In collecting representative wartime P.38s it's been easy to date Walther (ac) and Mauser (byf, svw) pistols because they have the year and the month of manufacture stamped right on the slide. Spreewerke just gives a serial #.
I am waiting for my Ron Clarin Spreewerke book which will probably elaborate on this, but here is something to work with: Dieter Marschall's book pp62, and Buxton's book pp 183 explains that in in August 1943 Walther P.38s modified the frame to reinforce the trigger axle pin, (easily visible just above the trigger. A bulge in the frame is made at that point to provide more 'meat' around the axle hole.) On page 65 Marschall states that this change also applies to Mauser and Spreewerke pistols. Also, pp 68 refers to Mauser, but not specifically Spreewerke. Therefor, (it seems to me) if you have a Spreewerke/cyq P.38, and it has the unmodified frame (my cyq 5456a is one of these) you should be able to assume it was manufactured before 8/43. As with most posts, I usually find that this is already well known, but I thought it was of some interest.
After the war, P38 pistols were imported into the US in huge numbers long before any importers stamps were required. Your gun may have been fitted with a new slide at any time since 1945 by anyone from an importer to an owner who damaged the slide.
Bakersfield, Your 'a' suffix production is March of '43. I am a little confused regarding your statement on wartime Walthers and Mausers having the month and year stamped on the right of the slide. Postwar could have on left or right; but wartime only displayed the manufacturer code and year. The letter blocks were in 10,000 increments, such as 'a' would go to 10000a then 'b' started and went to 10000b and so on.
The exception was Spreewerk, cyq. They did not year stamp their pistols and they just started with the nls thru the alphabet then to the letter prefix. You have an early example since the nls started in June of '42 and ran into Jan. The only thing in contention, beside the slide month dating is I believe we should never stop learning or accepting the possibilities because being things made by humans causes those possibilities. The P38 Forum also has a wealth of information from new to seasoned collectors and shooters.
On one of there threads I believe there is a cheat sheet with the wartime manufacturers' blocks and dates. If I need to be corrected, I am always open to comments, not bashing. Thank you mucho for the info offered on my original post. I don't know what I was thinking about stating the year and suffix letter was on the right side of the slide (ac, byf, svw). Obviously it is on the left. But I am now wondering about a separate issue.
I had always thought that the suffix lower case letter on at least the Walther and Mauser P.38's represented months, e.g., a= January, b= February etc. I get this from W.H.B. Smith's book, pp 89. The 10,000 per suffix letter is a new one to me but I defer to the forum expertise, and I appreciate the information.
Still, one way to date a cyq as either a very early pistol or not seems to be the implementation of the trigger axle 'bulge'. If that is absent, it seems to be an early gun, if it has that change it is a later pistol. At least, it is a visible way to at least divide the cyq's into two categories. I'm now studying the Spreewerke's production numbers provided and as I mentioned, I have sent away for the new Clarin book. By first P.38 was in 1966 and clearly, I'm still learning the basics!
Contents. Development The first designs submitted to the German Army featured a locked breech and a hidden hammer, but the Heer requested that it be redesigned with an external hammer. The P38 concept was accepted by the German military in 1938 but production of actual prototype ('Test') pistols did not begin until late 1939.
Walther began manufacture at their plant in and produced three series of 'Test' pistols, designated by a '0' prefix to the serial number. The third series pistols satisfactorily solved the previous problems for the Heer and mass production began in mid-1940, using Walther's military production identification code '480'. After a few thousand pistols the Heer changed all codes from numbers to letters and Walther was given the 'ac' code. Several experimental versions were later created in, and, but these were never mass-produced. In addition to the 9×19mm Parabellum version, some and some versions were also manufactured and sold. Design details From an engineering perspective the P38 was a semi-automatic pistol design that introduced technical features that are found in other semi-automatic pistols like the and its sub-variant adopted by the United States military.
The P38 was the first locked-breech pistol to use a (the earlier double-action was an unlocked design, but the more powerful round used in the P38 mandated a locked breech design). The shooter could chamber a round, use the safety- lever to safely lower the hammer without firing the round, and carry the weapon loaded.
This lever can stay down, keeping the pistol 'on safe' or be immediately returned to the straight position, keeping the weapon safely 'ready' with a double-action trigger pull for the first shot. Pulling the trigger cocks the hammer before firing the first shot with double-action operation. The firing mechanism extracts and ejects the first spent round, cocks the hammer, and chambers a fresh round for single-action operation with each subsequent shot – all features found in many modern day.
Besides a DA/SA trigger design similar to that of the earlier the P38 featured a visible and tactile in the form of a metal rod that protrudes out of the top rear end of the slide when a round is present in the chamber. P38 made by, coded 'byf 44' with matching and leather holster The moving-barrel design mechanism operates by use of a wedge-shaped falling locking block underneath the breech. When the pistol is fired both the barrel and slide recoil for a short distance together, where the locking block drives down, disengaging the slide and arresting further rearward movement of the barrel. The slide however continues its rearward movement on the frame, ejecting the spent case and cocking the hammer before reaching the end of travel. Two return springs located on either side of the frame and below the slide, having been compressed by the slide's rearward movement, drive the slide forward, stripping a new round from the magazine, driving it into the breech and, in the process, re-engaging the barrel; ending its return travel with a fresh round chambered, hammer cocked and ready to repeat the process. The falling locking block design provides good accuracy due to the in-line travel of the barrel and slide.
Initial production P38 pistols were fitted with walnut grips, but these were later supplanted by grips. Post war P1 grips were made of sheet metal. Variants.
The P1 used by the Bundeswehr The Walther P38 was in production from 1939 to 1945. After the war from 1945-1946, several thousands of pistols were assembled for the French armed forces (frequently dubbed 'grey ghosts' because of parkerized finish and grey sheet metal grips). Only after 1957 was the P38 again produced for the German military. Slowly over time, West Germany desired to rebuild its military so that it could shoulder some of the burden for its own defense.
Walther retooled for new P38 production since no military firearms production had occurred in West Germany since the end of the war, knowing that the military would again seek Walther firearms. When the announced it wanted the P38 for its official service pistol, Walther readily resumed P38 production within just two years, using wartime pistols as models and new engineering drawings and machine tools. The first of the new P38s were delivered to the West German military in June 1957, some 17 years and two months after the pistol had initially seen action in World War II, and from 1957 to 1963 the P38 was again the standard sidearm. In late 1963 the postwar military model P1 was adopted for use by the German military, identifiable by the P1 stamping on the slide.
The postwar pistols, whether marked as P38 or P1, have an frame rather than the steel frame of the original design. Starting in June 1975, the aluminum frame was reinforced with a hex bolt above the trigger guard.
During the 1990s the German military started replacing the P1 with the and finally phased out the P1 in 2004. An improved version of the P38, the Walther P4, was developed in the late 1970s and was adopted by the police forces of South Africa,. Users.: received 10,000 P1s after the. (trial purposes).: Used by the prisoner transport services of the until the late 1980's.
P1 Variant.: P1 variant.: Used primarily by police and paramilitary.: Finnish, P1 variant.: Replaced by the mid-1950s.: P1 variant.: received 8,000 P1 pistols in 2014. at least up to 2007 were used as service pistol in private security companies.: P1 variant.:. Replaced by the in 1985.:Used.
In small numbers purchased from.:.: Standard sidearm of SA Police. Trivia The original design for the character allowed him to of the P38. The deemed it illegal due to the barrel not having an orange tip, making it hard to differentiate from the actual firearm. Also for similar reasons.
References.