Does anyone still have their P38 can opener?

[grumpyduck]

I still have mine from boot camp back in the 70s, on my everyday key ring. Use it all the time for little things. Just now I used it to open the packet of dressing that came with a Trader Joe's Caesar salad.

Just wondering...

[nocoincidences]

1. I have one on my keychain but

I didn't serve in the military. I found it on the ground decades ago and was intrigued by how useful it could be.

It still is.

[rsdsharp]

2. Six .50 machine guns in the nose will open a lot of cans.

[Mister Ed]

4. Ha! That was my first thought, too.

Although I always thought it was four machine guns and a 20 mm cannon.

[rsdsharp]

6. You are correct. My mistake.

[SeattleVet]

3. Still have several...one on my desk about a foot from my hand right now!

Took the one off my keyring, since it kept opening and poking holes in my pockets.

With a little practice you could open a can faster than with a regular can opener.

[malthaussen]

18. I taped mine so it wouldn't do that. n/t

[doc03]

5. I have several, they work good with

practice.

[beemerphill]

7. My original is long gone,

But I have had several since. They are one of the most useful military items one can carry. The P-38 is the one we all know, but they also make a P-51. One is 38mm long and the other is, you guessed it, 51mm long. If you wrap a short rubber band around it to hold the sharp part next to the body they are not overly dangerous in your pocket. The rubber band lasts a surprisingly long time.

[orangecrush]

8. Bought 4 surplus

Just to have them.

[Solly Mack]

9. Yes. Several of them.

20 years a military spouse allowed for the collection of a lot of things.

[Kingofalldems]

10. I wish I did.

Those things were like gold.

[grumpyduck]

11. You can still buy them online.

Just Google P38 can opener.

[Kingofalldems]

12. Thanks.

[Demovictory9]

13. my dad use to carry one (army background)

[Brother Buzz]

14. I've got a dozen or so, stashed away somewhere important, I think

Seems like there was one or two in even case of C-Rations, and this dumb draftee lumped a lot of C-Rations cases.

And I did NOT high-grade the cases, so STOP saying that!

[UTUSN]

15. I have both P38 & P50, bought at surplus stores, not issued. Does Navy issue them?

I have the P50 (bigger) on my key ring, but as posters have said, it takes practice I guess to open a can, and it pokes holes not only in fabric but in the fingers. The one time somebody asked to use it to open a can we both called it a day.

But I have something with actual military use of mine: My first split-ring/key ring was the PIN from a grenade. Not a combat relic, it was from a training we got on my schip on the open sea, where the weapons Chief lined us up and showed us how to pull the pin and throw the grenade into the water. Perfect split ring.


******And sumbody not named has some kind of Navy artifact - some kind of tab or fob having to do with "the Mid Watch" but doesn't know where it is in the house. Since I stood my share of Mid and other Watch duties, I'd like a picture to track the real thing down, but over a couple of years and no dice for a picture.

*** ON EDIT: So the poster above and Google taught me it's a P51, not a P50 - goes to show I was in the Navy and on two ships, not where we used them. And I didn't even know the larger size P51 existed, had only heard of the P38 until I found them together at a surplus store.

[NurseJackie]

16. My husband's was confiscated by TSA. 🙄

It was in the early days of post 9-11 security. Back when clippers and nail-files were prohibited. (He was not happy.)

[grumpyduck]

17. Yeah, those P38s were dangerous weapons.

You could use them to open the door to the cockpit like a tin can.