Any fans of the Walther P88 here?

I've got quite a few Walthers in my collection, but the P88 line has always been my favorite. The quality of them is right there with the best Walther has ever done and I love the styling and accuracy.



This is an early model of the standard pistol, built in 1988.











The P88 Compact was an "improved" pistol, which actually replaced the standard P88 in the early to mid 1990's.











Most people don't realize this, but Walther actually built a small number of single action only P88s during the mid 1990's for the European market. They were called the P88 Champion and P88 Competition. There were only a limited number made and only a few made it into this country. Its a rare sight and one of my favorite pistols. It shoots great.

A nice design ruined in the compact version by the American desire to use the slide lock to drop the slide instead slingshotting the slide as you are supposed to. Flame suit on....

I've only seen two. One I was able to try out. Loved it all around. I just couldn't justify a $1500 price tag. Plus the mags were altered to 10 shot. I envy you for having one but really admire you for having two. Your photos are really art work in disguise.

It looks like a love child between a sig and a beretta. In a good way. The external trigger bar screams beretta, while the grip shape screams sig.

Very interesting gun--that I've never seen before.

I have always been a bit of a Walther fan up to the P5 which IMO is the high water mark for Walther pistols,

The P88 was an interesting design but besides never really catching on was a bit pricey and fragile compared to other hi cap 9mms of the era.

Saw one for $899 about 2 years ago and almost bought it but decided instead to get a S&W 59 and CZ75 with a few bucks left over for quite a bit of 9mm ammo.

BTW wasnt the P88 resurrected by some eastern European pistol maker and marketed under another name for closer to $400 ?

I have both the full size and compact models - great pistols.

From the 1994 Interarms catalog - MSRP at that time was $1725!

I love mine. It is about to celebrate it's 22nd anniversary with me.

Initially I thought magazines were going to be a problem until I realized the P88 uses the same magazine body as the Beretta/Taurus 92 pistols with the magazine catch relocated. So I set up the mill and cut new notches into 12 magazines and BOOM I was set. 15s, 18s and 30s. Never had to worry since.

I did add the Nills grips to mine about 10 years ago



I have had the opportunity to shoot 4 P88s and one compact over the years. The P88 is almost the most accurate 9MM pistol I have ever shot. It out shoots many "performance" pistols like the 952 or CZ 75TS. It takes a X5/X6 or P210 to out shoot it or a true custom 9MM target pistol. There is not doubt it is the most accurate combat auto loader I have ever come across.

Engine49guy said:

I have always been a bit of a Walther fan up to the P5 which IMO is the high water mark for Walther pistols,

The P88 was an interesting design but besides never really catching on was a bit pricey and fragile compared to other hi cap 9mms of the era.

Saw one for $899 about 2 years ago and almost bought it but decided instead to get a S&W 59 and CZ75 with a few bucks left over for quite a bit of 9mm ammo.

BTW wasnt the P88 resurrected by some eastern European pistol maker and marketed under another name for closer to $400 ?

Click to expand...

The P88's main detractor was always the price. They were extremely expensive. Back in 1988, selling prices were north of a grand, which was outrageous for a combat pistol. I never had a durability issue with any of mine.

The Eastern European pistol you're thinking of is the Zastava CZ99, which is a lower quality cross between a Sig P226 and Walther P88. I've got one of those also. Good gun, but no Walther.

I also own a P5, but I don't feel it's in quite the same class as a P88.

colt_saa said:

I love mine. It is about to celebrate it's 22nd anniversary with me.

Initially I thought magazines were going to be a problem until I realized the P88 uses the same magazine body as the Beretta/Taurus 92 pistols with the magazine catch relocated. So I set up the mill and cut new notches into 12 magazines and BOOM I was set. 15s, 18s and 30s. Never had to worry since.

I did add the Nills grips to mine about 10 years ago

I have had the opportunity to shoot 4 P88s and one compact over the years. The P88 is almost the most accurate 9MM pistol I have ever shot. It out shoots many "performance" pistols like the 952 or CZ 75TS. It takes a X5/X6 or P210 to out shoot it or a true custom 9MM target pistol. There is not doubt it is the most accurate combat auto loader I have ever come across.

Click to expand...

Very nice

I agree on its accuracy. The single action Competition version can actually shoot with my P210s and not embarrass itself.

I wouldn't mind getting some Nills for mine. As you can see, I have them for my Comoact. The Competition came standard with Nills.

bc1023 said:

The Eastern European pistol you're thinking of is the Zastava CZ99, which is a lower quality cross between a Sig P226 and Walther P88.

Click to expand...

Handled one of those in a store. Built like a brick outhouse as I recall. Like the Baby Eagle I own, if you run out of bullets just us it to beat the guy to death and the horse he rode in on. It won't damage the gun.

colt_saa said:

I love mine. It is about to celebrate it's 22nd anniversary with me.

Initially I thought magazines were going to be a problem until I realized the P88 uses the same magazine body as the Beretta/Taurus 92 pistols with the magazine catch relocated. So I set up the mill and cut new notches into 12 magazines and BOOM I was set. 15s, 18s and 30s. Never had to worry since.

I did add the Nills grips to mine about 10 years ago

I have had the opportunity to shoot 4 P88s and one compact over the years. The P88 is almost the most accurate 9MM pistol I have ever shot. It out shoots many "performance" pistols like the 952 or CZ 75TS. It takes a X5/X6 or P210 to out shoot it or a true custom 9MM target pistol. There is not doubt it is the most accurate combat auto loader I have ever come across.

Click to expand...

I remember how you told me the story of the magazines when you picked up the S&W 4516 from me. The P88 is a very accurate gun but I prefer the P210 as a shooter now. It wasn't always so! I have shot my P88 at lot in the mid 1990s.

Hey, I still have your S&W 629.

bc1023 said:

Very nice

I agree on its accuracy. The single action Competition version can actually shoot with my P210s and not embarrass itself.

I wouldn't mind getting some Nills for mine. As you can see, I have them for my Comoact. The Competition came standard with Nills.

Click to expand...

Brian,

you know how I love Nills grips! Korths come with Nill grips since many years. Your P88s are definitely a nice sub-group in your amazing collection.

I've got 2 of the full size P88s:


I bought the first one back in the middle of the Clinton Gun Ban when standard capacity mags were hard to come by. It came with the 4 extra mags still in the wrapper. It was ridiculously expensive (at the time), but being left handed, I really liked the ambidextrous controls.

The second one came to me 5-7 years ago at a little gun show for a very reasonable price.

The Bersa Thunder 9 is a pretty good affordable modern alternative for the P88.