P38 can Opener

**ontos** · 20 February 2011, 06:45 PM

Did a quick drawing of this P38 I had setting on my desk. Memories

**wizard509** · 20 February 2011, 07:02 PM

Good one ontos,
I remember using one of those when I was in the military. They worked real well and didn't take up much if any space. I didn't know it had the name P38 though. Thanks.
To me is was just a can opener.

**Rik** · 20 February 2011, 07:35 PM

Nope. I wasn't aware that they had the name of P38 either.
Yup. I still have mine!

Excellent drawing Merv because I could see immediately what it was.

**ontos** · 20 February 2011, 09:28 PM

Thank you Larry & Rik for looking at my drawing. The P38 got the nickname because it took about 38 punctures to open the ration ca.

**Rik** · 20 February 2011, 09:51 PM

That sound pretty good Merv.

I used mine quite a lot when I was in the Navy.
I will just need to dig out the tool and have a go.
But, my guess is (and it was a long time ago when I used to use it) that it takes nowhere near 38 punctures to open a normal size can.
Of, course, what I call a normal size can may not be the same for others!

**gwpriester** · 21 February 2011, 01:54 AM

Mine was not so dark. Light metal as I recall. Still brings back memories.

**Soquili** · 21 February 2011, 01:19 PM

I commented on Merv's drawing on Xara Users, nice drawing.

A little history:
C-Rations have been around since WWII in various forms. See the Wikipedia article for details http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_ration

The C-2, C-3, and C-4 rations typically contained the dark P-38.

The MCI (also called C-Rations by the military) contained a lighter metal P-38. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meal,_C...ividual_ration

My personal experience has been with the original C-Rations up to and including the MCI Rations. When I was with the 3rd Combat Communications Group in the early 1980s we were typically issued C-Rations representing the entire history of the rations.

40 plus year old packs of three Lucky Strike cigarettes in the original GREEN package colour are not recommended for consumption.

**Rik** · 21 February 2011, 02:57 PM

Well, having done a bit of a search, I cannot dispute that they seems to have the name 'P38' and I also found that there may be a P51 as well?!

I have found mine and mine is like the one you've drawn, where the hole for the keyring is at the top part. The slightly bigger version has the keyhole along the bottom.

If you go to the link below, then you can see both types.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-38_can_opener

As for the name, if you look at one of the images on that link (the caliper showing the size), then might the name be because of the size, rather than the number of strokes taken? Though there doesn't seem to be any definite reasoning one way or the other.

Cool choice of drawing Merv - got an interesting discussion going!

**derek.d** · 21 February 2011, 04:19 PM

Nice drawing... I used to have a load of these, used to get them in every ration box we got issued. Great bits of kit!

**ontos** · 21 February 2011, 04:23 PM

Wow! I never thought I would get this kind of a discussion going. I originally did the drawing as a joke for Bill in Xara Users. The information I got was from this site, http://www.georgia-outfitters.com/page52.shtml. Pretty interesting, it was also nicknamed "The John Wayne" by the Marines. Quite a history over a can opener. Mine was the dark metal. We used them allot on amphibious operation. I rather liked rations, sometimes they were better than what the cooks could make