*German, WW2, 9mm P38 Semi-Automatic Pistol, Dated 1944, Made by Mauser (byf)*
Serial Number 4642s marked on frame, receiver, and underneath barrel.
Pistol marked: “P38 byf 44, 4642s” waffenamt “WaA135”. On the obverse two waffenamt Waa135 and Eagle Proof.”
Magazine marked: P.38
The Pistole 38, a German semi-automatic pistol designed to replace the costly Luger P08, was developed in 1938, with full-scale production starting in 1940 and continuing until 1945. It offered comparable performance to the Luger P08 but with a significantly shorter production time. During World War II, Walther produced approximately 584,500 P38s, while Mauser and Spreewerk manufactured around 323,000 and 283,000 respectively. To conceal the identities of manufacturers, each used a letter code: “ac” for Walther, “byf” for Mauser, and “cyq” for Spreewerk, followed by the date of production (e.g., ac44 for Walther’s 1944 production). Spreewerk did not mark production dates. Pistols were made in blocks of 10,000 consecutively numbered units, each block identified by a sequential letter suffix to obscure production volume.
The P38 pioneered the use of a locked breech action combined with a double-action/single-action (DA/SA) trigger mechanism. This groundbreaking design allowed the pistol’s hammer to remain at rest when a round was chambered, with subsequent trigger pulls enabling double-action firing, followed by single-action for subsequent shots. The widespread adoption of this DA/SA trigger setup has been seen in numerous other pistol models since its introduction.
*Condition*
This Walther P38 is in excellent condition. Correctly stamped with Waffen code WaA135 with matching numbers. Deactivated to EU spec. Please see photographs as part of the condition report.
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