Walther P38 vs M1911A1 (vs Luger P08)

[Mosin77]

I have a WWII Walther PP that has had a broken firing pin, broken safety, and just recently a bit of the underside of the slide has broken off. I won’t be shooting it anymore, I think the metal has crystallized.

As for mismatched Lugers, I wouldn’t recommend it. I’d heard Lugers had terrible triggers, and shooting a friend’s seemed to confirm that. But his was a mixmaster. When I bought my own, numbers matching Luger, the trigger pull was target gun quality. All of those parts were serialized for a reason. Some German spent hours with a file making them fit perfectly.

I have 2 Lugers… an all matching and one that has a matching lower mated to a different numbered upper. They both have ok but somewhat spongy triggers.

 

[Jimbo80]

[QUOTE="Rudolph31]All of those parts were serialized for a reason. Some German spent hours with a file making them fit perfectly.[/QUOTE]

True, but a lot of Lugers are like mine and have mismatched side plates only. I heard a story that officers would often toss the side plate before surrendering them in order to deactivate the gun. Whether the story is true or not a non matching side plate doesn't have an adverse effect on function.

 

[Rudolph31]

The side plate is the link between the trigger and the sear, so it might contribute to a lousy trigger pull.

 

[Jimbo80]

^^^True but it usually doesn't affect it to the point where most would notice. In any case a mismatched Luger with lousy trigger is a LOT better than no Luger at all.

 

[MachIVshooter]

The Luger is an elegant engineering marvel and one of the earliest autoloading pistols, so it definitely has a special place in history.

The P38 was advanced, but has its shortcomings. It's operating system is highly notable in that it paved the way for the legendary Beretta 92.

From a functional standpoint, as well as form/aesthetics, the Browning-designed 1911 and Hi Power are simply superior in every way. Time has proven which designs had more allure and endurance.

 

[Slamfire]

What's a machine gunner to carry for self defense when they can't get their MG off the line or from the tripod in time when being overrun? They can't use it as a club or a pike to mount a bayonet to.

I have seen pictures of German paratroopers in Crete having only a P38 in their hand as a weapon. Turns out, this is what a German paratrooper carried on himself:

Each Man Carried Field Dressings, Rations, Benzedrine Tablets, a 9mm Automatic Pistol, a Knife, and Grenades During the Descent.

Turns out, the containers holding the rifles, and what ever else they needed, were dumped out separately. And those things got lost, or fell into British positions! Many of the German paratroopers on Crete had to fight with pistols, knives, and grenade against New Zealand and British infantry, who were armed with SMLE's, Bren guns, Sten guns, Vicker's machine guns. Of course the defenders had the normal assortment of artillery and mortars. More details here: German paratroopers rests at Crete

The Germans won, but it was a slaughter.

 

[Smaug]

The Luger is an elegant engineering marvel and one of the earliest autoloading pistols, so it definitely has a special place in history.

The P38 was advanced, but has its shortcomings. It's operating system is highly notable in that it paved the way for the legendary Beretta 92.

...AND EVERY OTHER DA/SA PISTOL TO FOLLOW! This is important! In the case of the P38, Walther and others took that basic design and refined it to make new pistol models, rather than refine the P38 itself.

From a functional standpoint, as well as form/aesthetics, the Browning-designed 1911 and Hi Power are simply superior in every way. Time has proven which designs had more allure and endurance.

Well, from an aesthetic point of view, that's purely subjective. To me, the P38 is very elegant-looking; ditto for the Luger. By comparison, the 1911 and Hi Power look like bricks to me. It's like comparing a Porsche from the 80s to a Volvo from the 80s.

Saying that from a functional standpoint, the 1911 and Hi Power were superior in every way is not true. Maybe in every way that matters to you, but that qualification needs to be made.