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New To Me CYQ P.38

Oldnrth

Oldnrth

Well-known member
Local guy had this for sale - not big into the Spreewerke P.38s, but do to some bad pictures was able to scoop it up for a reasonable price so figured why not. Based on the aerial looks like a November of 1944 manufacture, all four serials match, not import marked, still has some thick cosmoline in the internals. Only questions I had was the third “88” inspection stamp is missing the eagle above, has anyone else seen this? Also thought about putting it in the sonic cleaner to get her nice and clean, but concerned about the “F” & “S”, has anyone had trouble with paint coming off in the sonic cleaner?

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As Jack said above, as well as struck at an angle. Looks like an honest cyq, they were not made pretty. No idea on paint coming off but if it did, I would suspect postwar touches. Must it be bathed like that?
 
What I think I may do is to sonic clean the un-painted portion (frame, barrel, etc.) and clean the slide by hand, a little more work but worth it to preserve the piece. Rough CYQ or not, she is history and should be cared for just as well as my other pieces... even if she is the ugly step-sister haha


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why would you put a collectible P-38 in a sonic cleaner what possible reason could you have for doing this??

also you do not want to remove the F&S paint, this is a good collectible. This pistol should sit in the safe from here on in ( NO SHOOTING)

I hope you take the advice
 
sprat said:
why would you put a collectible P-38 in a sonic cleaner what possible reason could you have for doing this??

also you do not want to remove the F&S paint, this is a good collectible. This pistol should sit in the safe from here on in ( NO SHOOTING)

I hope you take the advice
Click to expand...

The pistol is still caked in cosmoline - wanted to know if anyone else thought putting in the sonic-cleaner would hurt the paint. This one has cosmoline in every nook & cranny, wanted to get opinions on if this could be safely done, if not I’ll just do it by hand.

That is correct, I DON’T want to remove the paint, obviously that drops the value of the gun. Also correct, this one unfortunately (or fortunately) is not a shooter, will be a safe queen from here on out.

My next question would be, should I just leave the cosmoline and keep clean/lubricated the external parts or try to remove, what is your opinion?


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Personally, I hate cosmoline. My experience is long term it can actually trap moisture, it's not meant to be a indefinite term storage preservative. I'd probably just clean it by hand but I don't have a sonic cleaner yet, but if i had one I'd use it and re-oil the pistol afterwards (but wouldn't take a chance on the slide). Cleaning cosmoline from a pistol isn't the same as cleaning cosmoline from a Mauser stock - I clean it from the metal on 98k's, one day I'll post a photo of a commercial K98k that was wrapped in cosmoline soaked newspaper and shipped home during ww2 and left that way, it's somewhat unsightly.
 
mrfarb said:
Personally, I hate cosmoline. My experience is long term it can actually trap moisture, it's not meant to be a indefinite term storage preservative. I'd probably just clean it by hand but I don't have a sonic cleaner yet, but if i had one I'd use it and re-oil the pistol afterwards (but wouldn't take a chance on the slide). Cleaning cosmoline from a pistol isn't the same as cleaning cosmoline from a Mauser stock - I clean it from the metal on 98k's, one day I'll post a photo of a commercial K98k that was wrapped in cosmoline soaked newspaper and shipped home during ww2 and left that way, it's somewhat unsightly.
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Thanks for the feedback, I’ve seen some really soaked k98s. Sonic-cleaner gets into all the crevices a soft brush can’t, I have a small one for just handguns they’re relatively inexpensive. Finding the distilled water for them might be a hassle now though - I might give it a shot by hand, see how I can do and if it doesn’t clean up sell enough try the cleaner. G96 usually does a pretty good job then a little rem oil afterwords just to coat it. I keep almost everything in bore - stores and that seems to work very well


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If you go to the P38 website and search on ultrasonic cleaners you’ll find much info including some posts with before and after pictures. I own one and it WILL remove the paint from the S and F. So, like you’re thinking I won’t sonic the slide if the paints present. It works wonders on cleaning off the russian dip.

You can clean one almost as good with oil and OOOO steel wool along with q tips. It just takes longer....

Good luck.
 
Did the right thing and cleaned it by hand. A little G96 and Rem oil has it sparkling. Noticed an * on the frame which I hadn’t at first (salvageable reject). With all the craziness going on cleaning a piece of steel has some calming, therapeutic effects!


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Nice piece! Has the correct original Posselt 5 line grips. Can't make out the serial number in the photos or would give you a manufacturing date that's pretty close. Love those slightly rough cyq P.38s! They were not well finished, but they were very well made.
 
tsmgguy said:
Nice piece! Has the correct original Posselt 5 line grips. Can't make out the serial number in the photos or would give you a manufacturing date that's pretty close. Love those slightly rough cyq P.38s! They were not well finished, but they were very well made.
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The serial number is in the “5xxx W” - based on my information it’s made in November of 1944, does that info seem correct to you as well?


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Last week the UPS man delivered an f block AC42 to me. The S&F paint was still there and cleaning in Hoppes No. 9 did not hurt it. However, I can't say for sure that the paint in mine is the original. Ymmv.
 
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