Dueling P38's.

Well since my new web friends over at the Tenring blog are posting about their World War Two P-38 Pistol, I figure that the least that I can do is post about mine.

Mine was made in 1942 at the Waltherwerke Zella-Mehlis plant in Berlin for the German military machine.

I acquired it back in the 1980's, before Saving Private Ryan and other movies came along to made WW2 popular with the masses and drive up the prices of war collectables. In fact when I bought this gun for thenow- ridiculously low price of $265.00, it wasn't considered particularly historic or valuable and I almost immediately pressed it into service as a work gun. At the time, I was working my way through community college as a security guard and some nice, high-paying armed accounts had just opened up. A job requirement was that we provide our own double-action .38 Special or 9mm pistols, and as this was the only one that I had at the time, me and my P-38 went to work guarding a jewelry store in a mall.

This one shows the sort of rough machining that would have been unheard of at Walther a year or two prior. But there was a war on so they were rushing things a bit. Still, it shoots quite well even 65 years after it was made, and I would have no problem relying on this gun as a primary self-defense arm if I had to. Granted it's a but heavy and bulky for an 8-shot 9mm, but then I carry a German H&K P7 today--a slightly slimmer (and quite a bit more expensive) 8-shot 9mm--as my defensive sidearm.

Of course vintage P-38's aren't $265 any more, either. This all-matching non-import-marked gun had easily trebled in value since I first bought it. And it no longer accompanies me to work or on camping trips in a cheesy Uncle Mike's holster. Now it resides in a gun safe and gets a rub-down with an oilcloth every time it's taken out and put back.

I've been asked if I'd sell it a few times over the years, but I don't see that happening. Not only is it my first historical handgun but it's as close to a pristine example as I'm ever likely to find today. And I'm still kicking myself for not snatching up a similar 1943-dated Spreewerke manufactured P-38 that I saw in another gun shop a few months after buying this one. It was also all matching and I'd have bought it if the clerk at the gun shop hadn't been such a horses' ass towards me as I checked it out. It's price: $285.

Now if only my friend over at The Shekel would stop complaining about being henpecked and get around to buying a P-38 too, we'd be that much closer to armory parity and the compatibility that we're going to need when America gets nuked, a giant meteor strikes us, or Hillary gets elected President with a Dem congress to back her up.