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P38 can opener


hawkdriver
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I got a whole pile of P-38's and about half of them are the bottom one. The top is a US speaker. The bottom one is not marked or has TRG stamped on it. I've never seen a rounded corner one that has a rounded ridge. Most of the other P-38s are 57 dated or earlier. Anyone know what this one is?

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Captainofthe7th

Isn't that fancy.

 

I wonder if it was a PX thing for GIs that wore it on their ID tags and didn't enjoy the jabbing that often occurs with these little buggers? Seems the rounded edge would solve part of the problem.

 

Rob

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I just saw a p38 like that one on a set of early dog tags last week on ebay. I was also trying to figure out what type it was. think.gif

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Isn't that fancy.

 

I wonder if it was a PX thing for GIs that wore it on their ID tags and didn't enjoy the jabbing that often occurs with these little buggers? Seems the rounded edge would solve part of the problem.

 

Rob

 

It's not an individual wear down because I have about 10 of them. A couple of them have TRG stamped on them.

I at first thought they were WWII, but after researching the issue, found that the original K-Ration ones look like the top one. There are a couple of the others that are squared and marked US speaker and have 57 date on them. I don't know if this was a Vietnam mutation as I know after Vietnam, the ones I got issued were squared again. I toyed with the idea that they were pre-WWII, but can't find any precidence for that. Then as someone mentioned, that they were probably civilian knock offs. However, the two with TRG, which is a company that makes a lot of military gear are stamped on them.

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the P-38 type opener has been made by many companies and in many countries since WW2.

 

A while Back a Rumaianian immegrant showed me one saying he bet I had never seen anything like that as it was a Rumainian design, and was sad his had worn to the point it would no longer take an edge.

 

I just nodded, and the next day came back with a half dozen of them for the guy and told him who really invented the design!

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