AlansFirearms: Walther P-38 Basics, Field Strip, Clan, Lube, & Reassemble

Walther P-38 Basics Field Strip Clan Lube & Reassemble
When you think German Army pistol, the Luger comes to mind. The thing is, the Germans themselves wanted something better and came up with one of the great-unsung handguns of all time. You may call it the Walther P38 and its influence has been felt far and wide. In the 1930s, the German military was quietly rebuilding. Even before Hitler came to power, the tiny Reichswehr had done extensive research into rearming their nation with the most modern of equipment. After Hitler came to power, this process got louder. One of the things the army wanted was a new handgun to replace the 1900-vintage Luger. While the Luger was a beautiful weapon, its toggle-action was prone to clogging, especially when dirty. It was also expensive, and every army in history had a budget. Carl Walther, an up and coming firearms manufacturer who had just won a contract to supply his innovative PP and PPK pistols to the German police, threw a design from his workshop into the ring. Pal Kiraly, a Hungarian firearms wonk living at the time in exile in Switzerland came up with a novel handgun he referred to as KD Danuvia. a short recoil auto-loader with a swinging lock under the barrel. Kiraly introduced the design in 1929 at the beginning of the Depression with money drying up everywhere, it was never put into production. Walther borrowed from Kiraly’s unproduced design, changed the delayed blowback bolt and controls, added the same type of trigger used on their PP series pistols, and came up with an entirely new gun. The Walther fired from a locked-breech with a double-action trigger, and was the first to use this arrangement, which is now almost standard on modern hammer-fired combat handguns. Twin recoil springs were located on either side of the frame top to keep the breech locked until the moment of firing. It debuted features taken for granted today such as a decocker safety lever, loaded chamber indicator, a slide release, a rebounding hammer, a floating 4.9-inch barrel and a static takedown lever that did not leave the frame. Each of these are important, but the decocker placed it in a category above the popular military semi-autos of its day such as the Colt 1911, the Browning Hi-Power, and the Tokarev TT-33, all of which often had to be carried on an empty chamber by soldiers for safety’s sake. Made from inexpensive sheet steel stampings, four of the new Walthers could be made for the cost of three milled steel Lugers. Further, with the solid action, innovative features, and huge ejection port, the Walther was many times as reliable. It was also slightly lighter, at 28-ounces, and shorter, at 8.5-inces over the 31-ounce, 8.74-inch Luger.
Chambered in German military standard 9x19mm Parabellum ammunition, it had a single stack 8-shot magazine held in by a heel release. Even though this type of release seems foreign to us today, it has long been the standard in Europe and can be worked rapidly with a little practice. Further, it’s easier to manipulate while wearing heavy gloves, which is a good idea when you consider just how fierce winters can get in the Old World. Even before the German army could adopt it, Walther was already making sales to Sweden and entertaining interested parties from other countries. Walther submitted their pistol to the German army for tests and it was adopted in 1938 as Pistole 38. As it would happen, this was but a year before World War 2.

[@waynejohnson6594]

I was also a big Man from Uncle fan. That's how I became interested in the P38. Thanks for the video.

[@MrServomechanism]

Excellent tutorial. I've been putting off cleaning this gun for a long time and this video made it a snap!

[@Dja05]

Just bought one as my first gun, nice educational video :).

[@AlansFirearms]

Thank you

[@Cocoloc011]

Svaka čast!!! Uspeo sam da očistim,rasklopim i sklopim svoj walther 👌🏻👍👍

[@carlos06291960]

Great video! Will stop by in a few days...

[@BobPublicover]

Welcome back Alan. What a great gun to get back in the video production. BRAVO! You look great and hope you keep a light schedule for another couple of weeks. Waiting for more guns and the gun related instructions you mentioned some time ago.

[@AlansFirearms]

thank you Bob

[@reddevilparatrooper]

You can also be right on the production years also.The Walther factory was captured by the French.The French had Walther workers assemble parts from existing parts and refinished them with a rough Parkerized finish for French police,occupation troops,and military.Some of the German and Post-War production pistols went on to serve in Indochina a.k.a Vietnam during the 1950s.Majority did serve with the French occupation forces till it was replaced by the M1950 and 9mm Parabellum was adopted by the French Armed Forces after WWII.

[@AlansFirearms]

WOW Thank you for that great information.

[@leepenlack109]

great video Alan, I have the post war p1 pistol, both are great guns, easy to field strip and clean, hope you are feeling better.

[@AlansFirearms]

Yes I am thank you for asking. Last week with weight restriction but I think I will feel the muscle burn for months to come. Thank you for the comments.

[@johnnicatra570]

Thanks have one have always been weary of thakeing it apart.

[@AlansFirearms]

thank you

[@mikec4114]

Thanks much! I hope you are better..

[@AlansFirearms]

thank you

[@johnmatthews723]

Hi Alan, greetings from Australia and thank you for a very informative video. Regards

[@boydsteele9250]

Thank you very much. An excellent presentation.

[@AlansFirearms]

thank you

[@pedro1970maya]

Well done. Thank you. Super useful.

[@RickJZ1973]

Very informative and well done!

[@phantaztik1223]

Good job, thx for the history.

[@AlansFirearms]

My pleasure I enjoyed doing it. I love the P38 and thank you for the comment.

[@MisfitMaxx]

Thanks for the vid!

[@jaymo6766]

Great video, thanks. What kind of wood stick do you use with the cleaning cloth.

[@RickJZ1973]

Very nice tutorial!

[@AlansFirearms]

Thank You. I tried to make it interesting and helpful

[@daved299]

Rear sight is not drift adjustable, it has a slot milled into it that prevents that. Front sight can be.

[@ScottfromNP]

Great tutorial. Especially where it comes to solvent cleaners on historical guns. One thing I did notice, any reason why didn't you remove the locking lug to clean underneath?

[@AlansFirearms]

No reason ... I missed it Sorry, Thank you for pointing it out

[@reddevilparatrooper]

Wuz up Alan!I'm Alan too!!!I also own an Mauser BYF P-38 and a Walther P-1.Fantastic handguns.Bottom line is your name Alan is spelled the CORRECT way...I hate it when people spell Alan to Allen...I am not a fucking WRENCH!!!Although i use that wrench to take some of my firearms apart.Great video Brother!!!

[@AlansFirearms]

Thank you so much for the comment and yes so many people use the last name spelling of Alan for first name.

[@dingo5208]

You say you don't like a lot of oil but yet use clp to clean... CLP besides being highly carcinogenic will over oil your gun until it dries and gums up your action. Cleaner to clean, oil to oil, brass to scrub.

[@giuseppeoliva577]

I am looking for a rod for walther p 38 cal. 9x19 thanks

[@nicoletyler6311]

How much for the AR15 m4 A2? with the scope?

[@ZahidKhan-gi7ei]

RS?

[@juanenriques2738]

Hi Alan great tutorial i just got a walther p1 kal 9 from my dad a friend gave it to him but is missing the fireing pin asembly he didnt want to mess with it so i got it off is hand s but i was following you field strip an I must have done some thing wrong the front pin on frame keeps falling out. when i push back slide or it jams up due to pin moveing forward what did i do wrong did i mess it up i am really intrigued by this p1 an its history i been trying to figure out please help

[@AlansFirearms]

sorry you are having a problem. I am not sure what you are talking about. I am a visual person and can not see in my mind what is happening. if you send me a short video on what it is doing I would be more then happy to help you. you can send it to my email address. [e-mail]

[@mikec4114]

I downloaded a manual from Walther and it said not to dry fire. Take care

[@AlansFirearms]

thank you … some autos should not be and the manual is were you can find that out.

[@johnmatthews723]

Hey, thanks for that bit of info, I have one of these too, and did not know that dry firing was a no no!

[@miljenkomarinkovic838]

It’s pronounced “Valter”. The W is pronounced like the W of Wolkswagen. The “th” like a regular T.

[@pcmacd]

It is not pronounced "Spree werk" in German. It is "Sphtree verk" as one word.

[@Kanjilearner]

Given the intricacies of the gun in real life, Megatron must have been as much of a bitch to maintain as he was to kill, even by Cybertronian standards!

[@AlansFirearms]

Ok

[@charlescedric8189]

Got my gun this morning from expansion2 on wickr glock19 gen 5.fired this morning and it was fine...

[@jamescraven7517]

P08 wasn't a great military weapon, although it was in two seperate world wars... BUWAHAHAHAHAAA!!!