Welcome to the G/K43 Forums’ July 2008 newsletter. The focus of this month’s Newsletter will be a brief summary on the German P38. See my example.

The Walther P38 pistol was the replacement for the P08 Luger. In 1935 the German armed forces were searching for a replacement for the luger and in 1938, the P38 was approved by the German military as a replacement for the P08 Luger.

The Luger was a outstanding weapon and very accurate although it had to be kept very clean, in tip-top shape during combat conditions. The P38 was a more forgiving weapon under the same conditions. Cost and the speed of manufacture were much more practical with the P38 design. The P38 cost 5.60 Reichmark vs 11.50 Reichmark for the P08. Walther (ac) was the first to start producing the P38 but it was quickly realized more production capacity would be needed, more than Walther's small arms factory Zella Mehlis (ac) (pictured below) could supply. Mauser (byf) began P38 production in 1942, and furthered it's production at Spreewerke (cyq) in 1943.

Other companies such as Boehmische waffenfabrik (fnh) and Erstre Nordboehmische Metallwarenfabrik (jvd) supplied barrels, slides, locking blocks and magazines.

It is commonly believed the PLUM color of the frames was caused from them being in the bluing vats either too long, or too short of a time. The AC P38s and there are many different variations have become sought after by collectors. Walther's Zella Mehlis factory was captured the first week of April 1945 by American forces. Many P38s and G/K43 rifles in various stages of production were captured at that time.