Walther P1 Proof Marks Series Of Test

It was intended to replace the costly Luger P08, the production of which was scheduled to end in 1942.

Walther P1 Proof Marks Series Of Test

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 pistols satisfactorily solved the previous problems for the Heer and mass production began in mid-1940, using Walthers military production identification code 480.

In addition to the 919mm Parabellum version, some 7.6521mm Parabellum and some.22 Long Rifle versions were also manufactured and sold.

The shooter could chamber a round, use the safety- decocking lever to safely lower the hammer without firing the round, and carry the weapon with a round chambered.

The lever can stay on safe, or if returned to fire, the weapon remains safely ready with a long, double-action trigger pull for the first shot.

Pulling the trigger cocks the hammer before firing the first shot with double-action operation.

The firing mechanism extracts and ejects the first spent round, cocks the hammer, and chambers a fresh round for single-action operation with each subsequent shot all features found in many modern day handguns.

Besides a DASA trigger design similar to that of the earlier Walther PPKs the P38 features a visible and tactile loaded chamber indicator in the form of a metal rod that protrudes from the rear of the slide when a round is chambered.

When the pistol is fired, the barrel and slide recoil together, until the locking block drives down, disengaging the slide and arresting further rearward movement of the barrel.

The slide continues its rearward movement on the frame, ejecting the spent case and cocking the hammer before reaching the end of travel.

Two recoil springs on either side of the frame and below the slide, having been compressed by the slides rearward movement, drive the slide forward, stripping a new round from the magazine, driving it into the breech and re-engaging the barrel; ending its return travel with a fresh round chambered, hammer cocked and ready to repeat the process.

Sheet metal grips were used for a time on pistols produced in France after the war, being called Gray Ghosts by collectors on the account of their distinctive parkerizing and sheet metal grips.

The designation P.38 indicates Wehrmacht adoption in 1938, although the exact date is unknown.

The transition from HP to the mechanically-identical P.38-marked pistols took place 1939-1940.

To conceal manufacturer identities, each wartime manufacturer used a letter code: ac (Walther); byf (Mauser), and cyq (Spreewerk), followed by the date (e.g.: ac44: Walther 1944 production).

Only after 1957 was the P38 again produced for the German military.

Slowly over time, West Germany desired to rebuild its military so that it could shoulder some of the burden for its own defense.

Walther retooled for new P38 production since no military firearms production had occurred in West Germany since the end of the war, knowing that the military would again seek Walther firearms.

When the Bundeswehr announced it wanted the P38 for its official service pistol, Walther readily resumed P38 production within just two years, using wartime pistols as models and new engineering drawings and machine tools.

The first of the new P38s were delivered to the West German military in June 1957, some 17 years and two months after the pistol had initially seen action in World War II, and from 1957 to 1963 the P38 was again the standard sidearm.

The postwar pistols, whether marked as P38 or P1, have an aluminum frame rather than the steel frame of the original design.

Starting in June 1975, the aluminum frame was reinforced with a hex bolt above the trigger guard, and a slightly modified, stronger slide design was introduced.

Eltville, Germany: RWM-Verlag.

ISBN 978-0-9727815-9-6.

ISBN 978-1-60458-364-9.

Small Arms Survey (ed.).

Afghanistan, Arms and Conflict: Armed Groups, Disarmament and Security in a Post-War Society.

Routledge. p. 170.

ISBN 978-0-415-45308-0.