p38 serial numbers spreewerke serial numbers

You have an early example since the nls started in June of '42 and ran into Jan. They did not year stamp their pistols and they just started with the nls thru the alphabet then to the letter prefix. The letter blocks were in 10,000 increments, such as 'a' would go to 10000a then 'b' started and went to 10000b and so on. Postwar could have on left or right but wartime only displayed the manufacturer code and year. I am a little confused regarding your statement on wartime Walthers and Mausers having the month and year stamped on the right of the slide. Your 'a' suffix production is March of '43. As with most posts, I usually find that this is already well known, but I thought it was of some interest. Therefor, (it seems to me) if you have a Spreewerke/cyq P.38, and it has the unmodified frame (my cyq 5456a is one of these) you should be able to assume it was manufactured before 8/43. Also, pp 68 refers to Mauser, but not specifically Spreewerke. A bulge in the frame is made at that point to provide more 'meat' around the axle hole.) On page 65 Marschall states that this change also applies to Mauser and Spreewerke pistols. I am waiting for my Ron Clarin Spreewerke book which will probably elaborate on this, but here is something to work with: Dieter Marschall's book pp62, and Buxton's book pp 183 explains that in in August 1943 Walther P.38s modified the frame to reinforce the trigger axle pin, (easily visible just above the trigger.

In collecting representative wartime P.38s it's been easy to date Walther (ac) and Mauser (byf, svw) pistols because they have the year and the month of manufacture stamped right on the slide.

P38 serial numbers spreewerke serial numbers