Walther P38 Gestapo Model

[Steve C]

I’ve been wanting one of these for a long time but real ones are pretty rare. I’ve seen some made up “Man from Uncle” guns at the gun shows with a flash suppressor attached to a shortened barrel but they didn’t have a front sight on them.

I have two P1 Manurhin pistols so I’ve thought about converting one to the K or “Gestapo” version with shortened barrel and front sight moved to the slide.. Wondering if anyone has done this and how did it work out? Who did the work for you? Does anyone has an idea of price range to do the work?

 

[modifiedbrowning]

Military Gun Supply has some available.

 

[BADSBSNF81]

Maybe someone over at waltherfourms.com can help you.

 

[BillinNH]

To my knowledge there was no "Gestapo" model P.38 but I'll check my references to see if I can find one. The P.38K was made on the P4 platform which was a post WWII variant of the P.38. It (the P4) had a four inch barrel and a different decocker/safety, among other things. The P.38K was a P4 with a barrel that just barely cleared the slide. The front sight was relocated to the front cross bar of the slide.

During WWII there were a few P.38s with a very short barrel made (but still long enough to hold the front sight) but they were unofficial efforts and I don't think they were ever released for sale. In point of fact there is one of these experimentals for sale at Kittery Trading Post in Maine (Google them). It is based on an AC44 and they want $1200 for it.

Bill

 

[dfariswheel]

There was an article in an older Handguns Magazine in which Jerry Ahern had a P-38 or P4 converted to a short barrel "Man From UNCLE" gun.
This one had the front sight on the slide, and even had a custom muzzle brake that looked like the UNCLE gun.

The only "watch out" with a P1 is to be sure you don't have one that has a two piece barrel.
Some were made with a barrel sleeved into a rear section, similar to the cheaper 1911 two piece barrels.
There "might" be an issue with cutting one of these two piece barrels off.