Quote:
Originally Posted by barr44
Kyrie,
Good to know you are still around, I've communicated with you a few years ago over on the C-96 forum. You do get around, nice to hear from and as always I thank you for your input.
barr44
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You are very welcome, sir, and it's good to still be around :-)
Several things to be aware of when it comes to these post-war, produced for the French occupation, P.38s.
One major thing is Mauser wasn't in a position to make very many new parts. The supply system (especially the rail system) in defeated Germany just didn't exist any more. The only raw materials Mauser had were whatever had been on hand before supply of new raw material (and damaged pistols) became impossible. So the vast majority of "French contract" post-war P.38 were composed of whatever parts existed at the Mauser plant when it was captured. Most of these existing parts were salvaged from unserviceable P.38s that had been shipped to Mauser for repair or salvage. This is why we see such a variety of waffenamp stamps on the parts in these P.38s. The E/359 stamp you see on your P.38 tells us that that part in particular was salvaged form a P.38 made at the Walther plant.
Another thing to keep in mind is Mauser tended to place the "French star" definitive proof stamp in the same places that they had put the Third Reich definitive proof stamp, for the same reasons. The significance of this is any "French contract" P.38 that lacks any of the three required proof stamps is of dubious authenticity, and may be a parts gun put together here in the USA by a gun shop or just someone with a pile of P.38 parts.
Please don't get me wrong - I'm not saying your P.38 is a genuine "French contract" P.38 nor am I saying it's a parts gun. I have no way of knowing one way or the other. All I am saying is the absence of any of the three required firing proof marks is going to make a collector suspicious of the gun's authenticity.