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Experiences with the P38 (pistol not airplane)
Doc
Member Posts: 13,898 ✭✭✭
When I was a kid I was intrigued by the P38 pistol. In the movies it was usually some East German spy or other sinister character who carried one. Although I think that the good guys on the 1960s TV show The Man from U.N.C.L.E. also packed P38s with all sorts of movie magic accessories.
I believe that the P38 was the first DA semi-auto adopted by any military and the Walther certainly passed its genes on to guns that followed. The S&W Model 39 feels much the same in the hand and the magazines the two guns use are so similar that they nearly interchange.
In the 1980s I had an FFL and was doing some dealing at shows and doing transfers for customers. Some distributor had a bunch of post-war Manhurian P38s for sale at like $169 and I bought one. It was as cool as I thought it would be. I shot a bunch of MilSurp ammo sold by my local gunshop. It was from European country and looked pretty old but it worked just fine. Then in 1986 it was stolen along with all of my other guns in a burglary.
The serial is 223842, BTW, in case you should happen across it.
Anyway, I replaced it with an almost identical piece but by then the magic was wearing off. I don't recall if I even shot that replacement P38 before trading it off on something else that I wanted at the time.
So, last year I was perusing the GunBroker auctions and I see a Walther P38 listed as a "West German Police trade-in." The starting price was $200. I bid. Nobody else did. When it arrived the transfer dealer called me and said there was a problem. The barrel had poked trough the cardboard box and was sticking out. Once open, I found that the safety lever was sheared off and lying at the bottom of the box. The slide was frozen and wouldn't open. I have no idea why. The magazine would also not come free.
The seller said the gun was fine when he sent it and the damage must have occurred in transit. Possible, but it must have been run over by a bulldozer, or something to do that much damage. I paid the return shipping ($12 as the FFL mailed it at cost) and the seller sent a replacement.
It's not pretty. But it's a genuine Walther stamped 1/62 on the slide so I assume this is the date of manufacture or maybe an issue date? Anyway, the frame is alloy with a black finish, like enamel, maybe? The slide appears to be parkerized. The trigger is simply awful. The worst. But it's not a target pistol, anyway. It's a hoot and I'm keeping this one.
Anyone else have one. or more? Thoughts or opinions on the P38? The military issue guns have sure gone up in price. Darned collectors. Magazines have gotten pricey, too. I picked one spare for about $20 but usually they go for much more.
Here's mine.
I believe that the P38 was the first DA semi-auto adopted by any military and the Walther certainly passed its genes on to guns that followed. The S&W Model 39 feels much the same in the hand and the magazines the two guns use are so similar that they nearly interchange.
In the 1980s I had an FFL and was doing some dealing at shows and doing transfers for customers. Some distributor had a bunch of post-war Manhurian P38s for sale at like $169 and I bought one. It was as cool as I thought it would be. I shot a bunch of MilSurp ammo sold by my local gunshop. It was from European country and looked pretty old but it worked just fine. Then in 1986 it was stolen along with all of my other guns in a burglary.
The serial is 223842, BTW, in case you should happen across it.
Anyway, I replaced it with an almost identical piece but by then the magic was wearing off. I don't recall if I even shot that replacement P38 before trading it off on something else that I wanted at the time.
So, last year I was perusing the GunBroker auctions and I see a Walther P38 listed as a "West German Police trade-in." The starting price was $200. I bid. Nobody else did. When it arrived the transfer dealer called me and said there was a problem. The barrel had poked trough the cardboard box and was sticking out. Once open, I found that the safety lever was sheared off and lying at the bottom of the box. The slide was frozen and wouldn't open. I have no idea why. The magazine would also not come free.
The seller said the gun was fine when he sent it and the damage must have occurred in transit. Possible, but it must have been run over by a bulldozer, or something to do that much damage. I paid the return shipping ($12 as the FFL mailed it at cost) and the seller sent a replacement.
It's not pretty. But it's a genuine Walther stamped 1/62 on the slide so I assume this is the date of manufacture or maybe an issue date? Anyway, the frame is alloy with a black finish, like enamel, maybe? The slide appears to be parkerized. The trigger is simply awful. The worst. But it's not a target pistol, anyway. It's a hoot and I'm keeping this one.
Anyone else have one. or more? Thoughts or opinions on the P38? The military issue guns have sure gone up in price. Darned collectors. Magazines have gotten pricey, too. I picked one spare for about $20 but usually they go for much more.
Here's mine.
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Too old to live...too young to die...
Too old to live...too young to die...
Comments
Not to worry you but keep an eye on the frame aand the upper. they tend to crack. After witch about 50 rounds the slide comes ALL the way back to the face. Other then that I love em.
I was just about to point out how the Berretta 1951/92 designs borrow heavily from the P-38, either that or the Germans stole the idea from the Beretta 1934 pistol.
In either case, weakness of frame and the potential for catastrophic slide failure seem to run in the family.
Being double action, I knew it was far advanced from anything most people had and the engineering fasinated me. I learned to leave the top cover alone unless I absolutely had to take it off.
It was covered with all kinds of Nazi marks that were a mystery to me as there were no books available then that explained them.
Over the years, I've owned several. Just recently I sold a very rare byf 42 for $1300. Values change over time and the P.38 doesn't. A tribute to the original design can be readily seen in the Beretta 92 (duel recoil springs, locking system, double action). Even the P.5 is just a P.38 with a slide that covers the barrel.
Perhaps that's why it consistantly places in the top ten handguns of all time.
Mine almost got me. And I truly believe it could cause a lot more damage to your thumb than just a lot of pain.
I can only guess that the Walther engineers designed and started producing the gun and then somebody on the productions line said "Hey! It ain't got no safety lever" and they had to hurry up and design and stick one on. I frankly like to chamber a round in most semi-autos with the safety on "safe" as that word kinda seems to go along with forcibly loading a live round into a chamber while you hope the hammer remains cocked.
But that's just me.
Paid $550 w/correct WAa stamped mag. I love how it shoots, except how the shells eject. Very first time I shot it, a shell casing landed between my sun glasses and my face. Learned real quick to wear shooting glasses. I recently bought a nice aluminum fitted case for the P-38 from Sportsmansguide for $37.00. It sure looks pretty in it.
AC40's - just as they came out of the crate![:D][:D][:D]
Too old to live...too young to die...
Here's something you don't see every day - four consecutive
AC40's - just as they came out of the crate![:D][:D][:D]
zipper,
Arent those the guns you great uncle Bullwinkle captured when he liberated the hotel bar at the Ritz in Paris with Ernest Hemingway in August of 44 after leading the breakout from Normanday and winning the medal of Honor for saving the life of General Patton's favorite bull-terrier Wille?
for Field Marshal Jodel Von Rundstadt who eventually signed
the orders for surrender, after Hitler committed suicide. The
four P-38's belonged to none of them - but I acquired them
from Eckhard von Nuis - from Bremerhaven - the last time
I was there in nearby Bremen. ... and I understand there are
some nice P'09's that I'm going to check into this summer![8D]