visit

[hqbmw]

Originally posted by policeluger
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.

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