[jmace57]

A friend of my fathers brought this pistol over to his house - apparently an elderly widow had this of her husband. He is asking if I would like to purchase it.

Frankly, I have never seen one before. It is a CZ-38 (apparently also called a P-39T by the Germans). Other than the finish, it is in very good condition according to my Dad. A pretty ugly gun with a tip-up barrel for field stripping. It is a DA only. That just about exhausts what I have learned about it other than it is in 9mm Kurz (.380).

The gentleman mentioned that he believed it was a officer's model becuase it has the safety. None of the images I have found on-line show a safety. However, I have read that manual safeties were added for export to Bulgaria. Here are some pictures. Does anyone have any knowledge about this? An estimate of value or collectibility? Many thanks.

 

[RJay]

When the Germans took over the factory, all but 3000 vz38's made went to the army, 3000 went to the Luffwaffe, I would guess the Safty was for the Luffwaffe, however that is just a guess. Why a safety on a hard to operate double action, perhaps someone has more info. I would say the value in the condition shown is around 200 dollars IAW the Standard Catalog of Firearms. Perhaps more to someone who really wants it. Hope tht helps, best I can do, others?

 

[Lanrezac]

Yep, it's unusual all right. IIRC, the CZ-38 was a special version made for Bulgaria. Total production of the CZ-38 was not big (less than 50,000?) and the this version is less than 10% of that. The rust on this one takes the value down quite a bit, but it is still a scarce variant of a WWII pistol.

IMHO, it would bring more than $300 (gross) if sold via the Internet, but I don't know how much more.

 

[jmace57]

Thanks gents for the input. There are a couple for sale on ********* with asking prices of around $500, in better condition, but without the safety. I think I will pass on this offer, but will encourage the man to try and sell it to a collector for $200-$300 if he can get it. I am concerned he will just take it and sell it to a gun shop and get a hundred bucks for it.