Considering that the P38 / P.38 design was groundbreaking at its launch, was used during WWII by the German military and for many years post-war by several police forces around the world, I guess you can say that Walther done good.
The silly Europellet chambering aside (see rants passim), the P38 is a brilliant pistol: reliable to a fault, safe to carry and use (except for the individual on the naughty side of the muzzle), and considering its non-adjustable sights, way more accurate than almost anyone who shoots it. I’ve fired many P38s, made either by Walther, Mauser or Spree — they’re identical — and almost uniquely among pistols, I never once experienced any kind of stoppage or failure. The only thing I can fault about it is that silly heel-located mag release (common among many pistols of the time), and the quality of workmanship makes this a gun I would happily carry today, without a single reservation.
The WWII-era P38s are too expensive nowadays, of course, even though close to two million were made — for some reason, people prefer the steel frame over the replacement P1’s aluminum frame, but I can honestly say I can’t tell the difference between the two — and certainly not in operation.
Want.
They are certainly a well made pistol ahead of its time. for the era, I think the only other DA/SA handgun was the Browning Hi Power. From what I have read, the P38 was far more reliable than the iconic looking P08 Luger.
JQ
The HP has always been single-action only.
AGI…
Kim,
the HP is carried like a 1911, cocked and locked?
I have nearly no experience with the High Power. I think I picked one up at an NRA show in 2016 or 2019 but that was it. I haven’t shot one.
JQ
I had a P38 before all our guns were confiscated, I miss them all but I miss the P38 most. (I miss the Lahti second most).
Thanks for the product review, brother
I have always wondered how this gun shoots
I may try to pick up one of them sometime
They’re kinda spendy, and if you get a WWII-era P38, have a gunsmith check it over — not because there’d be much wrong with the action, but in case an old part may need replacing.
I never warmed to it. I’ve also heard folks speak of it along with the phrase “miss 8 times and throw it”. 🙂
Totally amazing the prices for some of their wares on the website link you gave…
$1K for a Mosin? Hell, a few years back, they were giving them away for $50.
Even as a kid, I remember 5-and-Dime\GC Murphy’s had shelves stacked full of cosmoline-papered M1’s, M1-carbines, and M1903’s for the taking, next to surplus ammo for them. I remember saving the $40 for a carbine, going up the store with my dad (early 1970’s), and they were all gone – some new gov’ment rule. Dad said they’d been there for years….
If I had a time machine…
Gun Control Act of 1968!
I had the P1 version of this before my boat capsized in the lake.
I loved it. I loved the feel, the soft shooting, mine was accurate as I was. I picked it up relatively cheap 15+ years ago at AIM. Sorry to have lost it.
I knew I would love it because I had a toy one as a kid, back when parents expected boys to be boys and not trying to put dresses on them.
The only downside was, it was a little finicky about ammo, standard factory ball was fine, which is what it was designed for, but any hollowpoint or wadcutter type rounds were a lot of ftf or stovepiping.
Oh and yes. The heel release magazine sucked. But that was kind of a thing at the time. It was probably not designed with 3 gun in mind.
Mine’s a Walther, according to the letter following the serial number made in March of ’45. The Allies occupied the factory in April ’45, so one of the last ones off the line. And the name of the soldier who liberated the pistol is etched inside the grips. He may well have literally taken it off a shelf at the factory.
I’ve broken a firing pin on it; easily replaced. Had an issue with the top cover wanting to pop off as I fired it, but I’ve got the cover dialed in so that’s no longer an issue. It’s a design ahead of its time (the precursor to the Beretta 92) and it’s plenty accurate – at least mine is. I won a bowling pin shoot at the local range with a 75 year old pistol, and the rest of the participants were wondering why the hell I was shooting that antique!
Lovely pistol. Much better than a P.08 (got one of those too).
How in the heck did you get into my gun safe?
Have the identical unit, 1951 build I think.
Was visiting one of the larger Cabelas in middle of Michigan some 20 years back and spotted it in the display.
Total lark as was not looking for one, appears almost unused with sharp clean rifling.
Have thought of finding extra magazines for it but too damned pretty to make it a carry gun.
Might try to find an original leather holster though, just for grins.
Back in The Long Ago (1972) I worked part-time at a gunsmith’s shop in a small Midwest town while I was in high school. The owner would buy large multiples of military surplus handguns, and my job was to clean them, inspect them for wear and pass them on to one of the two gunsmith’s for repair or reconditioning. I recall going through several hundred P-38s and can’t recall a single one that wasn’t anything more than dirty. The shop was on the edge of town near the railroad tracks and once or twice a day, when the long freight trains to Kansas City rolled by, we would test fire various guns into a pit built into the side of a hill. The P-38’s were always ready to blast a Hills Brothers coffee can into oblivion and the recoil was largely irrelevant. Good times.
Mine is late WWII manufacture and kind of rough as far as the finish goes. Bought it in something like 1968 or 69 for $75 if I remember right. Of course the minimum wage back then was $1.25, so it was not quite as cheap as it seems.