![]() ![]() When the Bundeswehr announced it wanted the P38 for its official service pistol, Walther readily resumed P38 production within just two years, using wartime pistols as models and new engineering drawings and machine tools. ![]() Walther retooled for new P38 production since no military firearms production had occurred in West Germany since the end of the war, knowing that the military would again seek Walther firearms. Slowly over time, West Germany desired to rebuild its military so that it could shoulder some of the burden for its own defense. Only after 1957 was the P38 again produced for the German military. After the war from 1945-1946, several thousands of pistols were assembled for the French armed forces (frequently dubbed 'grey ghosts' because of parkerized finish and grey sheet metal grips). The Walther P38 was in production from 1939 to 1945. Besides a DA/SA trigger design similar to that of the earlier Walther PPKs the P38 features a visible and tactile loaded chamber indicator in the form of a metal rod that protrudes out of the top rear end of the slide when a round is present in the chamber. The firing mechanism extracts and ejects the first spent round, cocks the hammer, and chambers a fresh round for single-action operation with each subsequent shot – all features found in many modern day handguns. Pulling the trigger cocks the hammer before firing the first shot with double-action operation. This lever can stay down, keeping the pistol 'on safe' or be immediately returned to the straight position, keeping the weapon safely 'ready' with a double-action trigger pull for the first shot. The shooter could chamber a round, use the safety-decocking lever to safely lower the hammer without firing the round, and carry the weapon loaded. The P38 was the first locked-breech pistol to use a double-action/single-action (DA/SA) trigger (the earlier double-action PPK was an unlocked blowback design, but the more powerful 9×19mm Parabellum round used in the P38 mandated a locked breech design). Walther P38Ĭarl Walther Waffenfabrik, Mauser Werke, Spreewerk A Walther would be marked 'ac 43' as example. WWII coded Walther and Mauser P-38 pistols will also have a production year stamped on the slide. These had all the Nazi stamps, including the 'SVW' code stamp, only with the addition of a French 'Rounded Star' stamp. The French assembled Mauser P-38's up until sometime in 1946. The P-38 was dropped from service after the war ended in 1945. Manufactured only by Lockheed, the P-38 was built in significantly smaller numbers than the P-47 or P-51 just over 9,900 Lightnings of all models were produced. ![]()
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