Walther P-38

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lies

Walther P-38

Post by lies »

What are your thoughts?? Shoot me straight from the hip. The one I picked up today had a funny flat finnish on slide and barrrel, looked like it would scratch with a toothpick. It felt good, looked unissued from S.O.G.
carguy
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Walther P-38

Post by carguy »

1) We need pictures to give a heartfelt opinion.

2) I was recently considering picking up a P-38 for inexpensive plinking at the range. I handled a few and decided a more modern handgun was what I wanted. Looked for a Browning Hi Power then a clone of the same, older S&W Model 39 and ended up buying a Beretta 92FS Compact M and just love it.

3) Is yours a P38 manufactured in the 50's or more recently so it could be the early P1 pistol not designed as a P1 yet? Is it steel frame or aluminum? I've seen the P38/P1 with the alloy frames in the almost 2 tone looking configuration. I think these are the German Police/Military refinish lots. I like the all steel all black P38 better but they are older and can get expensive.

4) I don't think you made a bad choice at all as they are extremely accurate handguns.

Good luck with it! And post some pictures!! 8~)
lies

Walther P-38

Post by lies »

I was told it was a p-38 made in 1980, it was light unloaded, alloy frame, for sure. The slide and barrel had a powdered look, unissued, but funny scratches from travel. I don't know what variant of p-38, any help would be helpful, the guy wanted around $300 bucks for it, two mags and a black military holster that had a third mag in it. What the hell is is.
gunneyrabbit
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Walther P-38

Post by gunneyrabbit »

Lies,
They are very nice pistole's and if you are happy with your purchase then you got a good deal.
G.R.
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Walther P-38

Post by normsutton »

Lies,
more info on your P1

http://world.guns.ru/handguns/hg68-e.htm


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abwehr
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Walther P-38

Post by abwehr »

lies,

The P.38 is my favorite full size pistol. I collect the WWII varients and do have 4 post war P.38/P.1 pistols. To me, the P.38 is still one of the finest handguns ever designed. The current Beretta used by our troops has the same locking system used in the P.38.

Now to answer some of yur questions, but I need a little more info too.

The matte finish sounds like the black phosphate type finish the Germans went to in the mid-late 1960s. This finish is better for a combat pistol than the previous polished slide and barrel. The post war P.38/P.1 is the same pistol with different stamps on the slide. The P.38 marked slides were some that were diverted from commercial production to be used for the military. Early on, the pistol was still called the P.38, but after a reoganizarion, they changed all their weapons to a new designation and the P.38 became the P.1.

1. What is the L.H. Slide markings - may be the Walther address with P.38, serial number and a 2 digit date.
2. What is on the R.H. Slide?
3. What stamps are on the L.H. side of the Frame near the Triggerguard?
4. Same as 3 except the R.H. side?

Many/most of these pistols have been rearesenaled up to three times and each rearsenal will have a date stamped; unless a Slide or barrel was replaced. Sometime on the 1960s they added a hex shaped pin thru the receiver aboce the triggerguard to provide more strength for the aluminum receiver (I personally like the steel better, but only the early post war pistols had these). The price you paid is the going price in gun shops in my area. About the lowest price you will find is $250. The last one I bought was $325, but I wanted it and paid a little more than I should, but I like it!

Another Forum that is great is: www.p38forum.com. There is a section on post war P.38s and you can find most anything about these pistols. They are great pistols, but DON'T shoot a lot of hot loads! They were designed for standard cartridges and the hot ones will shorten its life. The Wal-Mart white box Winchester is the best for general shooting.

Answer some of my questions and I can maybe help more. If you can post photos, that would be good too.
devlinfaust
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Walther P-38

Post by devlinfaust »

This is interesting. A friend and myself had gotten a P-1 from SOG. It worked OK for a while, then the extractor blew out. Then we noticed (despite it having supposedly been checked out by a reputable gunsmith) that it had a fissure in the barrel. We ordered a new barrel and extractor. It fed OK and was accurate, but wouldn't pull the spent casings out.

At that point, my friend said to Hell with it, and ordered another P-1, again from SOG. It's perfect. It's as accurate and reliable as his Beretta 92fs that he spent over a thousand dollars on to get modified.

As for the original P-1, we later heard that you sometimes had to polish the chamber on a new barrel, so we did that and it helped, but it was still not extracting all of the cases. Then we noticed that there was a slight difference between the shape of the extractor between the two P-1's. We wondered if we might have gotten the wrong part. Are the extractors interechangable between the P-1 and P-38? Would like to get the 'sick' P-1 in shape. It has a lot of new parts, is accurate and feeds well but of course, it has to extract reliably to be reliable.

Thanks.
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Walther P-38

Post by gunneyrabbit »

When you look at the pistol field stripped it looks very much like Taurus and Baretta 90 and 100 Series pistole's. Makes you wonder who came up with the design first, the Germans or the Italians?
G.R.
devlinfaust
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Walther P-38

Post by devlinfaust »

I have heard that both the Walther P-5 and the Beretta 92 series is based off the Walther P-38 design. So, apparently the Walther P-38 is still alive and well in 'modern' technology.
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Walther P-38

Post by abwehr »

gunneryrabbit,

"devlinfaust" is 100% correct; the Germans came up with the design first! Actually, it was Walther's design from many entrants in the competition for a replacement for the vaunted Luger, or P.08 pistol.

Many folks say the design is outdated, but I think it is as modern today as ever. What makes it outdated is it does not have a high capacity magazine, ambidextrious safety, and plastic. I like the orginal steel frame, but the aluminum frame with the hex pin works fine. The P.1 is very rebuildable as many on the market that look new will have several rebuild dates stamped on the frame/slide. Most combat pistols were never designed to fire thousands of rounds as they were for defense only. Most combat pistols are fired approximately 5,000 rounds and they should not have any major failures to pass the test.

The P.38 should only be fired with normal pressure cartridges as it is not designed for the high pressure type cartridges and they will fail prematurely if used. The weakest link in the original design is the slide cutout; they may crack at the front corner. The post war P.38 (P.1) was strenthened in this area in the late 1960 to stop this porblem. The new slide is called the "fat slide" as there is a little more "meat" in this cutout area.

At one time, the Spreewerk manufactured pistol (three manufactuers during WWII; Walther, Mauser, and Spreewerk) had a bad reputation of failure that was not warranted. The Spreewerk pistols are as well made as the other two manufacturers. If the Waffenamt stamps are on the pistol, they were fully tested and proofed, even near the end of the war. German firearms that are stamped were actually better quality that commercial produced firearms. The German military demanded perfection for their soldiers firearms. Much of the problem that is seen today, is abuse from previous owners in the past 60+ years of their life. No firearm will last if abused. I do love the P.38 pistol!!
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