P-38 torture test, first report

For the past ten weeks, I have been using the same P-38 can opener on a daily basis. It opens approximately two cans a day (some days none, some days one, some days four or five). It also does general odds and ends duty- tightening a light screw, opening bottles, ripping into food packaging, that kind of thing. It gets cleaned with the two-lick method.

It has a slight curve to the blade now, outward, but nothing that doesn't improve it some microscopic amount. The very tip is a little bent, but I've not noticed it having any effect. It also has some discoloration, but nothing that is grungy looking- it is just darker, like a cast iron pan that has been used is compaired to a new one. The main part has some discoloration, but nothing else.

I honestly didn't expect it to last this long. I mean, it is a 50 cent steel stamping that was made to be fairly disposable, I figured it would have packed up after a month, and it is begging to open stuff. Weren't these things issued in every k-ration pack, one a day, during WWII? I've had electric can openers that didn't last this long.

*raising a P-38 to the sky in both palms, like a gift to the winds* I give you, the greatest piece of military equipment, for it's weight and cost, EVER!

More posts on the abuse of the P-38 to come in coming months.

I've had one on a keychain for fifteen+ years, and it performs as well today as it did when I got it.

I, like many here, have a P-38 stashed just about everywhere. But I have tried and tried to get the thing to strike sparks on my ferro rod. The back of the saw on my Leatherman (Wave or Juice) will just kick the P-38's butt when it comes to spark-making. I tried stoning the back of the P-38 square but that made no difference at all.

If the P-38 could be modified to create a manly shower of sparks then I would agree it's the best thing since cold beer. But until then it's just another can opener. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Consider that a challenge..........

Regards, Vince

Still ahve mine from 1978, still works. Keep them stashed all over.

Dave

I still have my first P-38, marked 1961 and I have had it since basic training in 1966. Carry it on my keychain, never fails to open cans and works as a screwdriver and small prybar. They do not wear out! I use another as an everyday can opener, opens every can I ever use. I guess I am too cheap to invest in an electric for the kitchen! Never had a woman that liked my P-38 though....I was always the official operator <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

An AMAZING bit of kit. Amazing.

My Dad gave me a P-38 back in 1973, and I put it on my keyring because I thought it was way cool. (Hey, I was a 14 year-old geek. Sue me.) That SAME P-38 is still on my keyring because, well, it is just so darn useful (that’s a form of cool, right?) It has been with me almost everywhere. (The only place, ironically, that I did not get to carry it was at Basic Training.) It had a date and some lettering on it, but they have long since worn off. It is almost all raw, silver metal. But it still works. It has been used as a can opener, tape ripper (for packages), staple puller, keyboard cleaner, screwdriver, pry bar, used to bend wire, as a scraper for making sparks, and as an ad-hoc measuring device.

Yes, my Squirt and my Wave have a can/bottle openers. But……

Sometimes, you just gotta stick with the classics.

…..CLIFF

What about the slightly lager p-51 ( I think that's the designation)?

I find that these open cans much more easily and quickly, and their size (only slightly larger) makes them even more useful.

I would be curious to know what result such a test would have on the Coghlan's version of the p-38. I don't know where I can find genuine p-38. Since my father did his military service for the US during the Berlin wall (before the Vietnam war) he still have a p-38 still working but I'm looking for a source of new ones in my vicinity and I'm afraid Coghlan is the only one available. I'll visit military surplus but most of the time they don't have genuine gear.

Good post. I was at the local surplus store here in Arizona, and the p-38s were some cheapo junk!! Where can I get the military ones that are good???

Despite having used many a "real" P-38 provided by Uncle Sam, can't say that I know how to distinguish genuine from a wannabe. Google came up with this page, with patent info (scroll down) and this page has more info on its history than you'd ever want to know.

these are new manufacture and here is the link:

http://www.nitro-pak.com/product_info.php/products_id/1133

I can't vouch if they are as good as or better than the military one

I have used nitro-pak.com before and was happy. I am in no way affiliated with them. I also plan to buy some MRE's and P-38's from them pretty soon unless I hear ether wise about the P-38 from nitro-pack. I plan to report later on the quality of their products. <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

So basically, I shouldn't be suprised, and just run with it, huh?

FYI, this one came from Ranger Joe's.

The P-51 looks promising. I once went to Canada and made some jumps with the now defunct Canadian Airborne and went on some excercises. They gave me a large P-38 thing that is super for opening cans with gloves or mittens on. Looks about like the P-51. The really nice aspect of the trusty old P-38 is that it is so compact and light. One of those classic inventions that keep going and going. The thing is, today most cans have pull tabs on them. When I was a kid and we went backpacking, everything was in a can, today nothing comes in cans. They are heavy, you have to pack them out and most stuff can be had in foil packs today. Cheers!

I've bought all of my recent P-38's and P-51's from the Georgia Outfitters page, except a few I've picked up at the local surplus store. I carry a P-51 in my daypack, partly because it is easier to use but mainly because it makes a better screwdriver for large screws. It's a bit big for pocket carry IMO. A P-51 in the kitchen is a good thing though.

I bought quite a few P-38's from the afore mentioned site a while back and carried extras around and gave them to people. It was interesting from a sociological standpoint to see people's reactions. Younger people (teens and twenty somethings) tend to just look at me like I was handing them something worthless. The only people I ever got good reactions from were older men that were in the military back when they got C-rations.

I was never in the military but grew up in a career military family (the main reason I never joined) so I have had a P-38 since I was a kid and always thought it was amazingly useful. I think the younger people I gave them to didn't "get it" because they have grown up with so few canned products. Most cans now days have pull ring tops on them.

Have had mine since June of 1972, still hangs on my keychain, looks nasty, but still does the job without all the fuss and muss of modern day equipment. Would not take a million dollars for it... <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

I have been using the can opener on my Leatherman PST for a while now and it is awesome. I want to get a P38 but I cannot find one around my location.

reconcowboy - I can send you one... I ordered a bunch from various sites to compare quality. PM me can probably ship in normal envelope too.

Yet another reason to love this place- a great bunch of people that help each other out.