The Wartime P.38 Pistols
A Treatise in 3 Volumes
by Dave Shike

Introduction

Over the years, ardent P.38 pistol collectors have been treated to a small cadre of books that cover the history of their favorite firearm. These have included the most well-known of all those tomes, Warren H. Buxton's The P.38 Pistol in three volumes. These seminal studies have become increasingly difficult to find. And despite evolving into a well-collected and relatively well-documented firearm, the P.38 has remained an underappreciated replacement of the P.08 Luger pistol, which spawned countless more books than those compiled for the P.38.

Fortunately, author Dave Shike has put an end to the dearth of new works on the P.38 by producing a series of three volumes on the P.38. The Wartime P.38 Pistols: A Guide to World War II P.38s is extraordinarily thorough and delves deeply into its subject matter. The set covers pistols from 1940 to 1942 in Vol. 1; pistols from 1943 to 1944 in Vol. 2; and 1945 military and Volkssturm pistols in Vol. 3. The third volume, The Wartime P.38 Pistols: Vol. 3 - 1945 Military and Volkssturm Pistols is available today; The Wartime P.38 Pistols: Vol. 1 - 1940 to 1942 Military P.38 Pistols is nearly ready for release; while The Wartime P.38 Pistols: Vol. 2 - 1943 to 1944 Military P.38 Pistols will be released in the coming year or so.

In the past, The P.38 Pistol was the reference book to which anyone trying to identify a P.38 turned. Expansive in its scope, and broad in its appeal, Buxton tried to cover every variation known at the time. He also provided technical details, comprehensive descriptions, lists of known serial numbers, and documented serial ranges. This was invaluable information for those trying to identify a pistol, but many of the details were written and not shown with photographs.

Dave Shike's The Wartime P.38 Pistols is a visual encyclopedia of unimaginable proportions that starts off where Buxton left off. Shike focuses exclusively on Wartime pistols and delves into details never documented before. Not only is each variation shown fully assembled, but every single proofmark found on the disassembled gun is presented in color photographs as well. Shike additionally covers variant markings for specific groups so collectors know for what to look within a pistol type. His coverage of proofmarks and the numerous permutations is beyond exhaustive—it is herculean.

The section on Volkssturm pistols in Vol. 3 is something that will be of particular interest to collectors, as this was not covered in The P.38 Pistol. Although the variant has been floating around for decades, it was not until the arrival of Russian-captured P.38s after the collapse of the Soviet Union that these pistols gained a legitimate foothold as their own variation. Shike devotes significant space and newly-discovered documentation to help decipher this enigmatic P.38 pistol type.

For many Luger collectors, Charles Kenyon, Jr.'s Lugers at Random was their first book on that pistol. Although the book is available today, it is no longer in the wide format of the earliest editions. The beauty of this approach, for the avid collector, was the fact that the Lugers pictured in it were actual size. This is another reason why The Wartime P.38 Pistols is so appealing. Every variation presented in every book is shown in full size because of the landscape format, which is not typical for most gun reference books published today. Buxton does it as much as possible in The P.38 Pistol, but not to the extent that Dave Shike has done in The Wartime P.38 Pistols.

During the nearly forty years since Buxton's books were initially published, those tomes became the Old Testament of the P.38 to which devotees continually turned for answers. They were filled with the only comprehensive information on the P.38 available. And until now, The P.38 Pistol remained unchallenged as the most comprehensive series on this gun.

Today, Dave Shike brings us a New Testament of the P.38 in gospel-like fulfillment. Not only does his scholarship satisfy the promise of the older books by answering mysteries raised there, but these new works introduce a plethora of additional questions to be explored. Shike's books will therefore both satiate and whet the appetite of current and future P.38 collectors for decades to come.

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