The Evolution of the Walther P.38
The Walther semiautomatic handguns of the mid-20th Century, including both the PP and P38 families, would become some of the most influential weapons of the latter half of the century. The PP and its smaller stablemate the PPK was perhaps the premier pocket semiautomatic handgun for many decades, and its legacy carried over to the Russian PM Makarov pistol, many American pistols of all sizes, virtually countless European blowback semiautomatics, and it would inspire two major calibers, the 9×18 Makarov of the aforementioned Soviet pistol, and the 9×18 Ultra Police.
The locked-breech P38, too, was an incredibly influential design. While not the first double-action semautomatic handgun (the PP, as well as the much earlier Little Tom pocket pistol, preceded it), it was the first highly influential one. It operation and ergonomics would go on to be the pattern for almost all major post-war “Wondernines”, including the Beretta 92 series that became the M9 service pistol of the United States armed forces. The P38’s locking block even bears a striking resemblance to that of a later rifle, the Czechoslovakian vz. 58.
Forgotten Weapons’ Ian takes a look at the development of the P38, and how Walther went from the blowback PP in .32 ACP or .380 ACP to the excellent locked-breech P38 in a recent video embedded below. If you’re at all interested in Walthers, take a look, as you’ll get a rare glimpse at both the original MP prototypes as well as the mysterious sheet metal Walther:
Nathaniel is a history enthusiast and firearms hobbyist whose primary interest lies in military small arms technological developments beginning with the smokeless powder era. He can be reached via email at nathaniel.f@staff.thefirearmblog.com.
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George Nonte wrote an article in Shooting Times Magazine back in 1972 about the durability of the P38 (Post War Aluminum Frame, two piece barrel, improved safety) versus the Smith & Wesson M39 (also aluminum frame and Walther type safety). After 5,500 round of fired out of each gun the Smith's frame rails broke off at the rear and the cheap cast safety broke as well (M39's were noted for this). The Walther on the other hand did not break any parts but did suffer wear on the aluminum frame where the slide recoils against the frame. This was later corrected by Walther by inserting a steel hex cross pin through the frame for the slide to recoil against. The Smith lost more accuracy in the test than the Walther did as well.
Of course the P38 was not without its faults. The top cover would blow off the P38 if hot loads were used (or the top cover removed and slightly bent and then re-installed), as it was only held on by friction which would allow some of the internal parts to blow out of the pistol as well. Surprisingly the top cover post war was made even more prone to blow off because Walther made it with only two legs instead of four legs. Also the extractor tended to blow out of the gun as well. Late, late post war guns had a step milled into the extractor to prevent the extractor from walking out under its detent. How well this worked is still open to debate but it was better than the original style extractor.
P38's also had a tendency to crack the slide at the ejection port where the slide metal was most thin. This problem also showed up in the Beretta 92 whose slide was loosely based on the P38 slide.
The P38 WWII models also had a faulty safety which would crystalize and break and supposedly permit the gun to fire when it broke. Post war models supposedly corrected this with a design change to the safety. Still it is not a good idea to simply flip the safety and let it crash down onto the back of the slide but rather its more prudent to ease the hammer down with the thumb. Something the average user does not have the intestinal fortitude to carry out which can result in damage to even post war P38 safeties.
Accuracy of the P38 was never the equal of other 9mm WWII pistols such as the FN High Power or the Polish Radom or the German Luger (but it had its problems too).
Although the WWII P38 was often condemned because of the defectively designed safety that could break letting the pistol fire, on the plus side a gun in good condition was a much safer gun to carry and handle than its predecessor the German Luger because the P38 had a visible hammer and a manual de-cocking safety and a long hard double action pull for the first shot. More than a few G.I.'s accidentally shot themselves with war trophy Lugers because unlike the P38 the Luger did not have a visible hammer letting one know that the gun was cocked or not, a single action trigger pull and the Luger's safety was often left in the "off position" which resulted in G.I.'s accidentally shooting themselves with it, often with fatal results.
The steep feed ramp of the P38 worked well enough with full metal jacketed bullets which in all fairness is what it was designed to work with but trying to shoot hollow point or soft point bullets out of it often resulted in constant jamming. Winchester long ago made a truncated hollow point bullet that would work in the P38 and even in the German Luger and Remington once made a hollow point bullet shaped like a full metal jacketed round which also worked in both guns. I whish I had bought more of them back in the old days when they were still being made.
Ian,, WELL DONE. My own bent after reading an early copy of W.H. Smith's "Small Arms of the World" decades ago was that the progression of technology through history is utterly fascinating. I've done a bit of writing myself on the subject, noting developmental trends, material choices, and operating mechanisms as you have done here. Great work.