Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Opinions on value - Walther 1943 P-38

Wandered into my LGS today to see if anything new and interesting came in. Found this P-38 in this case, as well as a Chinese pre-ban AK underfolder and a S&W 10-6 that looked like it had been carried and shot the hell out of, but still had good bones and solid lockup. Go figure.

Here are a couple pics of the P-38. It was in pretty darn good shape, given its age. No Nazi insignias, like my Dad's has.

Looks nice, AC code makes it a Walther. Should be a Waffenampt stamp somewhere, but don't expect a swastika. If it's all matching, then it would be a nice gun. Price looks a little steep, but don't quote me on that; I'm not exactly a P38 collector. I'd check gunbroker and perhaps a P38 forum to see what the right price is. If it has the holster and two mags, then I'd say the price is very good.

GunGeek, thanks for the input. I'm not P-38 expert, either. It only had one mag (that I could see), but looked original and fit perfectly.

No holster, but didn't get a chance to discuss the gun with the shop owner. He was doing his buy low - sell high gig on the phone in the back room.

Same shop that had that BHP in .30 Luger?

Speaking of rare BHP's, I finally scored an aluminum frame Hi Power. Should be in my little greedy's late next week.

Yes, Sam.

Also had a 5906 for $499. $400 would be better, and probably doable. Kevin was not available to deal.

I'm always looking at P-38's if they appear locally at a gun show or gun shop. That price seems pretty much in line with what I've seen in my area, maybe even better depending on a closer inspection of the gun. I've toyed with the idea of getting a P-38 and that's the exact year (1943) that my "ideal" P-38 would be made in. Because I've got a Nazi marked, 1943 dated, military P-38 holster with nothing to put in it. One of my late uncles brought a Luger home from Germany in 1945 in that P-38 holster and when I inherited the Luger in 2001 it was still in the holster. How's that for an excuse to buy another gun?

Your logic seems quite sound to me.

Price seems ok. The last P-38 I owned, I swapped even-up for a decent M1 Garand.