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firespec35

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So Im sitting at work watching Hellboy when I thought of something. Why arent there more pistols like the p38, meaning a fixed exposed barrel with a partial cycling slide. It seems like every pistol since then(and obviously some before it) is the full slide with the covered barrel.

Any Ideas?
 
Because the Browning pattern with a slide enclosing the barrel works better and has therefore caught on in the industry.
 
There are plenty of 22's that have a fixed exposed barrel. Additionally revolvers are pistols and they have fixed exposed barrels.

I'm guessing the extra weight of the full slide helps delay the slide from starting to move before the bullet exits the barrel.
 
The barrel on a P38 is not fixed. It recoils backwards and the breach is unlocked by a dropping lug. But the barrel itself is not fixed at all, and in fact the one that I have sitting here in front of me has a more lateral movement than the one in my old 1916 1911.
This P38 shoots well, but my 1911 is more accurate.
 
@wyosmith never even seen one in person so thats interesting to know. I thought about the Beretta neos and a few s&w .22 after i posted this. I was intending more toward typical centerfire semi auto pistols. But thing said make sense. You need the weight to delay the slide unlocking so a full slide will balance the weight and I can see a full slide supporting the barrel for greater accuracy.
Thanks all for indulging my wandering mind.
 
Blowback pistols like the NEOS usually have fixed barrels; they may be removable for cleaning but don't lock to the slide in firing like locked breech pistols.

Could Walther have designed the P.38 to use a full slide? Of course, but the main reason for making it the way it is was that the German military liked the look and balance of the the P.08 (Luger) and Walther made a conscious effort to make its new pistol as familiar looking and feeling as possible.

Jim
 
Could Walther have designed the P.38 to use a full slide?
Click to expand...

Yes, in fact they did.

It is called the P5 and if the standard length slide is used, the slide pretty much covers it all. It did have the frame decocker which seems to have come from the Sauer designs.

I would like to have one, passed on it years ago when it seemed that standard P38 magazines would not quite fit. But I may have been wrong about that.

Bart Noir
 
I think at the time many did not want to admit the German's had a better design. Also the closed slide design of the P5 may have been seen as too costly to make.
 
I think most acknowledge that German engineering is considered very good. That said, outside of the Beretta, the Croatian (?) PHP pistols, and the various blowbacks in smaller calibers, most modern pistols are a derivative of the Browning locked breech system. That seems to imply that the system is the most efficient combination of functionality and ease of production.

If you could make a better pistol for the same or less cost, I'm pretty sure it would be made and sell well, regardless of the inspiration.
 
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