Walther P-38/P-1 Question

[Anthony]

Hello,

I had a friend ask my opinion about the P-38/P-1 pistols. He is interested in picking up a surplus military or police pistol at a fair price.

Is there a somewhat modern (i.e., not WWII) example of this pistol manufacturered in the past 20 to 30 years that will feed hollowpoints and give fairly good accuracy?

Which models/versions are the best bets?

Any particularly good distributors for such a gun?

Lastly, there is a gunsmith who has been famous for many years for specializing in P-38s and Lugers. Does anyone know his name and contact information?

Thank you for the input.

 

[Shipwreck]

This is the place to go


http://www.waltherforums.com/vb/

 

[Trebor]

For a "shooter" pistol, get one of the West German police issue P-1's. Get the later version with the hex reinforcment bolt. They should be as reliable and accurate as any pistol of the P-38 design can be. Many vendors have these.

You can *try* hollowpoints in a P-1. Don't be surprised if you have problems though. Even the P-1's were designed before HP's were really standard and they may not feed. Stick to HP's that most closely match the shape and length of standard FMJ ammo for best results.

 

[tipoc]

Trebor is about right. The P1 was manufactured up till the mid to late 80s os so and will reliably feed some types of HPs. I second Trebor on the hex head.

Or you can get a Berretta 92 which is the more modern version.

tipoc

 

[Storm]

Where is this hex head bolt located?

 

[wrangler5]

FWIW, I've had a 1943-era P-38 for about 40 years, and mine WILL feed hollow points reliably EXCEPT from a full (8 round) magazine. As long as there are 7 or fewer rounds in the mag, hollow points work fine, but if the mag has 8 rounds in it, the top round must be a FMJ in order to feed reliably. For many years this was my bedside gun - I kept it with a hollow point in the chamber and a magazine with 7 hollow points topped off with a FMJ.

Luckily, I never had to use it in earnest, but whenever I went out to shoot it things worked properly as long as I didn't try to use a full magazine with a hollow point on top. I reload, and tried many different brands of hollow point bullet over the years. All gave the same result - NO GO if the top round in a full mag was HP. There may have been some bullet brands that wouldn't feed properly even from a less-than-full mag, but I didn't keep records. I used Speer Gold Dots when I kept it by the bed.

This is a CYQ gun (don't remember who that was, but it wasn't Walther) with matching numbers on the parts but the usual mid-war rough finish. It is bone stock except for the recoil springs which I replaced 10 or 20 years ago, and a replacement firing pin. I don't know if its hollow point performance is typical of all wartime P-38s, but it does show that at least SOME of them would handle hollow points, after a fashion.

 

[Storm]

BTW, I found a photo of the hex head pin at the P38 forum by searching on "hex". The hex pin is the largish pin above the serial number on the frame between the takedown lever and the slide stop.

 

[ArmedBear]

I have a late-'70s P1, and it feeds Super-X JHP ammo flawlessly.

I like mine.

 

[New_geezer]

Since you've visited www.p38forum.com, you will note they highly recommend using only standard powered ammo, no plus p or hot loads. This is good advice. The hex bolt in the frame shows you likely have a gun with all the various upgrades the design incorporated over the years. However - shoot a lot of hot loads thru it and the aluminum frame can still crack. Personal experience bears this out (I didn't shoot the hot loads, but the previous owner did).

Some people will try to compensate for hot loads by putting heavy duty recoils springs in. I think this is a mistake. The steel hex bolt is not intended to really stengthen the frame. It keeps the steel locking bolt from peening the softer aluminum frame when the slide goes back into battery. But it also delivers the full shock of the recoil springs to the frame. Using hot ammo and heavy duty recoil springs really increases the stress on the frame in both directions, when fired and when returning to battery.

The P-1 is a fun gun and a classic design and some day I'll own another. But it wasn't designed with modern metalurgy and modern ammo in mind. Stick with standard powered ammo and you should do fine. But you run serious risks shooting a lot of plus powered ammo.