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Late ac PP crudeness

Tiger 2 Tank

Senior Member
Finally got some decent photos of a late PP ac rig that I got at the last minute from the November Tulsa show. The gun was super dry when I bought it. The seller had a table that was not very noticeable. This rig didn’t have papers, but was a nice bring back minus the papers. It came with a nice tan PP unmarked holster and two of the rarer blued W mags. Any late W PP mag is rare and good to come across, but the blued ones are harder to find. You would think the gray phosphate ones would be, but I haven’t found it that way. This is also the second late war ac PP rig I bought with this type of tan unmarked holster.

This gun has an unusual amount of pock marks all along both sides of the slide. It’s not rust pitting, but the way the metal ended up when the gun was made. Combined with the typical warped and cracked weighted grips these usually have, it makes for a nice ugly 1945 last ditch look.

This gun, along with my mismatched late ac PP, are my two crudest looking pistols. Check out the mismatched slide serial number and it’s trigger guard that has the chip at the front of it.

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Beautiful, late PPs. I don’t see any firing proofs on the slide(s). Seems neither of them left the factory during the war? Love the holster too!
 
Thanks everyone.

Neither have any proofs as they probably did not leave the factory until liberated by the Americans. I believe that is the current thought on it.

This ac PP is the crudest in finish I have run across. Most have mill marks and some pitted metal, but this one is really rough. Kind of reminds me of my late ‘45 Beretta pistols with similar finish problems:
 

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Love it, on my "to get" list for this year, I'd be pleased finding one like this.
 
Great set Tiger 2 Tank. Only a few thousand away from yours. And with similar rough finish. I like the haphazard out of alignment numbering on the slide.

383879 P
Matching on slide and frame
ac under serial number
E/N on slide and barrel
Warped black plastic grips (weighted)
Safety and magazine release appear to be phosphate or a VERY thin blue
Not shown in the pics but the magazine is a late W; phosphate body with blued follower, spring, and base
 

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Really nice! I remember a while back when I first saw one of these without any proofs; I had no idea what it was, but knew it had to be something either late war or post war. I was at a gunshow and the pistol was in super nice condition. I did a quick look up on the P38forum and saw what it was and bought it. Addicted to these ever since. On the p38forum (PP/PPk section), I've been helping out with the serial number gathering of these. So, I come across a lot of them and see a bunch of different things with these.

I just bought a nice really late one from a fellow forum member. I'm oiling her up and getting some of the crud out of the nooks and crannies. Once done, I'll take photos and post her up. She's real late and a mismatch. It's got some neat things going on with it as well.

I've seen these with little parts on it that are really strange. One had the black plastic hammer spring base replaced with an earlier metal one that was part of an engraved pistol (it had an oak leaf pattern to it). The later these are, the weirder some little parts get. One super late one I came across had an odd partially machine/factory finished firing pin and partially hand finished. It was actually kind of dangerous because the end of the pin was way too close to the base of the chamber face surface where the bullet primer would sit. I've run across a few more super late ones where the trigger bar has been oddly polished. Some have the mag release button that sticks or doesn't work properly due to the machining of the frame. Interesting things with these.
 
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