Rare, Late Date 'ac' Frame Armorer's P.38

Description

7/23/26 - This is a rare P.38 known as the "late-date, ac frame" variation, due to the Walther-produced armorer's frame. It is a well-documented, but little known category of P.38's built from a mixture of armorer, salvaged, and sometimes hand-made parts. This example is an interesting "trifecta" made with the major components from each primary manufacturer - Walther "ac" frame, Mauser BYF44 slide, and Spreewerk barrel. The locking block is late-war Mauser with an E/S firing proof and WaA135 proof. The barrel has the "cyq" Spreewerk code and E/88 proof on the left flat, E/S firing proof on the left rear ear, and a reject asterisk with "B h" barrel code on the right flat. The slide lacks the final acceptance WaA135 as is proper for an armorer's slide. None of these four armorer parts ever had a factory serial number applied. There is a lightly-stamped "0811" on the underside of the frame in front of the trigger guard. This was added post-war at some point.

The frame has a very nice plum color to it. The frame, slide and barrel have retained about 98% of their overall finish with minor high edge/muzzle wear with a strong front grip strap.  The firing pin cover accounts for most of the wear on the pistol, leading to its overall rating of 95%. Fitted with black plastic Mauser Otto Single grips and comes with a jvd magazine. Minty bore. De-cocker is functional but very stiff. 

The general speculation is that these guns were not made at main Walther or Mauser factories. In an effort to increase production, labor services were sought outside of the factories, with any parts they could get. One theory is they were built using camp labor at the Neuengamme Concentration Camp, but the truth is largely lost to history.