A not so Russian capture p38

Hello, I bought this P38 from a fine arms dealer about 12 years ago. Its an all matching P38 with two mags and the original holster. I chose it because of its unique supposed story in that it was captured by a Russian soldier who put his address on it and carried it until he discovered he wouldn't be allowed to keep it. He supposedly traded it to an American serviceman for a watch when the two fronts united. Not sure if the story is BS or what, but none the less let me know what you all think...

Interesting story, and you are right ... soviets were not allowed to take home trophy/captured firearms. However, what's puzzling is the idea or writing the address on the holster when the soviet postal service was almost in-existing or unavailable to most soviet soldiers. On the other hand, the address doesn't really looks like an address - more like a combination of shortened name and elongated first name with a number 43 (maybe unit number ?). On the same page, the abbreviation "ф-ль шк." doesn't say much and it's a bit confusing (if it was russian - " шк. " would be shortening for school).
But here comes the twist, and I might be wrong about it. The russian soldier and russian captured p38 with holster may not be really russian, what if it's Bulgarian???. "Tодоров" or "Tодор" seems to be more Bulgarian than Russian, and even if you find anyone in motherland with that name, he definitely is of bulgarian descent. But we shall not forget the bulgarian community on the west-south of Bessarbia & Ukraine.
So from here the possibilities or combination are diverse:
- Russian soldier picks p38 as a trophy from a bulgarian soldier on east front between 1941-1944.
- Bulgarian soldier gives his p38 (perhaps captured in Yugoslavia 1945) to an US soldier when the bulgarian army makes contact with allies in Austria 1945.
- Bulgarian descent soldier from red army takes is as a trophy from a german soldier and hands it to US troops in Germany 1945.
- Everything is fake and there was no such thing as WW2. I'm offended. Change your mind.

And once again, I'm just playing with theories and everything I wrote may be dismissed by somebody with more info on the subject. Nonetheless you do have a beautiful p38/holster with an interesting story.

Hibbs said:

Hello, I bought this P38 from a fine arms dealer about 12 years ago. Its an all matching P38 with two mags and the original holster. I chose it because of its unique supposed story in that it was captured by a Russian soldier who put his address on it and carried it until he discovered he wouldn't be allowed to keep it. He supposedly traded it to an American serviceman for a watch when the two fronts united. Not sure if the story is BS or what, but none the less let me know what you all think...

Click to expand...

I tried to zoom, is the serial 776g? If so something doesn't add up. 9 years ago it showed up on the p38forum with 1 mag and no holster, one collector in KY bought it from another long term P.38 collector (not sure when the first collector picked it up). The gun looks identical. Good looking gun, but the timeline of events doesn't seem right, which leads me to believe the story belongs to another gun or is inaccurate.

http://p38forum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22915

Great research phillynick. That little flaw next to the CYQ is identical in each photo. Happens to be same serial as well.

Someone probably bought a holster that was used post war in Eastern Europe and paired them together.

I’m the collector that posted this P38 on the P38 forum years ago. Funny how history was revised..... There wasn’t a holster with that P38 when I owned it....

Jeff

Tez said:

- Everything is fake and there was no such thing as WW2. I'm offended. Change your mind.

Click to expand...

EXACTLY!!!

It is an interesting piece and theories. Looking forward to more thoughts on this one.

take off the grips take a picture of the inside of the grips & post
Please

My timeline could be very off... it may have been like 8 years ago I bought it and threw it in the safe and didn’t think much of it. I don’t belong to that p38 forum so I can’t see the pictures but I will create an account. Very well may be the same gun with some modified history. I will take off the grips and post for you sprat

Hobbs, I confuse my time lines all of the time! 8 or 9 years is a long time. When I owned it the grips were from a Mauser. Still, a cool holster. And the cyq speaks for itself. Very nice!!

ugafx4 said:

Great research phillynick.

Click to expand...

I was talking about this very thing in a different post. It's amazing to me just how often this exact thing happens here... and not just K98 rifles either. Often with photos and details. Great stuff.

hey slow who did you sell it to?

I’ll have to pull my bound book and look. It’s in storage since I’m no longer a C&R holder...

Tez said:

The russian soldier and russian captured p38 with holster may not be really russian, what if it's Bulgarian???. "Tодоров" or "Tодор" seems to be more Bulgarian than Russian, and even if you find anyone in motherland with that name, he definitely is of bulgarian descent. But we shall not forget the bulgarian community on the west-south of Bessarbia & Ukraine.
So from here the possibilities or combination are diverse:
- Russian soldier picks p38 as a trophy from a bulgarian soldier on east front between 1941-1944.
- Bulgarian soldier gives his p38 (perhaps captured in Yugoslavia 1945) to an US soldier when the bulgarian army makes contact with allies in Austria 1945.
- Bulgarian descent soldier from red army takes is as a trophy from a german soldier and hands it to US troops in Germany 1945.
- Everything is fake and there was no such thing as WW2. I'm offended. Change your mind.

And once again, I'm just playing with theories and everything I wrote may be dismissed by somebody with more info on the subject. Nonetheless you do have a beautiful p38/holster with an interesting story.

Click to expand...

I would say its more likely the holster was used in post-war Bulgaria as Ty suggested. You can sometimes find P38 mags reworked by Bulgaria, so they definitely issued them, probably well into the 1950s, along with a lot of other German equipment (GrW34, MP40, etc.).

Sold it to a local dealer on 10 Sep 2012.....

slow10ker said:

Sold it to a local dealer on 10 Sep 2012.....

Click to expand...

White haired dude? Asian wife? Specialize in handguns? In Florida?

Nope. This guy and his wife are both white. He does a lot of shows in the south east.

Nvm then shame someone would throw in a mag and a holster and flat up lie... was a really good story though

Hibbs, you’re lucky! You got a nice gun with a nice holster. Only the story was bad. Wonder how many of us have bought a forced match gun in our collecting career? I have. This hobby is a minefield. You did great! That guy will get his one day. Karma can be a bit**...

Hibbs said:

White haired dude? Asian wife? Specialize in handguns? In Florida?

Click to expand...

yes I know this guy he does the manattee/Palmetto shows to FT Myers. he once had a P-38 nice one with a east german hard shell marked Holster. I tried like hell to buy that holster, I even offered to trade a WW2 holster for the East German ,he kept telling me to buy the rig, the P-38 was not east german or capture

sprat said:

yes I know this guy he does the manattee/Palmetto shows to FT Myers. he once had a P-38 nice one with a east german hard shell marked Holster. I tried like hell to buy that holster, I even offered to trade a WW2 holster for the East German ,he kept telling me to buy the rig, the P-38 was not east german or capture

Click to expand...

thats indeed him