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Why I 'm attracted to the romance of the P-38

2K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  03hemi 
#1 · (Edited)
Well, I have to say that in reading some of the archives and new posts. that you guys have the P-38 down pat.

I'm new to Walthers, having owned around 12 of them in the last 4 years, after coming from CZs for 35 years.

This is where it gets tricky:

I'm half German, have a German surname, but it also a Dutch surname in both the Nederlands and especially in South Africa.
My mejer's side is also German and Dutch.

I like European handguns and also rifles and smgs..with the Walther MPK in South African police service as well,, and then their UZi copy.

However, as a disabaled cop and a Christian man, I never was in favor of
Apartheid, nor was I Pro ANC and their SA communist party links and weapons pipeline.

Having this KaaaK Fibromyaglia.. it shut down my police career quickly and i decided to help some cops out that the whole world seemed to hate.

With my Project Safestar-SAP/ I couldn't travel to SA, but could make contact with a bunch of underpaid and low morale cops there.

Getting killed to the tune of 500 per year,,and not in military combat..just routine police patrol.
The problem was, unlike what some people would believe the
evil Afrikaners got shot, but so did black cops, Indian and colored cops. Not just white boys doing
their sworn duty. Most of them choosing the Police over the Army(SADF) for their drafted service.
\\HOwever, I'd learn later on about SAP members stationed on the coast of Namibia.


Short story..

Two handguns that stood out in their inventory, were the P-38 and the CZ75.

With their UN Weapons Embargo on Rhodesia and RSA. They took any pistols they could get.

Most cops and others hated their 'veerwardig' locally licensed and issued Zeederburg z-88 service 9mms, from VEKTOR. A Beretta 92 copy,.

The Cee-Zed 75 was hugely popular..and much like a 1911 here, as they had war stories about the gun in Angola and Namibia. A Commie gun that actually worked well that enviroment.

Well. I'd been in a certain war zone on contract, and seen them close up there and in BRunner.

In 1993, I just Had to have one, so I picked up one that didn't have any import marks.
The Las Vegas gunshop sold it to me, and I was a happy camper.


That very pistol was the basis of my CZforum.com and CZF Enterprises and the CZ-ZONe,, all the while running my SAfestar foundation to S.Arfican law enforcement.

Still some of the old cops there Loved their P38s.

In retosprect and not a racist or nazi..I could surmise that my family in Germany, could have been conscripted and wound up with a P-38 or ppK or PP in .32 caliber.

The prospect of a war-torn Germany, and thousands of soldiers whether scumm SS or not..making their way out,

A tall, good looking North-Rhiner that could also speak the Die Taal, might or at least fluent Dutch, have been very welcomed by the still Dutch/Afrikaner nationalist SAP.

Despite being in British control and fighting on the Allied side in WW2..they still had to Police a huge country, and I doubt they all had Webleys.

Who knows, the SAP could have had P-38s since 1939.

So, I do have a keen interest in someday shooting or buying a AC 42 or other wartime pistol.

I'm more inclined to look at a post-war P38 and even up to 1951 or 58

Even by 1960, your average Soldaten or SA soldier with WW2 service would only be 40 years old and ready to retire in a few more years from die maag.

So, the P-38 is cool gun with a strong SA POLISIE history, but much like the Luger that was profilic in WW1, the Heers Pistole is probably more an iconic Nazi service pistol.

So, I will be more inclined to shoot and enjoy each week a P1 or even P4, rather than that bucket list AC 42 like the very first Walther I handled and a rookie cop.

I was a revolver guy,,,Redhawks, 581 and issued Model 66 and all. That bring-back P38 felt heavy and awkward to me.

The fact that I put the Cz75 on the map for CZUB and the then new CZ-USA for the American market.

Makes me appreciate the lineaage of the CZ75, and more so the P-38 of which the backstrap/ergonomics originate. If you look at an early proptoype. 75,..it looks like a P-38.

Oddly, I no longer own a single CZ product, but do embrace my Walthers.



I'll ad some pics when I can scan them..

https://ibb.co/23Ndch9


File:Stander-wp38f.jpg - Internet Movie Firearms Database - Guns in Movies, TV and Video Games
 
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