Took my wartime P38 to the range today... YIKES!!

Sgt Striker

Sgt Striker

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Good thing I tried this piece in the outdoor range first.

I was all set up. Checked the pistol, cocked it then put the safety on, which also decocks this piece. Put a mag in the pistol, pointed the firearm down range, and #### the pistol.......... and it went "BANG!!!" Just a little surprised, so I cocked it again, and same thing BANG!! I unloaded it, check it out, saw no problems. Tried again, and same thing. SO, I tried cocking it with the saftey off, and the pistol worked fine... D'ho!!

Guess it's time for a trip to the local gunsmith....

Anyone else have this problem with a P38??
 
According to the manual with the safety "on" you should not be able to #### the gun either by hand or pulling the trigger back through. So there is something not right which is apparently not that unusual with the wartime P-38's. On mine the safety will not decock the trigger but otherwise it behaves just like yours. I've asked people in the know about this and apparently correcting it is not an easy matter so I was advised to leave it as is and live with it. I don't normally use the safety on any of my handguns as I only load them when ready to fire so it's not a problem for me.
 
I had a similar type experience with a friend's P-38. I had fired a few rounds and decided to check and see if the safety worked. I lowered the safety lever to the on position and the hammer dropped and a round went off. Luckily I too had the pistol pointed downrange. I did some research and have found out that these types of incidents aren't uncommon with wartime P-38s and it is recommended not to trust the safety-decockers .
 
A great example of the need to always be pointed in a safe direction....the unexpected can happen to the most experienced - you just' can't afford to relax this rule. Glad nobody got hurt - well done!
 
Wow! Wartime P-38's had a tendency to have the firing pin safety crystilize and break. When you operate the safety on a P-38 of this vintage all you are doing is havinf the safety hold the firing pin, the hammer still hits the pin however and eventually the little nibs in the safety break off so using the safety on a loaded chamber is just like pulling the trigger.

You dan replace your safety and put your gun back into full use or just use it as it is and remember the safety issue!

Scott
 
I was made in 44, and it is completely matching (took her apart today, and gave her a good cleaning) I think I will keep it as is. I like the feel of these pistols, and I have a rather large hand t'boot. I'm even thinking of buying a P1 to use as well.

Cheers all.
 
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Sgt Striker said:
I was made in 44, and it is completely matching (took her apart today, and gave her a good cleaning) I think I will keep it as is. I like the feel of these pistols, and I have a rather large hand t'boot. I'm even thinking of buying a P1 to use as well.

Cheers all.
Click to expand...

I'm not trying to alarm you, but keep an eye out for metal fatigue on your P38's slide. P38s have known issues with the thickness of metal on the slide and the late war P38's add to that issue since the quality of metal used was less than that of the early war models.

My byf 43 has a hairline crack in the slide and she is now relegated to safe queen. I would advise you to do what you mentioned and get a Walther P1 and use that as your primary shooter (that's exactly what I did); save the wear and tear on your historical P38.

If you get a P1 and hold it up beside your P38 you will see clearly the improvements made to strengthen the slide.

Like I said, I'm not trying to scare you; just don't want to see your P38 end up cracked like mine.
 
A lot of later war German armaments were assembled by slave labourers and it was not unknown for them to sabotage various parts. Also, the quality suffered somewhat generally by the end of the war.

I am not saying that is the case with yours but interesting to see what the problem is.
 
Its pretty easy to take down a P38 if you follow the instructions posted in the tech info section at http://www.p38forum.com/

You should be able to inspect the safety and the firing pin once you get it all out of the slide. Wolf Springs sells a complete kit. I replaced all mine in my AC42 when I did the detail strip..
 
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