P38
Type	Semi-automatic pistol
Place of origin	Nazi Germany
Service history
In service	1939-1995
Used by	Nazi Germany, West Germany, Germany, Austria, Chile
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designed	1938
Manufacturer	Carl Walther Waffenfabrik, Mauser Werke, Spreewerke
Produced	1939-1945, 1957-2000
Variants	P1, P38K, P38 SD, P4
Specifications
Weight	800 g (28.22 oz)
Length	216 mm (8.5 in)
Barrel length	125 mm (4.9 in)
Cartridge	9x19mm Parabellum
Action	Short recoil, locked breech
Muzzle velocity	365 m/s (1,198 ft/s)
Effective range	Sights set for 25 m
Maximum range	50 m effective range
Feed system	8-round detachable single-stack magazine
Sights	Rear notch and front blade post

The Walther P38 is a 9 mm pistol that was developed by Walther as the service pistol of the Wehrmacht at the beginning of World War II. It was intended to replace the costly Luger P08, the production of which was scheduled to end in 1942. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Germany_1933. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Mauser is the common name of a German arms manufacturer, maker of a line of bolt-action rifles from the 1870s to present. ... BIC pen cap, about 1 gram. ... This article is about Ounce (unit of mass). ... A millimetre (American spelling: millimeter, symbol mm) is an SI unit of length that is equal to one thousandth of a metre. ... An inch (plural: inches; symbol or abbreviation: in or, sometimes, ″ - a double prime) is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The 9x19mm Parabellum is a pistol cartridge introduced in 1902 by the German weapons manufacturer Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken (DWM) for their Luger pistol. ... In firearms terminology, an action is the system of operation that the firearm employs to seal the breech (in a breech-loading firearm), and to load consecutive rounds. ... Recoil operation is a type of locked-breech firearm actions used in automatic firearms. ... A guns muzzle velocity is the speed at which the projectile leaves the muzzle of the gun. ... Metre per second (U.S. spelling: meter per second) is an SI derived unit of both speed (scalar) and velocity (vector), defined by distance in metres divided by time in seconds. ... Feet per second is a unit of speed; it expressses the number of feet traveled in one second. ... This article is about the unit of length. ... A 30-round STANAG magazine. ... Looking down the iron sight of an ArmaLite M15A4 Carbine (a civilian copy of the M4 Carbine) Rear diopter-type iron sight of an Rk 62 assault rifle. ... The 9x19mm Parabellum is a pistol cartridge introduced in 1902 by the German weapons manufacturer Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken (DWM) for their Luger pistol. ... A service pistol is any handgun (revolver, or semi-automatic) issued to military personnel, or in some contexts, law enforcement officers. ... The straight-armed Balkenkreuz, a stylized version of the Iron Cross, the emblem of the Wehrmacht. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... The Parabellum-Pistole (Pistol Parabellum), popularly known as the Luger pistol is a semi-automatic self-loading pistol patented by Georg Luger in 1898 and manufactured by Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken (DWM) starting in 1900. ...

Development

The P38 concept was accepted by the military in 1938 but production of actual prototype ("Test") pistols did not start until late 1939. Walther began manufacture at their plant in Zella-Mehlis and produced three series of "Test" pistols, designated by a "0" prefix to the serial number. The third series satisfied the previous problems and production for the Heer (German Army) began in mid-1940, using Walther's military production identification code "480". After a few thousand pistols the Heer changed all codes from numbers to letters and Walther was given the "ac" code. All production was performed at the Walther plant until mid- to late 1942 when additional production began at the Mauser plant in Oberndorf (code "byf" until early 1945, then "svw") and at the Spreewerk plant in Hradek and Nisou, Czechoslovakia ("cyq"). Production continued until the end of the war and into the post war period. The early Walthers, until late 1941, were made to almost commercial standards of fit and polish. As the pressures of war required increased production the exterior finish declined but the operating components of the P38 remained remarkably well-made throughout the war, especially at Mauser. The German Army (German: [1], [IPA: heɐ]  ) is the land component of the Bundeswehr (Federal Defence Forces) of the Federal Republic of Germany. ... Mauser is the common name of a German arms manufacturer, maker of a line of bolt-action rifles from the 1870s to present. ...

Three firms made components for P38 production:

• Fabrique Nationale-- slides, frames and locking blocks (M or M1)
• Ceska Zbrojovka, CZ (Böhmische Waffenfabrik)-- barrels (fnh)
• Erste Nordböhmische Metallwarenfabrik -- magazines (jvd)

The French manufactured P38 pistols from captured parts at the Mauser factory from May or June of 1945 until 1946. These are identifiable by the presence of a five-pointed star stamped on the slide. Total German production is estimated at more than 1,200,000 pistols. Production of the P38 resumed at a new Walther factory in Ulm, West Germany under the name Pistole 1 (P1) in 1958 for West German Police and the Bundeswehr. It remained in Walther production, in several revised iterations, until the early 1990s. For other uses, see Ulm (disambiguation). ... The Bundeswehr (German for Federal Defence Force;  ) is the name of the unified armed forces of Germany. ...

Design

The P38 was the first locked-breech pistol to use a double-action trigger. The shooter could load a round into the chamber, use the de-cocking lever to safely lower the hammer without firing the round, and carry the weapon loaded with the hammer down. A pull of the trigger, with the hammer down, fired the first shot and the operation of the pistol ejected the fired round and reloaded a fresh round into the chamber, all features found in many modern day handguns. A handgun is a firearm small enough to be carried and used in one hand. ...

The first designs submitted to the German Army featured a locked breech and a hidden hammer, but the German Army requested that it be redesigned with an external hammer. This led to the subsequent adoption of the P38 in 1940. Several experimental versions were later created in .45 ACP, and .38 Super, but these were never mass-produced. In addition to the 9 mm Parabellum version, some 7.65x22mm Parabellum versions were also created and sold. .45 ACP cartridges .45 redirects here. ... The . ...

The breech-locking mechanism operates by use of a wedge-shaped locking block underneath the breech. When fired both the barrel and slide recoil for a short distance, where the locking block drives down, disengaging the sliding and arresting the movement of the barrel.

The P38 uses a double action trigger design similar to the earlier Walther PPK's, and a loaded chamber indicator is also incorporated.^[1] The Walther PP series pistols include the Walther PP, PPK, and PPK/S. They are blowback-operated semiautomatic pistols manufactured by Carl Walther GmbH Sportwaffen in Germany and under license from Walther in France and the United States [1]. These pistols feature an exposed hammer, a double-action trigger mechanism...

Variants

A slightly modified version of the P38 called the P1 was adopted by the Bundeswehr in 1957 and remained in service until the early 1990s. The P1 had a receiver made of aluminum alloy, instead of steel to reduce weight. There was also a short-barreled version of the P1 called the P4. The Bundeswehr (German for Federal Defence Force;  ) is the name of the unified armed forces of Germany. ... Aluminum is a soft and lightweight metal with a dull silvery appearance, due to a thin layer of oxidation that forms quickly when it is exposed to air. ...

An improved version of the P38, the Walther P5, was developed in the late 1970s and was adopted by the police forces of Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg. Caliber: 9 x 19 mm Parabellum / 7. ... The Rhenish Palatinate (Rheinpfalz, sometimes Lower Palatinate or Niederpfalz) occupies rather more than a quarter of the German Bundesland (federal state) of Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz) and contains the towns of Ludwigshafen, Kaiserslautern, Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, Pirmasens, Landau and Speyer. ... Location Coordinates , , Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) Administration Country NUTS Region DE1 Capital Stuttgart Minister-President Günther Oettinger (CDU) Governing parties CDU / FDP Votes in Bundesrat 6 (of 69) Basic statistics Area  35,752 km² (13,804 sq mi) Population 10,741,000 (11/2006)[1]  - Density...

Bibliography

• The Walther P38 Explained by Gerard HENROTIN (H&L Publishing - HLebooks.com 2005)

References

External links

• Walther Handgun Owners Group
• P38 History, Owners Manual, Diagrams & Stripping Guide.
• Modern Firearms & Ammunition
• (German) Walther P1