Questions from new Walther P1 owner:

[Jim NE]

Just bought a mid- 60's Walther P1...fascinating pistol! It's the era of P1 that does not have the reinforced slide or frame, so I intend to use only moderate or range ammo in it. It has seen very little use before I bought it.

I shot it on it's first outing the other day, and the first mag went great, but second mag had a failure top eject, as I recall. After that, every mag had some combination of failure to feeds or ejects. Got worse as gun got dirty. I didn't clean the gun before shooting because it looked pretty clean.

I don't mind sorting this pistol out, because I think that the gun - and the era it's from - is so cool. But I don't want to go down dead ends if I don't have to. I WILL clean and lube the gun before shooting it next time. Do you find fluff and buff of feed ramp helps on these?

The ammo used was American Eagle FMJ and a target reload called On Target, also a FMJ. I went with this ammo because the range didn't have Winchester white box, which I hear works good in these pistols. I 've read the P1 can be finicky to ammo...is this true? Also, the two mags looked near brand new. Could non original mags be the issue? I've bought some Winchester WB ammo that I'll try next time out. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[GRIZ22]

I bought a new P1 made in 1986 several years ago. No problem with any factory ammo fmj or hollowpoint. Softer reloads will exhibit failures you describe. I suspect the reloads you used. See what happens with just factory ammo. No sense in grinding and polishing if there is no need to.

 

[RON in PA]

I'd recommend purchasing new recoil springs.

 

[Rock185]

I bought a P1 in very good condition years ago. It reliably fed ball and hollow point ammo with no issues. I used standard pressure ammo, but the slide cracked vertically through the thin locking recess area. Mine did not have the reinforced slide or frame. The later P4 slide looks much more robust to me.....

 

[MikeJackmin]

A new recoil spring is a good idea on any old surplus gun. It's cheap and easy.

Get some good quality ammo and see how it runs with that. Chances are it will accept the good stuff just fine.

Some people say a soft grip can induce feeding failures in some pistols. One more thing to keep in mind before digging into the gun itself.

 

[dfariswheel]

First step is to give the entire gun a good cleaning and fresh lube.
Many of these have been in storage since the 50's.
Disassemble and clean the magazine also.
Put a very thin coat of lube on the interior pf the mag and the spring to prevent rust.

Pay special attention to the extractor, spring, and plunger, and the hole in the slide. These are often impacted with old grease.

Second step is to try different ammo. Often a gun just doesn't "like" some ammo.

Ejection problems are seldom cause by magazines.

 

[Edarnold]

I got a "reinforced" ( frame and fat slide) P1 awhile ago. Using 115gr. Remington FMJ I got a succession of failures to feed, it was apparent the slide was not traveling far enough back to pick up the next round properly. With my full-charge 115gr. XTP hand loads in Winchester brass, functioning was flawless. From experience with the Remington loads in a P7, the factory appears to load the fastest burning powder possible to achieve the minimum velocity, in a thin cartridge case. In the P7, this Remington load engraves the flutes in the forward half of the chamber into the case, rather than floating the case as it should. The result is a low recoil impulse and extraction that is sticky, slowing down the slide velocity. In German service pistols that were designed around a 124gr projectile at full velocity, this is not a viable combination.

I suspect your problem is not weak springs, which everybody jumps on as a default, but weak ammunition. Try some of the Winchester 124gr 'NATO' ammunition and see if that clears up your problem. Also keep in mind that the broken slides and battered frames experienced in the P1 were during a period when Geco and other European ammo makers were competing to produce 'man-stopper' loads for the 9x19, resulting in some loadings that were probably +P+ long before that got to be a thing in the US. Rumor has it the Navy SEALS busted their Beretta M9s doing the same thing. If you are concerned about your pistols longevity, there are a lot of brand new 'fat' P1 slides around right now for around $40, a good investment if you ever do crack the original.

 

[Steve C]

I have 2 former German Police surplus P1's built by Manurhin and issued post WWII when the Germans where not allowed to build fire arms. Bought these over 30 years ago. Neither has the steel recoil bolt or heavy slide. I have purchased and installed new recoil springs from Wolf Gun springs. Both are still in great condition.

I've shot these over the years with inexpensive commercial ammo and hand loads using, jacketed, plated FMJ's or JHP's. Mine have fed and ejected both RN and JHP without issue in standard pressure, never wanted to risk +P in them. I occasionally get nostalgic and will carry one of them for self defense when traveling or a night stand gun loaded with 115gr Speer Gold Dots or Federal Hydra Shocks.

You probably only need to clean and lube the gun and as others have suggested, a new set of recoil springs wouldn't hurt. I'm still using the original magazines that came with the guns I purchased and they still work reliably.

 

[Crowcifier666]

One of the mags that came with my P1 had the spring in backwards, causing all sorts of issues. Might be something to double check...

 

[bannockburn]

I also have a Manurhin built P1 (made for the West Berlin Police Department), and have found that some of the factory 115 grain FMJ loads can give me a few problems but factory 124 grain and 147 grain work just fine. Everything else works fine with the gun and I like to take it out occasionally on my trips to the range.

 

[Jim NE]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. A big help. I cleaned the gun, then lubed it pretty well and switched to Winchester white box ammo (115 gr., I believe.) In retrospect, the gun seemed very "dry" when I got it, and I should've known better than to not lube it before shooting it.

And VOILA. The gun now works perfect! Cycled about 70 rounds through flawlessly. Of course, I don't know if it was the ammo or the lube, but it may have been both. Also, though the gun had some exterior wear, I don't believe more than a few rounds were ever put through it, based in internal wear patterns on parts. So could it be I was just experiencing a break-in period? Don't know for sure.

The mags looked new, they had that slightly rough "phosphate" finish on them, both inside and out. I toyed with the idea of putting some 0000 steel wool on the end of a cleaning rod and smoothing out the inside walls of the mags, but I decided to to not try too many changes at once, making the solution to my problem even more enigmatic.

So the gun works great now. Thanks (and thanks to folks on the Taurus forum, as well.) For now, I'll probably keep with the Winchester white box, trying the 124 gr., as well. And keep the gun lubed.

Edarnold said:

If you are concerned about your pistols longevity, there are a lot of brand new 'fat' P1 slides around right now for around $40, a good investment if you ever do crack the original.

You read my mind. I don't plan on changing out the original slide - I have enough 9mm's that I probably shoot this one that much - but I found a drop dead perfect new-old-stock P1 slide from the early 1980's that I bought, in case something bad happens to the old one. But here's the question: After I bought it, somebody said that the added weight of the reinforced slide might make the frame more likely to crack, with the extra force that the heavier slide impacting the alloy frame. Does this sound plausible to you? Interested in your opinions. Thanks.

 

[Jim K]

FWIW, changing recoil springs in a P.38 or similar Walther pistol is easy but a bit tricky. If you don't do it right you can mess up the frame. I have never seen one of those guns that needed the springs replaced and I believe that 98% of spring changing on any pistol is totally unnecessary. Of course, spring makers tell us to change all the springs every ten rounds or 5 minutes whichever comes first but they might have an ulterior motive.

Jim