Did They Run Out Of Walnut!

cirelaw · 03-20-2022, 05:57 PM

Or another reason?

gunbugs · 03-20-2022, 08:52 PM

It's easier, cheaper and faster to mold bakelite or plastic, than to carve, checker and fit a piece of wood. And P-38 grips are somewhat fragile around the curved back edge if they are made out of wood.

ithacaartist · 03-20-2022, 09:27 PM

What Doug says...

They definitely tended to run out of walnut during the frenzy of wartime production, evidenced by beech-wood grips of late WWI. The guys who checkered wooden grips at the factory could certainly fly! I saw a film clip from a link once posted here, of a Mauser tech doing it. He seemed to be using a 5-line (or more) cutter and zoomed across the grip! Scraps from making K98 stocks provided much of the material, IIRC.

snipershot1944 · 03-20-2022, 09:47 PM

I have heard that Mauser used Walnut and Beech “leftover” pieces from rifle stocks as the primary source of wood for Luger grips. By1941, most rifles were being stocked with laminate material. Hence less wood for grips.

The P38 pistols primarily had plastic grips from day one. They used wood filler (sawdust) later in the war to stretch the plastic resin.

03-20-2022, 05:57 PM	#1
cirelaw Lifer Lifetime Forum Patron Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: PORT ST LUCIE, FLORIDA Posts: 12,216 Thanks: 6,209 Thanked 4,133 Times in 2,173 Posts	Did They Run Out Of Walnut! Or another reason? Attached Thumbnails

03-20-2022, 09:27 PM	#3
ithacaartist Twice a Lifer Lifetime Forum Patron Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Atop the highest hill in Schuyler County NY Posts: 3,347 Thanks: 7,285 Thanked 2,579 Times in 1,366 Posts	What Doug says... They definitely tended to run out of walnut during the frenzy of wartime production, evidenced by beech-wood grips of late WWI. The guys who checkered wooden grips at the factory could certainly fly! I saw a film clip from a link once posted here, of a Mauser tech doing it. He seemed to be using a 5-line (or more) cutter and zoomed across the grip! Scraps from making K98 stocks provided much of the material, IIRC. __________________ "... Liberty is the seed and soil, the air and light, the dew and rain of progress, love and joy."-- Robert Greene Ingersoll 1894

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03-20-2022, 08:52 PM	#2
gunbugs Lifetime Forum Patron Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Fairbanks, Alaska. Home of the best moose. Posts: 660 Thanks: 366 Thanked 1,179 Times in 395 Posts	It's easier, cheaper and faster to mold bakelite or plastic, than to carve, checker and fit a piece of wood. And P-38 grips are somewhat fragile around the curved back edge if they are made out of wood.

03-20-2022, 09:47 PM	#4
snipershot1944 User Join Date: May 2003 Location: Virginia, part of the occupied Confederacy Posts: 299 Thanks: 15 Thanked 33 Times in 24 Posts	I have heard that Mauser used Walnut and Beech “leftover” pieces from rifle stocks as the primary source of wood for Luger grips. By1941, most rifles were being stocked with laminate material. Hence less wood for grips. The P38 pistols primarily had plastic grips from day one. They used wood filler (sawdust) later in the war to stretch the plastic resin.