Walther P1 - experience? warnings? praises ?

[aschwabe]

I have always been drawn to the look of the Walther p-38. I have been eyeing up a post-war P1 with alloy frame for a while now. I have read comments all over the place, with some people saying "save your money and buy a real p-38" all the way to "its great so long as you only shoot 9mm ball." My intent is to buy one so I can actually use it. I'd save up for a wwii one if i wanted it that badly, but then to never shoot it seems like a big waste.

I am still relatively new to firearms, although I have a bulgarian makarov that I love.

So anyway, I figured before I spend the green on one of these, I would ask the greatly more experienced gurus of firearms in this great state specifically about this sidearm.

Have any advice? Have any suggestions on what to look for/avoid in one ? Any feedback from somebody who owns/shoots one ? I appreciate any and all comments!

Thanks all!

[knight0334]

P1's, aka P-38's are fine handguns. The Germans chose them for a reason to carry as a sidearm.

I couldn't tell ya about the alloy models - but the war production and steel post war are reliable pieces still worth of holster duty.

[PA Rifleman]

They're fine, some pluses and some negatives. My experience was using a wartime P-38 (steel frame, round firing pin). Not sure how the post-war alloy frame guns hold up, they may have chosen softer metal expecting low use or a short service life from the post war guns.

PRO
Double action, *nice* single action trigger
Nice sight picture
Easy cleanup & maintenance
Fed hollowpoints surprisingly well.
More accurate than I expected.

CON
Seven or eight round capacity, don't recall which
Full frame size, not the most concealable gun around.
Magazines can be expensive

[TonyF]

It has a DA/SA trigger system. Steep learning curve.

[aschwabe]

What do you mean by "steep learning curve?"

[aschwabe]

Now I have the opportunity to purchase a near perfect condition post-war P38 (1957 I think). I have not been able to verify yet whether it has a steel or alloy frame. Price is about $50 more than a near-perfect condition P1 from [many to choose from online] store.

Anybody have any thoughts ? Is it worth $50 more to have the "p38" stamped on the side as opposed to "P1?" If I can verify that it has a steel frame, I think that would convince me that it is worth it, but does anybody else have an opinion ?

[Mity2]

my friend have one.
Great gun. DA trigge is bit on heavy side. And grip can be too wide (for me with small hand anyway. may expreain why I think DA trigger is really heavy, because my finger is not comfortably reaching trigger, due to wide lateraly)

Only mechanical issue he consistingly having is that stamped steel top cover on slide pops off time to time during shooting. He has been meaning to take it to the gunsmith to get looked at, but he is being procrostinater.

[e3mrk]

This is a problem with the Alloy frame,They tried to fix it by installing a Steel Pin to strengthen the Frame but I don't know how well it worked.
I replaced the Alloy frame on My P-1 with a WW-2 Steel frame and it works perfectly.
Here is a picture of a cracked Alloy Frame.

[Rolling Thunder]

The post-war P.38 and P.1 designations were largely superficial and used to designate pistols for the police forces and Bundeswehr (the armed forces), respectively. All post-war P.38's are more or less identical as far as I know to the P.1, including an alloy ("Duraluminum") frame. You'll hear all over the place how P.38's supposedly all have steel frames. Well, only those made through 1945 under the Third Reich and the relative handful assembled by the French immediately after the war using captured German parts. Apart from that one notable exception, ALL post-war Walther P.38 pistols have the same aluminum frame as the P.1. In later years (sometime in the 1970's), Walther incorporated several important design improvements into the P.1 including the infamous steel hex-pin through the frame to lessen the impact of the locking-block on the return of the slide into battery. (See the photo somebody posted elsewhere on this page to see what I'm talking about.) They also incorporated a slightly thicker sidewall on a section of the slide (commonly referred to as a "fat-slide" though it's not really distinguishable at a glance) and several other changes as well. It may be safe to assume that these later-production pistols, with all the design improvements, may provide increased functional reliability than the earlier models, including, ironically the post-war P.38's which never had these design modifications incorporated as did the P.1. And yet, because of the name "P.38" and general lack of knowledge on the part of many people, you may pay upward of $150-$200 more just for the name "P.38" when in fact it still has the aluminum frame WITHOUT the steel reinforcing lug in the frame, better slide and all the other improvements made to later-model P.1's.

Bottom line: If you're going to buy one from AIM, cough-up the extra $10.00 for hand-select and specify you want a later model with the steel reinforcment lug in the frame. (You may get lucky and get one by luck of the draw, but why take a chance?) If you're spending any money at all on a gun it would be foolish not to spend the extra few dollars and have something you really want and really feel confident and happy with. Life is filled with enough regrets without something like this being one of them. I should know; I've made enough mistakes over the years, so now I do some serious homework before I buy anything! (On a side note, if you're able to somehow obtain a World War II-era steel frame, by all means, go for it!)

[archie19]

I bought a P-38 last a year ago, at Gander, out the door about $300. For good info try waltherforums.com or p38forums.com. My copy, 1959, is an alloy frame, no hex pin and I have no idea regarding the slide. These two forums will advocate 115 gr. ammo, not +p. High power loads can cause the top to pop off, IIRC, it's only pressed in place.