Preference: P-38 or 9mm Luger?

[Jack]

The Luger is certainly a graceful pistol.
The ones I have encountered had pretty miserable trigger pulls.
The P-38 was a groundbreaking design for its time, for sure. The few P-38's I've had much experience with were good shooters, and had (or could be made to have) decent trigger pulls.
By today's standards, the P-38 is a rather large pistol for an 8 shot 9mm. But then, the Luger is strictly a collector by today's standards.
I'd take the contemporary Browning P-35 over either of 'em.
Wanna hear a true story regarding Lugers and P-38's that'll break your heart?
At the end of WW2, my father was an infantryman in Europe. Right after the Germans surrendered, there were arms floating all over Europe, in great numbers. One story my Dad laughs about: he had an orange crate full of German pistols- P-38's and Lugers, and a few other various types. He used to trade pistols 1 for 1, for bottles of Coca Cola.
Pistols were everywhere, Cokes were scarce.
Wish I had that orange crate full of pistols today......