P38 info

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Lanceleader

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I went to my local gun store the other day and saw that they had a Walther P38 for sale. Loving milsurp I asked to look at it, it was not a WWII pistol but it said P38 on it, I tough postwar P38 where marked P1. I forgot to take a picture of the other side but it said Interarm with a star logo. I know that WWII P38 are not recommanded for extended use (cracked slide), would this P38 be a good shooter and I wanted to know if 499.99 $ was a fair price for this model. Thanks

p38.jpg
 
Looking at the frame serial # this particular pistol was manufactured in April 1975. It also doesn't have the hexagonal steel pin that reinforced the frame to withstand hotter 9mm load witch was added at serial number 370001 (in June of 1975). Walther added a hexagonal steel pin clockwise in the frame; it was located just in front of the trigger axle and served as an impact surface for the locking block. The modification was so successful that it became standard issue for the duration of the post '75 P1's run.
 
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The ww2 versions are tough puppies. The post war aluminum frame models had problems, which led to the hex pin fix. Get a hex pin model or, better yet, an all steel ww2 version.
 
Walther kept the P38 designation for commercial sales while in '63 they changed to the P1 designation for the Bundeswehr but were the same pistols with the aluminum frames until the hex pin was added in mid '75.

$500 is not that bad since it looks to be in excellent condition and is a commercial version. Some Bundeswehr P1 with hex pins appears on the EE at around $400-$450 in VG condition.

If your intention is to shoot it very little and add it to a collection I guess it's ok but if you're strictly looking for shooter that can handle just about any 9mm ammo, I would look for a post '75 hex pinned frame P1.
 
If you want a shooter stay away from war years had my byf43 fall apart as I was shooting light handload... not kaboom just fell apart.
 
i think that P38 would be a good shooter. I have one and shoot it from time to time. My handloads are medium power and I don't ever expect anything to break.

But, if you have $500 to spend you would be much better off buying M&P9 on EE for a similar price.
 
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