The Walther P38 - Shooting a classic military pistol

As most of you know, the Walther P38 was a handgun that was ahead of its time. It introduced a number of design features that ultimately carried over into more modern designs like U.S. M9 service pistol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk7T_8SjhT0

Thanks for the video.
I have and have fun shooting a Russian capture p-38. It is reasonably accurate, even though the bore is badly pitted.

In any event I have two comments:

First, this piece has the worst double action trigger pull I have ever experienced. As a kid I had cap guns with better triggers. Is a really bad double action pull typical?

Second, the P-38 does not have a hammer block on the safety. I have heard that sometimes they discharge upon activation of the safety. Is this true??

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Originally Posted by us019255

Thanks for the video.
I have and have fun shooting a Russian capture p-38. It is reasonably accurate, even though the bore is badly pitted.

In any event I have two comments:

First, this piece has the worst double action trigger pull I have ever experienced. As a kid I had cap guns with better triggers. Is a really bad double action pull typical?

Second, the P-38 does not have a hammer block on the safety. I have heard that sometimes they discharge upon activation of the safety. Is this true??

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Never happened to me and i carried a P1/P38 long enough at the Army. And you´re correct about that trigger weight. Compared to the now in service H&K P8, the P1/P38 was the most unaccurate pistol we had. Some were evil enough to say that the most damage you can do with this pistol is if you will throw it against your enemies head! We really didn´t liked it much.

Some of the late WWII pistols have been known to discharge when operating the hammer drop without easing the hammer down. QC issue- usually heat treat. Post WWII P38/P1s don't have this potential problem. It's just one of those things. If you don't allow the hammer to freefall when applying the safety it should be OK for trips to the range. But I don't know that I'd use a WWII issued P38 as a primary defensive carry pistol.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gunner

Never happened to me and i carried a P1/P38 long enough at the Army. And you´re correct about that trigger weight. Compared to the now in service H&K P8, the P1/P38 was the most unaccurate pistol we had. Some were evil enough to say that the most damage you can do with this pistol is if you will throw it against your enemies head! We really didn´t liked it much.

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I heard it was often called the "lightening pistol" since you could never hit the same spot twice with it. :)

I found my pistol to be reasonably accurate at combat distances (7-15 yards). It doesn't group like my Glock or M9, but it seemed to get them into the kill zone with little effort. I agree, the double action is heavy and difficult to master. I've never been a fan of double action autos, I much prefer striker fired guns.

Thanks for the comments.

Since I purchased this piece for a fun range toy, I have never worried about potential discharge upon putting the safety on. When I do engage the safety on a loaded chamber, I am pointing the pistol down range. Because of the rotten DA pull, I rarely do even that.

My carry pistols are modern plastic framed ones.

Correct, MilitaryArms! This funny thing combined with the veeery high valuable UZI won´t make a dangerous warrior out of you, more a poor guy that has enough to do to keep his toys under control!