Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Walther P-38/P1

I don't know why. I have this hankering to buy one at a local gun store that's been sitting there for a while. I have no need of it. I recall shooting one some years back and not being totally impressed with the accuracy...but there it is.

Anyone have any experience? It's the model that has the bolt modification to the frame.

I had a CYQ marked P 38 that fed and functioned with anything I put through it. Fairly accurate too. Like to buy another one.

Ernie

I'll have to look but I have one of the 1960s or 70s vintage guns and a matching .22 LR...

I've shot FMJs and HPs from it and it is a very good shooter with zero malfunctions...

Bob

They have a lot of features I don't like much, double-action triggers (and very bad ones, at that), heel magazine release, bassackwards safety, bad ergos all the way around.

The ones I've shot were tolerable at worst, for accuracy, but they do feel good in the mitts.

I just don't like 'em. Or Lugers, for that matter, though the machine work on Lugers is a marvel of old-school class.

They have a lot of features I don't like much, double-action triggers (and very bad ones, at that), heel magazine release, bassackwards safety, bad ergos all the way around.

The ones I've shot were tolerable at worst, for accuracy, but they do feel good in the mitts.

I just don't like 'em. Or Lugers, for that matter, though the machine work on Lugers is a marvel of old-school class.

Guess since I have shot a lot of DA revolver and had several DA Semis during my LE career I have no problem with them.

This is mine at I believe 50'...





10 yards...





Matching P38/.22 Long Rifle from the 1970s....




Bob

I'd love to get one in .22lr

They come up on GunBroker once in a while but be prepared to spend over a grand...

These had been on my bucket list for many years because somewhere back in the 70s there was a magazine article about them and just always wanted one. This one was on RoadRunner Auctions for right at a grand...

Bob

I think I need a firing pin for a P1. The one I have suddenly does not fire any longer.

The 22 Conversion Unit-if you can find one-fits on the aluminum frame but not on the steel frame.
I own only 1, a 1943 Walther-all matching. Bore is rough but plenty accurate and it has good heft and balance.

Mine is a war bring-back that my father picked up in WWII. Its an AC 44, so 1944 Walther production, matching serial numbers (except magazine).
I rarely shoot it, but my recollections are heavy double action, decent single action with a little creep, surprisingly accurate (single action), and lots of jams. Haven't tried to work out the jamming problem since I don't shoot it! Its an heirloom, not a carry gun.

I got my P-38 at a very good price because it was "broken"-needed a new firing pin. IIRC the pin for the P-1 is a different design, nit sure if they interchange.

I've had a Spreewerke WWII vintage and a post war P1, they're fun. What I like about the P-38 is how different it looks and it always catches someone's attention. Both of mine were very reliable and very accurate. Triggers just kinda sucked, but those can be improved.

article in the old shotgun news, now "firearm news" issue 21, volume 70, on WWII german handguns, which has a bunch of info on P38's.
Those post war aluminums when they first started coming into country here were priced at about 250bucks, certainly more now. There was some troubles after enough firing with the block in them if i remember right, that they were modified to solve that problem.
the post war are "lumped" as p38's, but they are different than the WWII's, and even there you will find a difference beetween who made them, as there was more than one manufacture. Some can be quite valuable, as only a few hundred were made.

that article in firearm news and this thread made me pull a couple of p38's.
and to get to thinking.
a ac43 with the russian capture crossed sabers on the slide, dip parked as the russians were fond of doing. I hadn't noticed the very faint innitials scratched in the side of the grip. I know that man's fate in russia, given the russian's had the gun, could not have been good. They all tell stories no matter if you know them or not.

I had a 1944 Polish P-35 Radom (see the last issue the the Rifleman, same kind of gun), with possibly the roughest finish I've ever seen on a pistol. It had the German proofs and stamps all over the danged thing.

It is most likely the most accurate autopistol I've ever shot, to include some really nice custom pistols I've owned. If I told you how good it shot, you'd call me a liar.

I'd have to guess the fate of it's previous owner wasn't too good, either.

I bought one years ago when they were cheap, all the ones I saw were mismatched in serial numbers, frame, slide, etc. The German armorer altered the numbers with strike outs. I have always wanted a P-38, mine was the painted aluminum framed model, circa 1961.

Found out that the frames were prone to cracking over time, Walther had to insert a steel pin in the frame to keep them going on the later ones they made. I noticed rapid aluminum frame wear on my gun, it seemed to be un-issued when I first got it. The story is that Walther originally wanted them in aluminum in the late 1930's but the Army wisely went with all steel for WW 2. After the war they went to aluminum, but then the liberal terrorist group Bader Meinhoff came about in the 1970's and the Germans had to practice more in shooting, then the guns started cracking.

I thought the gun was an interesting shooter, but mediocre accuracy, ok for combat at close range, but at 45 feet, definitely inferior to my other guns. I grease my guns up well, so the thing was jamming at 45 degrees. I have read that the Germans tend to run their stuff with little lube, on the dry side, so that may have helped in the cold, but come on, only 45 degrees? Sold it off.