First Wartime P38: AC44 P38 Rig

[AN-94]

I finally got my first wartime P38, a complete AC44 rig! Pistol is a d block and all matching with 2 Walther mags and a ewx holster dated 1944. This one appears to have spent most of its life in this holster as there is some holster wear and the holster is worn through where the front sight would rest (top of front sight is nice and shiny). While the pistol itself is nothing special, I loved the look of this one and couldn't pass it up. Apparently, I have a thing for German guns being 2 tone as this one has a very plum barrel and frame with nice blue on the slide, trigger, and hammer. Now if someone has/knows of a matching qve45 K43 with durofol handguard or a nice Gewehr 98 for sale, I can continue this 2 tone streak

Sorry if photos aren't the best, still working on how to optimize lighting. Pistol breaks down as follows:
Frame: 7658d, E/359
Slide: 7658d, ac44, E/359x2, Firing Proof
Barrel: 7658d
Locking Block: 658, E/359, Firing Proof
Front Sight: 4
Grips: P/1529/4 on left, P/1528/4 on right
Magazines: P38v, E/359
Holster: P.38, ewx 1944, WaA195 (faint)

 

[AN-94]

Pics of the holster and mags. If there's anything else you guys wanna see, let me know

 

[joryfreeburg]

Nice looking P38 rig…. Congrats

 

[sturmgrenadier]

You’re wrong: anything nearly 80 years old, matching, and in that condition IS special. Congrats on a nice rig; I have a. a matching ac43 b block rig with a hard shell, I need to post pics one day.

 

[slow10ker]

Great rig and fantastic photos! Love the color of the frame !

 

[tsmgguy]

Very nice! I have an almost identical gun, also from the 1944 d block. I think of it as three tone, as the barrel, slide, and frame are all finished differently. The barrel is more of an eggplant color. The colors are probably due to different steel formulations reacting differently to bluing.

These are well made guns. Walther never used slave labor and had high priorities for materials and tooling right up to the end of the war. The factory was never bombed, nor was it displaced.

Your late war hard shell holster is probably rarer than the gun! Soft shell holsters were more the norm at this period. My own ac44 came in a very nice pebble grained ewx black holster, also with two correct mags. Unissued soft-shell holsters are still readily available. Most came from storge within the borders of the old Soviet Union.

 

[AN-94]

Thanks everyone, really pleased with this one! Now I might need a byf44rig and a cyq rig to go along with it...

Very nice! I have an almost identical gun, also from the 1944 d block. I think of it as three tone, as the barrel, slide, and frame are all finished differently. The barrel is more of an eggplant color. The colors are probably due to different steel formulations reacting differently to bluing.

These are well made guns. Walther never used slave labor and had high priorities for materials and tooling right up to the end of the war. The factory was never bombed, nor was it displaced.

Your late war hard shell holster is probably rarer than the gun! Soft shell holsters were more the norm at this period. My own ac44 came in a very nice pebble grained ewx black holster, also with two correct mags. Unissued soft-shell holsters are still readily available. Most came from storge within the borders of the old Soviet Union.

Didn't think about it like that but looking at it now, it is more 3 tone than anything else. I'm quite impressed with the quality on this pistol, very well made. I didn't realize that hard shell holsters were that uncommon for 1944, glad to have such a nice example of one.

 

[mdarnell19]

Thanks everyone, really pleased with this one! Now I might need a byf44rig and a cyq rig to go along with it...

Yes you do!

Nice rig

 

[mrfarb]

Walther never used slave labor

Ummm......have you ever heard of Nuengamme? Walther was a total Nazi and did use slave labor.

Slave Labour in Armaments Production

Really nice pistol, one day the barrel and frame will probably just finally turn color to bare steel. When new it was deep blue, it has turned plum over time.

 

[tsmgguy]

Ummm......have you ever heard of Nuengamme? Walther was a total Nazi and did use slave labor.

Not at the Zella-Mehlis plant, where the OP's piece was produced.