Walther P-1 Pistol

[RunningOnMT]

Has anyone any experience with them? Are they reliable? Accurate? Seems like a good buy on surplus P-1's at Classic Arms. Any thoughts?

IN STOCK NOW
WALTHER P1



Our newest batch of Walther P1 / P38 Pistols as of 11/04/2011 comes with all you see above
What you see above are examples of the Walther P1 9mm semi auto pistols we have just received.
This is a post WWII version of the P38 double action pistol only with an alloy frame instead of the steel frame as the early guns had. Manufactured for the West German military and police. This batch of handguns features matching numbers, really nice bores. They are in overall good to very good condition and are in excellent mechanical condition.
The phosphate finish may show some minor rubs and storage wear,
especially on the sharp edges, and the phosphate could in most cases use a good oiling.
Overall I would clasify the condition on these as good to very good. Mechanical condition is excellent.
These photo you see above is a hand select, standard order should expect a higher degree of finish wear and holster rub.
Due to a recent B.A.T.F. re-classification these firearms are now considered as qualifying for C & R.
Fires a standard 9mm luger/parabellum round. Comes complete with 1- 8 rd mags and cleaning kit.
We will hand select for best out of 10 for an additional $10.00 to get you the very nicest one possible.
We are told these are the last of the P-1's. These will fly out of here. If you want one give a call now.
Own a piece of History
Item # WALTHER-P1........................$299.99 - FLAT RATE SHIPPING
HAND SELECT ADD $10.00

[Helix_FR]

I have a customer that is enamored with them. He owns several. The walthers seem to be the best shooters out of the bunch. I think you'll be impressed with them.

[JLA]

Cant beat it for 3 bills either. Cant hardly buy a good .22 for that.

[LDBennett]

RunningOnMT:

Both me and my son-in-law bought the P-1's several years ago. Ours had been through several updates and looked newly new. They are excellent accurate pistols, at least ours are. I don't know about the current offering.

A key update is a small hexagonal steel rod that goes across the frame to help absorb recoil. If these guns don't have that feature I'd not buy them. They also have several dates stamped on them that show that updates were installed. If it is a collect piece you want then the lesser versions are OK but if it is a shooter you want it should have all the updates. The standard collector book for Wather P-38's covers all the various updates.

We paid $300 in 2005. We are in California and had no problem buying them here as they were on the "LIST". Today they are suppose to be C&R which make them readily available for Californians, I would think.

LDBennett

[6x6pinz]

I really like mine. It has run flawless and has been very accurate. It has also been updated but I like to shoot my firearms so all the date stamps did not bother me.

[Slabsides]

Good shooting gun, but too large and bulky to carry and they have low capacity. Fun gun to punch holes with though.

Like LD Bennett said, make sure it has the hex rod, you can see it in the pic located right above where your finger would go through the trigger guard. P38's were steel frame and strength was no issue. The P1 is like a P38, but with alloy frame. The early ones would crack and fracture in that area, so the steel rod was added. Steer clear of P1's without this.

For 3 bills, you will have a fun and reliable 9mm....not a bad deal.

[RunningOnMT]

Can you tell if the pistol in the photo has one of these hex rods? The bad thing is, even if I knew what I was looking for it's hard to be sure what you're getting when you buy on line.

[JLA]

Ask the seller.

[Slabsides]

Originally Posted by RunningOnMT

Can you tell if the pistol in the photo has one of these hex rods?

The one in your picture at the top of this post does. Look at the picture and visualize your finger on the trigger, now look at the frame right above your finger, the rod is that little round thing with a hex head about the diameter of a .22 bullet.

Here is an example of one that does NOT. Compare against yours.

[hansom]

Make sure you get what you are paying for, P1 and P38 are not the same, the P1 has a steel frame and the P38 has an aluminum frame with bakelite grips, P1's carry a higher price tag than a P38.

Here in PA p38's are going for 399 tops, while P1'a are about $500-$600

[LDBennett]

hansom:

You got it backwards.

P1's have the aluminum frame and were only made for some years after WWII. The P38 is all steel and was made from the late 1930's until the end of WWII. It was to be the cheaper replacement for the Luger. The P38 is the collectable and the P1 is just a police pistol used in Europe after WWII. ("P" stands for police in German) The P1 has the lower pricing.

There were "P38" made in the 1950's and later and imported by Stoegers, I believe, but they were commercial guns made for people other than military or police.

LDBennett

[JLA]

beat me to it LD.

[LDBennett]

Here's the hexagonal pin on the frame just below the "W" in "Carl Walther" on the slide.

LDBennett

[Grizz]

I really like mine, it even has the Nazi war symbol on it. I guess that would be the older model of the p-1

[jim brady]

Grizz - if your's has the Nazi eagle, it is a P.38. I hate to sound like an echo chamber, but the Nazis made the steel P.38, and after the war the Germans made the aluminum P1 for the police and West German armed forces.

I have a P.38, and a friend has a newer P1. Great pistol. Great design. Don't know if I'd say it was 'low-capacity' with 8 rounds. If you can't stop 'em with 8 rounds, you're not likely to do any better with 7 more.....I used to carry mine in a shoulder rig lots, mostly because I found it handy and dependable. So-So caliber. Thanks LD - I'd never noticed that reinforceing feature on a P1 before.

[hansom]

LD Bennett are you sure about that ? All the P-38's i have ever seen ( and i see them every week ) has an Aluminum frame. My friend has them in his store for $399.

[LDBennett]

hansom:

I have the book that explains it all: "Walther Pistol, Models 1 through P99, Factory Variations and Copies, A collector's and Historians Overview" by D.H. Marschall:

http://www.amazon.com/Walther-Pistol...4722349&sr=1-1

If your friend has aluminum framed guns marked as P38's (that are suppose to be Nazi time frame made guns) then he has made a mistake or has one of the unsuccessful aluminum framed prototypes from WWII.

There are three periods of this type design gun's manufacture: pre-WWII thru 1945, post war for the police and military of Germany, and those made for commercial sale after WWII.

The pre-WWII thru 1945 guns were all steel, made originally commercially but eventually for the Germany army.

The post war ones for the police and military of Germany were aluminum framed and were actually the P1 Model as designated by Walther. They were the same design except for small details and the aluminum frame.

Those made for commercial sale much later after WWII and imported and sold by Stoeger were the P1 but identified by Walther and Stoeger as the P-38. The exception is the very last ones made in this period (I think it was actually a commemorative version) were a steel framed gun.

In the last few years the surplus guns that hit the market place are P1's priced right at $400. They are early manufacturer former police and German military with updates dating into the 1970's. They are the aluminum framed ones to have as the updates included the hex rod frame reinforcer.

WWII P38's should have Nazi markings on them, I would think, as they were the inexpensive replacement for the Luger.

The gun NOT to have would be the aluminum framed version WITHOUT the hex rod reinforcer if you intended to shoot the gun any amount. These are shooters that feed well, extract and eject well, and are as accurate as any modern 9mm pistol. I like my P1 and I have lots of semi-auto pistols to compare it to.

The current Beretta 92 and the Taurus 92/99 have main operational features extremely similar to the Walther P38/P1, like the open slide and the barrel locking mechanism. Some of the later Walther models not identified as either a P38 or P1 have these same features.

LDBennett

[hansom]

Yes My friends Gun is definitely from ww2, i got to check into it some more , maybe he has a rarity.

[LDBennett]

hansom:

I just de-greased my son-in-law's P38 (clearly marked on the slide as "P38", AC43, the year of production) yesterday. There were no obvious Nazi markings on the gun but there were acceptance stampings that a collector might recognize as Nazi.

The frame is definitely steel. It is very skeltonized and appears in the hand to be very light. Perhaps the weight is making you think the gun is aluminum. The test is if the gun will attract a magnet (works for ferrous based alloyed metals if they have enough iron in them... some Stainless is magnetic and some not but these Walthers are not made of stainless).

Since all the parts of these guns are interchangeable do not rule out the possibility that it is a parts gun (P1 frame, P38 upper, etc.).

Finding a rare P38 in a gun shop marked as a regular P38 is next to impossible since there are some very active Walthers collectors groups out there. I would think all rare Walthers have been found after nearly 70 years since WWII and most men who served in Germany in that time period are dead or so old they can not remember their name let alone still have a rare P38 they dumped in a gun shop. But who knows?

As I said before the commercial version imported by Stoegers very much later than WWII or even post WWII did have an aluminum frame and were marked "P38". I believe the finish was much better than anything produced during WWII. The last Stoeger imported P38 (one year???) did have a steel frame and was marked "P38".

LDBennett