P-38 CYQ year of manufacture and month!

Kyrie · 02-07-2001, 08:40 PM

Hi M,

Alas, there is no way to accurately determine a year/month of manufacture based on serial number. The problem here is we don't know how many pistols any of the manufacturers actually made in any given month. What we do know from surviving records is how many pistols passed inspection and were accepted by the German Army in each month.

"Manufactured" versus "accepted" is an important distinction. The rejection rate for P.38's varied considerably (from an estimated 90% in some months to an estimated 15% in other months) by year/month and manufacturer. Any pistols that were rejected were reworked and submitted for inspection again. So there is no way to know, as an example, how many of the pistols accepted in January of 1945 were actually made in January of 1945. The number of pistols accepted in that year and month would contain some number of pistols rejected from earlier months, and even some pistols returned to the factory for repairs.

Your pistol was likely made sometime in 1943, and probably late (October - December) in that year. But that's just an educated guess :-(

Sorry I was not more help, but it's just not possible with the available information to get any more precise.

Best regards,

Kyrie

02-07-2001, 08:40 PM	#3
Kyrie User Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 757 Thanks: 0 Thanked 212 Times in 101 Posts	Re: P-38 CYQ year of manufacture and month! Hi M, Alas, there is no way to accurately determine a year/month of manufacture based on serial number. The problem here is we don't know how many pistols any of the manufacturers actually made in any given month. What we do know from surviving records is how many pistols passed inspection and were accepted by the German Army in each month. "Manufactured" versus "accepted" is an important distinction. The rejection rate for P.38's varied considerably (from an estimated 90% in some months to an estimated 15% in other months) by year/month and manufacturer. Any pistols that were rejected were reworked and submitted for inspection again. So there is no way to know, as an example, how many of the pistols accepted in January of 1945 were actually made in January of 1945. The number of pistols accepted in that year and month would contain some number of pistols rejected from earlier months, and even some pistols returned to the factory for repairs. Your pistol was likely made sometime in 1943, and probably late (October - December) in that year. But that's just an educated guess :-( Sorry I was not more help, but it's just not possible with the available information to get any more precise. Best regards, Kyrie