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P.38 cyq 0 series

Tiger 2 Tank

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Here’s one I used to own. It came from a prestigeous collector’s collection as he was purging his Spreewerk pistols from his collection. I sold it to make funds for something else (stupidly). I wish I would have kept her. She was a “clunky old girl”, not smooth at all. Very “grindy” in feel when pulling the slide back, trigger pull, hammer drop lever using and if I remember right, the hammer drop worked but was hard to manipulate. The bore was excellent too. She’s original and super late and just an angry old girl:

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Spreewerk P.38 pistols have a darker bluing going on with a lot of them. Sometimes the locking blocks and pins are blued, sometimes not. They are tricky sometimes (especially in photos) to tell if they are dipped or original in finish. This specimen is all kinds of original. She was beautiful and one I miss. It’s in another collection now. So, one day, if you ever come across this one before I do, snatch it up. It’s not an easy one to find out there.

Photos are from Leon Despain.
 
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We have the same taste, I've had my eye out for one of these for a while.

That one is really nice, someone here posted the best one I have ever seen a few months ago. Came from pre98.
 
We have the same taste, I've had my eye out for one of these for a while.

That one is really nice, someone here posted the best one I have ever seen a few months ago. Came from pre98.

Sure sounds like we do. I can’t remember that one from pre98 at the moment. If I saw it again it would probably jar my memory. The good thing about this pistol was that I had an in-hand inspection, not dark and blurry photos. And, the collector I got it from is a highly advanced one that is a good friend. Another advanced collector of these took the photos, which he’s way better than I could ever be on that spectrum.

Love the late war stuff. I need to turn my focus on earlier stuff now or at some point (high polish finish stuff). The balance of my collection is more toward the later stuff at this current time.
 
Love the late war stuff. I need to turn my focus on earlier stuff now or at some point (high polish finish stuff). The balance of my collection is more toward the later stuff at this current time.

That early war stuff isn’t that great, trust me. The late war stuff is the coolest. Lol.


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..I sold it to make funds for something else (stupidly). I wish I would have kept her.
..if you ever come across this one before I do, snatch it up. It’s not an easy one to find out there.

Yes I agree with all this. Probably why I never sell. Too easy to regret it later. One thing I find interesting is the base metal and machining and finish actually get better from the z block.
 
Yes I agree with all this. Probably why I never sell. Too easy to regret it later. One thing I find interesting is the base metal and machining and finish actually get better from the z block.

It’s always been said by collectors that Spreewerk’s are some of the best examples of P.38’s...and worst. So, depends on, well I don’t know what it depended on as to what made one super nice and the next one super awful. I guess that is just some of the appeal to Spreewerk P.38’s to collectors. Right now I only have one Spreewerk in my collection. It’s a typical f block, nothing special about it other than it has a lot of pot hole “craters” (not too big) in the metal here and there. Just shows the crappy quality of the metal.
 
That is a nice one!

I hate selling things, because I usually regret it down the road...I've sold some nice stuff I wish I had back!

The other interesting thing about these "0" series is how they went from stamping the serials to engraving with a pantograph around the 03000 range....

I was thrilled to get mine, they are very cool....
 
..nothing special about it other than it has a lot of pot hole “craters” (not too big) in the metal here and there. Just shows the crappy quality of the metal.

I've seen 4 z block recently, including the one I bought and every one has several decent sized ones in the slide. Those must have been some ugly blanks. Also they have the large sweeping milling marks missing on this 0 block. Strange but also interesting.
 
That is a nice one!

I hate selling things, because I usually regret it down the road...I've sold some nice stuff I wish I had back!

The other interesting thing about these "0" series is how they went from stamping the serials to engraving with a pantograph around the 03000 range....

I was thrilled to get mine, they are very cool....

Yours, if I remember right, was about like this one condition wise. It was sure a nice one and not an easy find. Probably the best one in the bunch of P.38’s the seller had. I went to that store a week or so later after the show and picked up a decent late PP mag for $100 bucks and a gorgeous late blued Radom mag for $35 bucks!

The main problem with these late Spreewerk P.38’s are that most are dipped. The Russians got ahold of them and just slathered that black crap all over them. So finding an original finish super late Spreewerk is really difficult.

Yes, they did start the engraving on the serial numbers on these later on. I forgot they did that.
 
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I've seen 4 z block recently, including the one I bought and every one has several decent sized ones in the slide. Those must have been some ugly blanks. Also they have the large sweeping milling marks missing on this 0 block. Strange but also interesting.

And don’t forget the odd “criss cross” heavy mill marks too Spreewerk pistols have sometimes. I’ve always wanted one like that, but haven’t found one yet condition wise that I could live with.
 
https://pre98.com/shop/gone-but-not...s-cvq-code-spreewerke-p-38-pistol-mint-crisp/

Okay, that one looks way nicer than the one I had, if it’s not dipped. Again, photos are hard to tell from on these. I’ve been taught to really watch the wear patterns and corners. Also, we would need photos of the locking block pin (all the way extended outward) to see what’s going on with it. I am absolutely not saying it’s dipped, but these you have to look at many things on them to confirm it’s not.

Here’s a couple of areas that I would be concerned about:

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Again, I wouldn’t be ready to declare it a dipped piece, but these areas may point in that direction.
 

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