Walther P38/P01

(moved from handguns)

I was wondering if anybody on this board had a wealth of knowledge on the post-war models of these pistols?? I could really use some information such as: serial number info, cleaning info, year of manufacture, etc.

This would be greatly appreciated, Thanks

God bless

Do you have a P38? If so give me the numbers and i can tell you something about it.

For common information:

They had three main contractors: Walther-Werke, Mauser-Werke, Spreewerke.
A few makers marks: 480(Walther) ac41 (Walther), ac43(Walter)
byf43(Mauser) byf44(Mauser)
cyq(Spreewerke)

Manuals:

http://eartist.nl/PDF/P38%20English%20manual.pdf
http://eartist.nl/PDF/walther_p38.pdf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruzpnX1cU7I

Mine is a P01 and it was made in February of 1966. Very Good to Excellent Condition. Smooth as butter.

I'd really like to get one was that was born on my birth month/year!

Ah yes i know they are selling now the P01´s which where stored for the case of a war. Is yours one of those? They come foiled and in a cardboard pack with mags and cleaning tools. Normally they were made by Walther only.

Exactly. It is a model only made by Walther and I believe these may have been stored for the war or used by the Bundeswehr in the 1960s possibly?

They are offered to us for around 200 Euros as storage pistols for use in case of a war. They are pretty good and with the right ammo you can hit your target. A good advice on them is to use a .357bullet and slug the bore to know the diameter of the bullets to use. Some 9mm rounds have the .355 diameter which is mostly a tad to small. The .356 bullets should work well in it. Try the heavier bullets like the 147grs.TC from Winchester.

Really???? The 147 grain bullets work better? Interesting. I am on my way to the range and have the magazine loaded with 115 grain but am taking a box of 124 grain. I know that Lugers hate 115 grain, is it the same with Walther p38/p01? I guess I'll find out with mine within the next few hours.

Please let me know what you think the best ammo I should be using for the P01...grain, commercial brand etc? Also if you don't mind, include what you think Lugers prefer. Truly appreciate the feedback/sharing of information.

I shot the P01 during my active time in the Army. With the original bullets it worked, let´s say so bad that you could reach more troubles by throwing the pistol to the nemeies direction. Than we tried out which ammo could be good. The first we found out that any .355 ammo was useless The 356 worked great and the .357 was to big in diameter which caused less accuracy. The RN bullets weren´t as good as the TC or the Hollow Points. And really good shooting was with the .147grs Winchester, the 138grs. subsonic from S&B or the selfloaded H&N 145grs bullets with 4.2grs. VV 3N37. As you mentioned, the 115grs aren´t good but astonishingly the 98grs. TC from Magtech worked not bad. I´ll look in my load data´s and let you know what my favourite loads are. Have fun at the range and please let me know whats your experiences are.

So, my list says that the best ammo for the P08 was the H&N bullets 127grs TC, OAL 28.2mm, Primer Magtech SP, Powder is HP38 4.2grs., Taper crimp. They gave a 5 round diameter, out of a P08 Artillery version, of 36mm shot off hand at 25 meters.

just got back...

my Luger shot but would not cycle; I used 124 grain and 115 grain; both wouldn't cycle but would fire.

my p01 was a smooth operator! not one problem in sight. the decocker worked flawlessly numerous times. it shot 115 grain and 124 grain without a hiccup (probably 100 rounds total). rapid fire was excellent. i was hitting the hostage target every round with from 20 yards (even though thats not far, I was happy with this one)

I need to tune in my Luger badly.

Where can I find H&N bullets 127grs TC, OAL 28.2mm, Primer Magtech SP, Powder is HP38 4.2grs., Taper crimp?

....also, I will take pics of the P01 and post them on here so you can see. Tell me what you think, if it is in poorer condition than I thought, etc.....

Give me about a half hour...

The eagles under the barrel are a great time period signature. Even though this one is not old enough to be a wartime piece, still a great mark of the weapons heritage.

If I am not mistaken those are the Imperial Eagles???

The P01 looks good! It is normal shape from that what i remember from my time in the Army. Bore is clean and it sounds great your shooting. The eagles are the standard owner marks from the former BRD. For the Luger it isn´t normal that it won´t cycle with commercial ammo. Sometimes there is a grease in them and if so clean it complete and use only a synthetic engine oil not much but a bit.
The H&N bullets, i don´t really know hwere to get them in the USA. Maybe sportsmans.com?

I certainly plan on getting the Luger tuned up soon.

So you do think it is in good/normal shape from your experience in using them in Europe? Anything you know of that would make the P01 operate at its full potential?

The problem with the P08 is that the ammo back in time was appr. 10% weaker than today. That can cause cycling problems in that way: With the standard ammo the bolt cycles so quick that the extractor has no chance to catch the empty case. Try the S&B subsonic ammo they should work good in your Luger. The H&N bullets are easy to get over here but shipping won´t make a sense for its weight.

Gebirgsjaeger wrote:The problem with the P08 is that the ammo back in time was appr. 10% weaker than today. That can cause cycling problems in that way: With the standard ammo the bolt cycles so quick that the extractor has no chance to catch the empty case. Try the S&B subsonic ammo they should work good in your Luger. The H&N bullets are easy to get over here but shipping won´t make a sense for its weight.

That makes sense about the bolt cycling too quick. I am going to try that S&B