C&R · II · 467
Sauer 38H, police accepted
Section II: curio or relic, still subject to the Gun Control Act
Official wording
ATF P 5300.11 · APRIL 2025 EDITION · SECTION II · VERBATIM · PDF P. 15 ↗
Sauer, 38(h), pistol, cal. 7.65mm, marked w/Third Reich police acceptance stamps of Eagle C, F, K, or L.
What this entry requires
- ATF REQUIRESYour firearm carries the marking “marked w/Third Reich police acceptance stamps of Eagle C”
- INFOATF states no date; production was about 1939–1945.
Editorial facts · Our research
Source
- Official wording
- ATF P 5300.11, April 2025 edition · Section II · PDF p. 15 ↗ · ATF original ↗
- Entries
- 1 line
- Verbatim check
- Checked against the PDF text before every release
- Editorial facts
- Confidence: Medium · Last revised 18 October 2026 (Evidence pass) · How we rate confidence
- References
- 1. Wikipedia, “Sauer 38H” ↗, country: Wikipedia: made in Nazi Germany by J. P. Sauer & Sohn, Suhl
- 2. Wikipedia, “Sauer 38H” ↗, action: Wikipedia: semi-automatic pistol, straight blowback
- 3. Wikipedia, “Sauer 38H” ↗, years (estimate: derived from related facts): Wikipedia: "with the outbreak of the war, most pistols went to various German police agencies. These pistols were stamped by those agencies"; final examples produced until April 1945 when the factory was overrun (infobox production 1938–1945)
- Fact tags
- ATF the ATF wording states it.
- REF ¹ an outside reference supports it; the number points to the list of references.
- ESTIMATE an approximate or indirect reading, for example the production range of the base model.
- NO CITATION we haven’t attached a reference for this fact; it’s our editorial reading, not ATF’s.
- Source checked
- 20 October 2026: ATF’s page still lists the April 2025 edition
- Corrections
- 1 change · see below
Correction history
- Evidence passEditorial confidence: High → Medium. Years start 1939 only derived from "with the outbreak of the war … most pistols went to … police agencies" (no source dates the Eagle C/F/K/L police acceptance)
Historical context
Image: Wikimedia Commons, “Smolensk-War-Museum-16.jpg” by Vitaly V. Kuzmin, CC BY-SA 3.0. Retrieved October 2026.
Summary: Wikipedia, “Sauer 38H”. Text CC BY-SA 4.0.
FROM WIKIPEDIA
The Sauer 38H or often just H was a small semi-automatic pistol made in Nazi Germany from 1938 until just after the end of World War II in Europe by J. P. Sauer & Sohn, then based in Suhl, Germany. The "H" in the model number is short for "hahn", referring to the internal hammer of the firing mechanism.