**info needed** german wwii lt. Col. Pistol

[kdWEBSTER]

I BOUGHT THIS PISTOL FROM A WWII ARMY VETERAN THAT TOOK THIS FROM A GERMAN LT. COL. AT THE END OF THE WAR. I DONT REALLY KNOW ANY INFORMATION ON THE PISTOL, IT HAS TINY CONDORS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE FRAME, I'M NOT SURE IF THAT HAS ANY SIGNIFICANCE. I'M POSTING TO SEE IF ANYONE KNOWS ANY INFORMATION ON THE SYMBOLS OR PISTOL. THANK YOU

Information

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[Patrick Chadwick]

The tiny "condors" are German eagles. The eagle over N is the stamp for nitro-proof. The stamp above the number 37 is another (nazi-era) acceptance stamp - "Waffenamtsabnahme" - these are usually referred to as Waa stamps.

The pistol is a Sauer M 38. - the last pistol designed by Sauer & Sohn, Suhl in 1938. Caliber is 7.65mm/.32 Browning. 8-shot magazine. 83mm barrel, 4-groove r.h. Empty weight 720gm. A type of pistol favored by officers who preferred to provide their own sidearm instead of using a service P-08 or P-38.

A full description + photos can be found in "Die deutschen Pistolen und Revolver 1871-1945" by I.V. Hogg, Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart, ISBN 3-87943-259-7.


Patrick

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

Thank you for your encyclopedic answers to questions posted. I love to learn about these historic arms by browsing posts.

[Alkali]

This is an absolutely beautiful "rig". The pistol, very nice in itself, is further enhanced by the holster and extra magazine. The Genschow company also made replacement barrels for 98k rifles during the war. I have a J.P. Sauer&Sohn rifle (ce 43) which has a "GeCo" barrel so I really enjoyed your post and photos. Regards.

[brianV]

Wow - beatuful pistol, and the holster is in amazing shape. Very nice example!

[conec]

Beautiful Sauer. Were any capture papers acquired with it?

[backslash]

This is an accurate description of the pistol and I have, over the years, owned two of them. A matter of interest is that this is the first example of a pistol with a decocker. It is somewhat of a rarity and even when I owned mine they were pricey. I believe the .380's were quite rare as the 32's are what both of mine were. Years back they went for $350-400 and that was quite a sum back then. ( AK PolyTech's and Norinco's went for $280 to $325 back then) to give you an idea.

[samnev]

Beautiful rig.