Walther P1

I picked one up from Gander a couple of months ago. Shoots good, and was in decent shape. It has a little finish wear on the frame, but all the steel parts are a nice park. Came with two mags, a cleaning kit, and a holster. Mine was $299.

Get them to bring you a few from out of the back to pick through. Like the P6's, they do vary a bit from gun to gun. I've been fighting the urge of going by there this week for another myself. I'm not real good at fighting urges.

Like the surplus German P-5, P-6, P-7 pistols, the P-1 pistols are a great value for someone who doesn't need a polymer frame, 17 shot, wunderpistolen.

Make sure ot get the one with the hex pin above the trigger(last longer) and fat slide(slide serrations in front of the decocker.)

www.dansammo.com has MINT unissued all matching P1s for less than $350 bucks that are NOT arsenal refurbs like the ones at Gander MT likely are. While being a refurb isn't always a bad thing, with an unissued non refurb you at least know it hasn't been shot much..mine look like brand new guns. I ende dup sellingone to a buddy though..not sure why I bought two lol.

You can tell if it is a Refurb if you see marks with a lot of Ws in them..like W11/80 means it was refurbed in 1980..etc The only W should be a BW to indicate German Military. You will hoeever see a date on the slide usually, this does not mean a refurb, they date their slides for some reason.

The P1s if they have the Hex in the frame and the fat slides make great shooters, stay away from the +P though. The older steel framed P38s while having a stringer frame tend to crack slides eventually, so I actually prefer a P1 for a shooter.

www.p38forum.com is an excellent resource.

Omega WS also has P1's = 250$
http://www.omega-weapons-systems.com/catalog.htm
http://thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=3549320&postcount=279

What ever you do dont shoot +P ammo in the P-1. I had one an shot some sub-machine gun ammo in it and split the frame. It is the same ammo we fired I our P-5s, so I'm not sure why it broke. Blitz, Just a Thought.

I got one before Gander Mountain was offering, and I got a like new 1965 vintage P1.



It does not have the frame crosspin, and has the old P38 skinny sights.

The current prices are the best I have seen, before these "BW" were on the market you would pay at least $750 for a P1.

The P1 is a lot lighter to carry than a P38 due to the weight reduction from going to a steel frame to an aluminum frame. I like the fact that the barrel is chromed lined. The barrel at least ought to last forever.

Both the P38 and P1 have identical safeties and magazine releases. The grip is designed for a one hand hold. This pistol was state of the art in 1938, but now those features make it a dated design.

You do not disassemble this pistol to the level that you can disassemble a M1911. I do not want to take the firing pin out, or any of the frame pieces. Basically you take the slide off, the barrel off, and wipe everything off. This pistol has too many bits and pieces to take down further. However, this seems to be true of most modern semi auto pistols. I guess you just soak the frame and the slide in a cleaner at some point.

As far as shooting, well this is a service pistol. Everyone that I have handled had significant creep in the final pull. Double action is stiff. All of them went bang and no one is reporting malfunctions. I had to bash the front sight laterally, and then file it to get the pistol to shoot to point of aim, but once zero'd this pistol will shoot within four inches at 25 yards. At most everything is within six inches. I shoot offhand, I can do better with my revolvers. But four inches is plenty fine for most service pistols.

I can recall that back in the 80's, Colt told me that if a Gold Cup shot within 3 inches at 25 yards, it was within factory specifications.

I have been told that combat situations with handguns occur within spitting distance, so 25 yards with a handgun is really only of concern for target shooters. Or me, because that is as close as I get to my gong targets.

I am experiencing frame peening. There is metal deformation going on at those white spots on the frame. I am not loading hot loads, I have checked the velocity of my reloads and it is at least 100-150 fps less than factory. I have been able to look at three other P-1’s, and they all show some of the same frame peening that I have. It is my estimate that the locking lugs are deforming the top of the rails at unlock.





I asked folks if anyone else had been experiencing this, and whether it had caused long term problems, and what I was told that my loads were too hot.

I suspect that this peening is something that will get worse, so maybe I will cut my loads down to 950-1000 fps with a 125 Lead, and use Bullseye, a fast quick powder.

I do believe that hot loads are inappropriate in this pistol, and I am curious to see how many ammo cans of 9mm I can shoot through this pistol before the frame cracks.

It will you know. All aluminum frames will crack in time. Alumimum does not have an indefinite fatigue life. The M92 Beretta’s service life has been estimated around 35,000 rounds.

Yeah that is what I warning him about, that is an unpinned thin slide model. For 299 you can add the latest updated style to your collection. The only alarming peening I see in your pic is exactly where the hex bolt would be to prevent it.

Here is a pic of the one I got for $299, came with a leather holster and a cleaning kit as well. Pic does not really do it justice, it literally looks like a brand new gun, removing the slide shows zero evidence of ever being shot, barrel looked brand new as well. I have in red marked the updates you want to see, slide serrations continuing in front of the decocker and the hex pin.

I figured I would post a pic of mine to help illustrate the differences.

Wolff stocks new springs.

Ah, how come yours came with nice looking walnut stocks and mine came with cheap black plastic?

You know a distributor that I don't know?

The pin is real hard to see in your photo.

His isn't pinned, it does have the thick slide though, although the number on the slide seems to be a mismatch to the frame, unless it was added later on as a refurb.

It's a good pistol for 9mm.

Smooth, smooth, smooth action. Wonderful pistol. $299 is a bit steep but the gun is more than worth it. As others mentioned, its not a polymer frame, 17 round hicap pistol but the action is more than worth it. Possibly the smoothest firing pistol I've ever shot and I've shot a lot! I bought mine from AIM surplus a couple of years ago for $239, came in excellent condition. I'd heartily recommend it for anyone wanting to fire a quality pistol.

My P1 was made by Manurhin in the mid to late '50's. An interesting side note about this particular P1 is that it was formerly used by the West Berlin police force, who purchased the pistols from France because they were not allowed to buy any German made weapons at the time. This one's a great shooter, and I frequently take it with me to the range when I just want to have some fun plinking away at pop cans and plastic bottles.
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SlamFire1:

Gun Parts Corporation HAD them, in checkered walnut, or military style grooves.
They show out of stock right now, but you might contact them and ask to be sure.

I have a P-1 that the frame is split on,and can't of course fix it. My question to all is "does any one know if a functional used frame can be purchased? Blitz

I have a couple vintage P1s in my modest collection, including a vintage Maunhrin P1.



But, whenever I feel the need to carry an Alt Deutche Politzipistole, I carry my P5.

If you are interested in picking up a P1 -- and you should be; they are superb firearms, exhibiting quality craftsmanship that you don't often see anymore -- the best deals around can be found at Dan's Ammo. Here's a link:

http://www.dansammo.com/p38.asp

Dan is knowledgable, friendly, helpful ... and the guns that he is selling are advertised as being in "minty" condition, which is a fact. I've picked up two P1s from him and might well get a third. After all, you can never be too rich, nor too thin, nor have too many Walthers.

Searcher, thanks for also posting his link, I posted a pic above of the one I got from him. For <$300 you can't beat them considering they are unissued, people pay $250 for unmatching refurbs that don't have the hex bolts and thick slides and then say that the extra $50 bucks makes their prices steep..I obviously disagree.