Walther P38

MattE93 said:
Reading lots of info on cracked slides on P38’s. Making me a little weary, I know my Mosin receiver won’t crack anytime soon
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I don't know whether that's an issue. I've literally seen and handled hundreds of P38s and I've never seen a cracked frame on any of them.

IMHO you're worrying over a one in several thousand chance of failure
 
MattE93 said:
I guess the dream of owning a WW2 pistol is dying a slow death. 1911 are a little pricey, Lugers are cool but I hate the stupid law that makes real ones prohibited, and I want a shooter so P38’s are out.

Tokarev would be an option but something about them just screams ugly and utilitarian to me
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If you want a great shooter, get a S&W Victory Model .38.
 
Still alive said:
Post war P-38s are similar to the P-1. I took a quick look at the Walther forum and there are lots of reports of cracked slides and some cracked frames on there. I’m not up on older guns so take that for what it’s worth.
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P1s do have issues with cracks but I've yet to see one. I would assume they will be just fine with intended ammunition. Remember, they were a very early aluminum framed handgun to be issued. The heavy steel slide and other components are bound to give issues.
 
M1-Garand said:
The p38 was my first handgun as well,love shooting it.
I made a big mistake though by shooting some very hot submachine ammo through it and ended up with a cracked slide.
Did find a replacement slide but have only been shooting handloads since.
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Same thing happened to mine. Buy a Walther P1 and use that as a shooter.
 
tiriaq said:
I've owned a couple, a cyq and a P-1. Got rid of both.
One thing to have one as a collector's item, but as a shooter there are better.
This business about cracked slides and high pressure loads... The Germans didn't issue powder puff ammunition for P-38s. One size fits all submachinegun ammunition used in everything.
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Yes, they did but not the very high pressure stuff with the black bullets. Those played pure hell with P08s and P38s. Ask me how I know.
 
You guys really aren’t selling me on this lol! I think I’ll keep the M38 as is still a cool piece of history. Maybe I’ll stick to modern for handguns.

There is a neat Colt in .38 S&W on the EE maybe I should look at the revolvers
 
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tiriaq said:
If you want a great shooter, get a S&W Victory Model .38.
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People overlook these, but they can shoot and they do have provenance in Cdn service.

I have S&W Pre- Victory that my late uncle carried from Normandy through to VE Day. I took it out to the range last June 6th in remembrance of him and again confirmed its excellent shooting qualities.
 
How is availability of .38 S&W? I have read it can be hard to find. If it’s easy to find or reload for I might go to a .38 Victory or a Colt Official Police. I do love classic looking revolvers
 
MattE93 said:
Any idea where to get a victory S&W? Do they show up on the EE often?
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Over 571,000 .38 Victory revolvers supplied to British Commonwealth Forces in the Second World War ,there is some discrepancy about the number of Victory revolvers Canada bought, Milsurp.com says 45,000 Victory revolvers , and the website www.canadiansoldiers.com says 118,000 revolvers, the Brits 384,000, Australia, New Zealand took up the the balance of these revolvers
 
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This doesn’t always translate to availability. 15 million K98 were made and they don’t turn up in good shape often

x westie said:
Over 571,000 .38 Victory revolvers supplied to British Commonwealth Forces in the Second World War , Canada took over 45,000 Victory revolvers , the Brits 384,000, Australia, New Zealand took up the the balance of these revolvers
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Here is an unissued Victory Model which has the US PROPERTY Lend Lease mark.

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Bought three guns from a vet's estate. This Victory, an unissued P-38 (still full of grease inside), and a mixmaster P-08. Latter two went to friends. P-08 got rebarrelled to restricted status.
 

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Wow gorgeous. Thank you for turning me to the revolvers. I have always wanted a revolver but considered them a little impractical in .357 or .44 magnum compared to 9mm. Those classic revolvers are too nice not to look into though. Now just to find one, what is a good price on Victory, No.2, or Webley?

Also on the reloading side I have seen lots of .361 lead bullets, and .357 some lead and some copper plated. Can I use .357 bullets to reload .38 S&W if .361 bullets ever become scarce?

I also noticed .38 S&W brass is really hard to find. Is my only option to buy factory ammo to get brass, or is there another’s caliber I can resize the brass from?
 
The thing is, there are some victories with 357 bores and some have 361 bores. So you have to measure your muzzle and choose bullets accordingly. 361 bullets would shoot fine in 357 bores, but not other way around. 38SW is very easy to reload with 9mm dies and brass you can make from common 38 special cases, just cut them to length of 38SW and reload. They would bulge a bit when fired , but its nothing to worry about.
MattE93 said:
Wow gorgeous. Thank you for turning me to the revolvers. I have always wanted a revolver but considered them a little impractical in .357 or .44 magnum compared to 9mm. Those classic revolvers are too nice not to look into though. Now just to find one, what is a good price on Victory, No.2, or Webley?

Also on the reloading side I have seen lots of .361 lead bullets, and .357 some lead and some copper plated. Can I use .357 bullets to reload .38 S&W if .361 bullets ever become scarce?

I also noticed .38 S&W brass is really hard to find. Is my only option to buy factory ammo to get brass, or is there another’s caliber I can resize the brass from?
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