click to expand...
 
Oldnrth said:
Random question - I was just talking to an old timer here today. He was talking about some P.38s made by walther in 1942 that we’re experimental and made of a Zinc/steel mix specifically for the Kreigsmarine? Said it was done in the D block. I’ve never heard of such a thing
Click to expand...
I can't say I've heard of any collector/researcher who has seen or heard of this. Walther attempted to use duralumin for commercial sales, but it was found to be not strong enough. Very few of these survived (<20). I have one, it's very light and you can easily feel the difference. Walther did use steel for their flare guns.

The P.38 is a very large gun. It didn't fit well in an airplane or a boat.
 
I’m wondering if your friend remembered incorrectly. Walther did use Zink to make flare guns through, but I suspect it wasn’t a Navy thing, but stories like that were common gun show lore back in the day. We (collectors) tended to exchange info and dress up the unknown with reasonable sounding explanations, like “black slings are SS” and stuff like that.


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mrfarb said:
I’m wondering if your friend remembered incorrectly. Walther did use Zink to make flare guns through, but I suspect it wasn’t a Navy thing, but stories like that were common gun show lore back in the day. We (collectors) tended to exchange info and dress up the unknown with reasonable sounding explanations, like “black slings are SS” and stuff like that.


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Click to expand...

Yeah that’s what I was thinking. Said he remembered people talking about them in the late 80’s/early 90’s and that they booked for $3k then. I knew of the dural framed but I had never heard of a zinc P.38. Great guy, he’s just getting a little older and I think some memories are getting mixed... happens to the best of us ha


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