Just wondering, I've heard this since the late 70s, but never had both guns at the same time til now. They look much alike but I haven't tried to find out cause I could just picture myself trying to hammer a stuck mag out of the mag well of the Walther.
I realize the Walther mags aren't cut for the Smith, but I could see the Smith mags being retained by the Walther heel latch. Anyone have the straight dope on this old story?

No, a model 39 magazine will not work in a P38, at least in a WWII P38. I can't even get the 39 mag started in the mag well of my P38.

__________________
Ken

Long story short the answer is no,
The good news is that P-38 magazines were fairly cheap and plentiful after the German Police/Military purged them from inventory a few years back,
IIRC most of them went to dealers bound for the US market.

The Model 39 IMO is a marriage between the P-38's DA trigger system and slide mounted Safety decocker mated to a Browning style slide,
Holding the two magazines in hand it is apparent they have similar DNA but are not the same.
BTW the Model 59 and BHP magazines are quite similar in appearance as well.

Same answer, take 3, NO. I have both fun and magazines will not interchange either direction.

The stories that the Model 39 was in any way taken from the P-38 are false. There is virtually no similarity between them except they are both single-stack 9mm double-action pistols.

Ok, thanks guys. Like I said, I've had both guns over the years, several of each in fact, just never at the same time before now. My 39 and P1 have six and seven factory mags respectively, so I don't feel short on mags for either. Just curious about that old story I first heard forty years ago but never bothered to investigate.