visit
 

Had a great visit with Ed and his lovely wife Terry the other day, as we were passing through Colorado and made a point to stop by and see him. As always it was good to see him, and to look through his draft on his work on Simson's, very impressive work so far, when it is printed, I'll be the first to get a copy, while I am not really into P-38's, Ed took the time to show me one, told me how on P-38's serial numbers don't match so to throw the allies of in thier search for arms plants during WW2 and how the "X" on the side of the frame shows that this one was an "experimental" model and very rare....all in all he made me a very good deal on such a hard to come by gun....can't wait until my next visit and perhaps he can help me add his Nambu to my collection....a high buff gloss blue and pearl handle model made for downtown Toyko officers only....I tell ya what a guy.

No Ed !

Don't sell your Submarine issue Nambu!!! Witt poil grips.

:)


I try to help other collectors learn about valuable guns. From Howards point of view, he taught me many things I never knew, I did not know that Goering had three twin daughters and each was assigned to Japan throughout the war, their initials were N.A. M.B. U.S. and the Japanese gov't named their primary pistols after them!


Ed

Keep this up Ed...remember I forgot to pay for this P-38

ah, who cares! ;) you'd feel guilty, your lovely wife would whack you in the head, oh, life is good :D


seriously, was a very nice morning, thanks for taking the time, was nice to see you guys again and for Terry to meet you and Sandra.

ed

Re: visit
 

Ed,
It is my understanding that the "X" on the P-38's frame and slide were a marking along with the MI on the trigger guard and the E/140, to delineate the gun has a frame that was manufactured by FN in Nazi occupied Belgian.

I own S/N 1316 X that has all the mentioned markings and according to Buxton's P-38 book, is in fact what I quoted above. Mr Buxton devotes an entire chapter to these FN framed guns and they are quite rare.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I would love to hear that the X stands for experimental as I am sure that would increase the value of my already high valued P-38.

Jack Hiles
Mesa AZ

Jack, Howard was teasing me, as we beleive it is a russian capture, thus the x. but you might be right!! (as to it being an x in accordance with Buxton, I have his books, just not enough P38's)


Ed

Ed,

Sometimes I can't see the forest through the trees! I sure do like my FN framed P-38. It is a great teaching tool for other P-38 owners to make sure they look carefully at ALL the markings on their guns.

I had a gent offer me his beautiful P-38 at a recent show. I told him I couldn't afford it to which he said, "You can't afford $500.00?"

I told him "No, I can't afford $2500.00." Puzzled he said again that he was asking $500.00, to which I said that he needed to do some homework on his gun. You see he had a 3 digit S/N Zero code high polish P-38!!! I don't have the heart to steal a gun like that from someone like that. He walked away a very happy man.

Jack

Jack, that was magnamnous (sp) of you, not a lot of collectors could do that! :)

Knowledge is everything, that is why I have books!

Ed

I love ya Jack but here's some sage advice from an old gunbuyer...Pay what the man is asking and count your blessings. No one is paying you to be a Professor. And the guy went away without pitching in on your table rent...He didn't buy you lunch after this good advice did he? You don't owe a walk in a damn thing. No good deed goes unpunished. Jerry Burney

Amen Jerry

Jack....you did a very honorable thing, while some will call you a fool, I won't, the gun trade business/hobby needs a few more like you.

Thank you all for your encouraging words. I think I know when to take a deal like that and when to help the person out. This was one of those times that the owner was young and maybe niave and needed to learn a lesson the easy way. I guarantee you that he will forever read before he ventures out into the arena again.

Jerry, I know it was a missed op, but I have been so blessed with my acquisitions (and you KNOW what I mean) that sometimes I think it is the professor in me that brings those things my way. I believe you have referred to me (tongue in cheek) as "You Robber."

At a recent show in Glendale where I spent the entire weekend teaching and disassembling Lugers to show people what they had, I was approached by the vendor from straight across from me. He sold ARs and related. He said after watching and listening to me all weekend, I could have any AR at his cost anytime I want. Like you said, no good deed goes unpaid.

Jack Hiles
Mesa AZ