Walter P38 collector and history, but shooting it?

S

stonewall50

New member
Has anyone ever fired this particular weapon? I've googled it. I've learned some about the history and such, but I'm really just wondering how it is to shoot? I've never seen one in person. I've seen more Lugers actually. So does anyone have first hand knowledge?
 
If you shoot a P.38 regularly, you can expect (eventually) the following: The top cover flying off with possible loss of rear sight as well as misc. small springs; The extractor disappearing into outer space, as well as spring and plunger; Mediocre accuracy; A possible cracked frame if shooting a post war gun; Possible crystallization of the safety on late WWII guns, with possible full auto fire if used to drop hammer on same.

Not saying that the above will happen, but the odds are not in your favor the more you shoot the gun.

As always, YMMV.
 
I had a WWII P38 (byf42), when I was younger, and shot it quite a bit over the years I had it. Never had any issues with it, and it was as accurate as any of the other military handguns of the era Ive owned. Traded it off for something else I just had to have at the moment.

I currently have a P1, and just got rid of another about a year ago or so. The one I kept has the upgrade in the frame, the other did not. The one I got rid of actually had an original P38 slide.

Both of the P1's shot/shoot great, and I never had any issues with them either. I kept one, just to have one around to shoot. Fun guns. :)
 


I have shot this particular weapon. Walther P.38 code AC 42.
Function with commercial FMJ was flawless. Sights are not very good for speed or precision, which is typical of ALL service handguns of the era.

SA trigger pull was poor/fair, DA was worse, although not quite as heavy feeling as a Webley or Nagant.

Accuracy was good enough for minute of man at short range, I've never bothered to shoot that one for group size on paper, and have no idea what it might do with tuned ammo and careful shooting.

If you shoot a P.38 regularly, you can expect (eventually) the following...
Click to expand...
The failures mentioned can, and have happened, sometimes much earlier than expected. The P.38 is no different in this than many guns, shoot them ENOUGH and something will break.]

On the other hand, who can say how much is enough? Late war production guns are more suspect, fit and particularly finish are noticeably poor compared to earlier guns.

In the 70s, Shooting Times magazine did an 11,000 rnd torture test, with an aluminum frame P.38 and an aluminum frame S&W. 5,500 rnds per gun. Guns were stripped and checked before, and after. The only thing found was finish wear on the moving parts.

So sure, it will probably break something if you shoot it enough, but enough ought to be multiple thousands of rounds if the gun is in good shape to begin with.

Just out of curiosity, did any of your google research mention the fact that the P.38 ejects to the left??? Despite tons of reading (over decades) on my part, this small fact was unknown to me, until I got a P.38. ;)
 
I do not have a P38 but I do have a P1 I picked up about 2 years ago for just $250 and it is far and away my favorite semi-auto to shoot. It always goes to the range with me.
 
I have and sometimes shoot(though not real often) a WW 2 P-38 and have 2 of the P-1's one with military upper and alloy lower and the other is all civilian parts. All shoot the same, with out looking I couldn't tell if I had the one with the post war made parts or the wartime one. They are fun to shoot, have the expected heavy DA trigger and long take up SA with military sights robust and accurate enough on man sized targets at expected pistol ranges. If you aren't into collecting find a P-1 they shoot the same and have a lot lower price and if something breaks you aren't lowering it's value with non issue parts.
 
I had a war-time P38 as one of my first center fires. There was a lot of WWII surplus ammo around in those days (early sixties). I found the grip to be too large for my small hands to be comfortable. It was a little tricky, as some find modern DA/SA handguns to be. The weight distribution, A.K.A., balance, was not conducive for accuracy...too heavy in the hand. I hand loaded and cast bullets for it using that Lyman conical 9MM bullet, which I learned to hate for being difficult to manipulate in my fingers...the bullets seemed to want to slip from my fingers. However, those conical bullets functioned flawlessly through the gun. In all, my impression of the Walther P38 was that it was big and clunky, but shot well enough. It will never be a thing of beauty.
 
I have several P.38's, an HP, a couple of P1's and a couple of post-war commercial P38's (note the locatioon of the periods in those designations) and have fired them all.

The only problem I had was with the "deckel" (the top cover) of a P.38 blowing off when the primer of some bad ammo leaked gas. Otherwise, none of the problems listed happened to me.

I consider them good guns. I grant that the post-war guns corrected some of the problems of the wartime production, but if I had to choose for serious purposes, I would take a good P.38, preferably a 1941-1942 Walther (ac code)

Jim
 
I had a ac41 p38. It had been blued and looked great. It went bang every time but shoot to the left about 4'' at 30'. I traded it for a new Italian Beretta 92fs.
 
One of the most accurate pistols I ever fired was a P.38 mixmaster, which was not mine. I don't know how or why, but that combination of Walther, Mauser and Spreewerke parts had a great trigger and produced 1" groups at 25 yards off a rest. I don't think anyone had worked on it; the assorted pieces just happened to come together in the right way.

Jim
 
I have a Walther (ac) 1941 P38 with all matching numbers that I have shot a few times, and is quite accurate, but it spends its time sitting in the safe.

I also have one made in 1962 with the slide marked P38, but is actually a P1.
That one is also accurate, and is my night stand gun.
 
If you buy one, it is hard to find anyone that has a reputation for making the triggers feel great.

All of my other main points have been made.

I will say that I enjoy my P1 a lot. It isn't my favorite 9mm [BHP is], but it is very nice.

I love the history of the gun as well, even if mine isn't a 1940s production.

Did you read this article in your research? walther-p38-godfather-modern-combat-handgun/
 
It's a beautiful piece of history that resides in my safe. My father-in-law carried the P-38 in Korea and gifted it to his daughter, my wife, a few years ago. I like the feel of the gun, no complaints. It's market value is merely average, around $400-$450. From my own perspective, the historical aspect is more important than the value. We don't shoot this one often, content to keep it in the safe for posterity sake.

Note, our version is not WWII era, rather built in the 50's.

Good luck. Enjoy your prize.
 
did any of your google research mention the fact that the P.38 ejects to the left???
Click to expand...

I didn't know that until I bought one. And I didn't actually notice until I started firing it. What the Heck!?

Eventually my P.38 was replaced by a P1, the version with the frame reinforcing hex-bolt thingus. The P1 has better sights, with a more modern combat front sight that doesn't disappear on the target because it is too skinny. And the P1 has a slightly beefed up slide.

The aluminum framed post-war guns are not too heavy. I can't say about the all-steel wartime guns since I don't buy actual collectible guns.

The shape of the grip still is very much too my liking. I suspect S&W more less copied that shape with the Model 39.

Bart Noir
Who has always thought the P.38 has a high coolness factor, and wanted one since about the sixth grade.
 
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