Walther P38 All Matching WWII Example

This is a German P.38 manufactured by Mauser-Werke at Oberndorf in 1943.

Deactivated exceptionally well. The safety can be moved in both fire and safe position. Magazine is not removable. Overall this piece is in excellent collector condition and presents very well.

The wartime manufacturer code “byf” identifies Mauser, while the “43” identifies the production year. Serial number 8245m places it late in Mauser’s 1943 production sequence, with surviving production data suggesting it was manufactured approximately November 1943.

That makes it part of Mauser’s first full year of P.38 production. Mauser had only stopped manufacturing the famous P.08 Luger in 1942 before transitioning its pistol production to the newer P.38.

The P.38 itself represented a major evolution in military handgun design. Germany adopted it as the successor to the Luger, and its double-action/single-action operating system, decocking safety and locked-breech design anticipated features that would become commonplace on military and police pistols after WWII.

Mauser produced roughly 144,000 P.38 pistols during 1943 alone.

There is no surviving provenance connecting serial 8245m to a particular soldier, unit or battlefield, so its individual service history can’t responsibly be claimed. What its markings do preserve is its place and approximate time of manufacture:

Mauser-Werke, Oberndorf am Neckar — approximately November 1943.