XavierBreath
November 7, 2003, 11:51 PM
Today, I took another old pistol to the range for a wringing out. This one was a Walther P1 that was accepted into the German Army in 1978. The Walther P1 is an alloy framed variant of the P38 which replaced the P08 Luger in WWII. It is a eight round 9mm DA/SA pistol. The barrel locks up with a falling block like the Beretta 92. It has a slide mounted safety/dec0cker. That is where the similarity to the Beretta ends though. The P1 has a loaded chamber indicator above the hammer like the PPK/S. It has a firing pin safety remarkably like the Colt Series 80. The magazine release is in the heel of the grip.
There are many variants of the P38/P1 pistols. Mine is in excellent condition, (apparently newly refurbished) from SOG. It came with a holster, cleaning kit, and two magazines. My P1 has the CAI import marking stitched onto the right of the slide. It has black plastic commercial grips. My P1 does not have the reinforcing hex in the frame as the earlier P1's have. Earlier this year, a buddy bought a reinforced frame P1 from SOG for $200. My later style frame P1 ran me $299. (The early alloy frames apparently had problems handling the recoil, thus the reinforcement.)
Once I got my P1 in my hands, the first thing I noticed was how ergonomic it is. It fits my hand as though I designed it myself. Both the safety and the slide release are easily reached with the right thumb. My P1 has white bar/dot sights. As usual, I stripped, cleaned and lubed the pistol. The lockwork had no finish wear, nor did the slide rails. This was not the case with my buddy's pistol bought earlier this year. My trigger pull was nice and smooth in DA, and short and crisp in SA. The frame is a glossier finish than the parkerized slide and frame. I'm not sure I like that, but I'm hoping it will grow on me.
I bought four value packs of Winchester White Box, and picked up a gallon bucket of reloads and headed to the range. I ran targets out to 20 feet, and began to shoot in my normal "new pistol" manner, one round in the mag, then two, then three, then five, etc. At first my accuracy was dismal. I quickly noted that this pistol had a knack for tossing brass in my collar. It ejects straight up. As I settled into shooting the pistol, my accuracy with it improved dramatically. It was then that I noticed a curious thing. The faster I shot the pistol, the better it grouped! Two inch groups became the norm after that first DA shot was fired. I stopped my round counting at 1000 rounds. I had no failures of any kind before or after that point.
The pistol's action was smooth to begin with, but after 1000 rounds, it felt like the slide was mounted on ball bearings. In total, I think I shot somewhere near 1300 rounds. I experienced no hammer or slide bite. Recoil was on the level of a Beretta 92FS.
I placed some heavier recoil springs on order with Wolff, as I'm thinking the originals may have taken a set over the past 25 years. I also ordered some walnut grips from Numrich. The P1 is a more modern sucessor of the famed P38. It was the granddaddy of the wonder-nine revolution, and was ahead of it's time in function, if not in appearance. The workmanship on the pistol screams quality, and is on par with $800 pistols we see today. This pistol was a pleasure to shoot. It's a keeper.
There are many variants of the P38/P1 pistols. Mine is in excellent condition, (apparently newly refurbished) from SOG. It came with a holster, cleaning kit, and two magazines. My P1 has the CAI import marking stitched onto the right of the slide. It has black plastic commercial grips. My P1 does not have the reinforcing hex in the frame as the earlier P1's have. Earlier this year, a buddy bought a reinforced frame P1 from SOG for $200. My later style frame P1 ran me $299. (The early alloy frames apparently had problems handling the recoil, thus the reinforcement.)
Once I got my P1 in my hands, the first thing I noticed was how ergonomic it is. It fits my hand as though I designed it myself. Both the safety and the slide release are easily reached with the right thumb. My P1 has white bar/dot sights. As usual, I stripped, cleaned and lubed the pistol. The lockwork had no finish wear, nor did the slide rails. This was not the case with my buddy's pistol bought earlier this year. My trigger pull was nice and smooth in DA, and short and crisp in SA. The frame is a glossier finish than the parkerized slide and frame. I'm not sure I like that, but I'm hoping it will grow on me.
I bought four value packs of Winchester White Box, and picked up a gallon bucket of reloads and headed to the range. I ran targets out to 20 feet, and began to shoot in my normal "new pistol" manner, one round in the mag, then two, then three, then five, etc. At first my accuracy was dismal. I quickly noted that this pistol had a knack for tossing brass in my collar. It ejects straight up. As I settled into shooting the pistol, my accuracy with it improved dramatically. It was then that I noticed a curious thing. The faster I shot the pistol, the better it grouped! Two inch groups became the norm after that first DA shot was fired. I stopped my round counting at 1000 rounds. I had no failures of any kind before or after that point.
The pistol's action was smooth to begin with, but after 1000 rounds, it felt like the slide was mounted on ball bearings. In total, I think I shot somewhere near 1300 rounds. I experienced no hammer or slide bite. Recoil was on the level of a Beretta 92FS.
I placed some heavier recoil springs on order with Wolff, as I'm thinking the originals may have taken a set over the past 25 years. I also ordered some walnut grips from Numrich. The P1 is a more modern sucessor of the famed P38. It was the granddaddy of the wonder-nine revolution, and was ahead of it's time in function, if not in appearance. The workmanship on the pistol screams quality, and is on par with $800 pistols we see today. This pistol was a pleasure to shoot. It's a keeper.