Walther P38, Finally Shot It

loeman

loeman

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This past weekend my son and I went up to the northern mountains to close our cabin for the winter. I decided to take my WWII Walther P38 that I have had for seventeen years but had never shot it. So after a thorough clean and lube we loaded it up with factory ammo and took turns shooting it until we had consumed a 50 round box. We experienced no issues whatsoever. I was amazed at how accurate I was at about 15 yards. It was great fun to shoot and I'm kind of sorry I hadn't shot it more often.

I bought this P38 in a LGS in 1997. I never collected WWII firearms but the store manager convinced me that I needed this Walther. It has all matching parts and is marked as AC 44. I also have the war souvenir release certificate that was provided to Michael T. DePace of Long Island, NY. I assume that it was captured in Italy but I'm not sure. Here are some pics of the gun and both sides of the release form. I wonder where the other Walther PPO is today!


After posting the above, I did a map search of the DePace address. It is in the borough of Queens and his home was about halfway between the northern part of Central Park in Manhatten and LaGuardia Airport. Also, Public School 122 is nearby as stated on the back of the certificate.







 
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That is great to have the back ground information. I wonder how far some one could go with a search like that.

Thanks for sharing.
 
The P38 is a great old pistol. I found one (also an AC 44) with all matching parts and original (3rd Reich stamped) holster, back in the 70s in a Pawn Shop outside Pendleton.

I try to take it out and shoot it at least once a year (with standard pressure ammo) and it has never malfunctioned. Those pistols were built to last.

Oh... If the grips are original, the name (or at least the Initials) of the person who assembled it may be inside.
Congrats and enjoy!
 
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I sold a wartime P-38 (not a Walther) with the return certificate about a year ago. The certificate appeared to have doubled the value of my pistol (or at least that's what the buyer said).
 
Very Nice P-38, The AC code denotes it is Walther made, the 44 is the year manufactured.
The late war made guns get very rough as the Nazis were pushing production, used slave labor and enduring day and night allied bombing of their factories.

An interesting feature of later P-38's is when comparing this earlier made AC42 pic to your right side pic ,


You will notice the frame area below the trigger pin on your gun has a slight dip to strengthen the trigger pin,
IIRC around 1943 the frames were supposedly strengthened after reports from the russian front reported that heavy use would weaken the P-38 there.
 
I had my early P-1 out last night (marked P-38 but with an alloy frame). I remembered how UGLY it was but had forgotten how great it feels. Gonna shoot it this weekend.
 
Glad you got to shoot it. Neat old pistols!

I've got Dad's byf44 (Mauser made 3800 of them for the Police) that he brought home after WWII -- also have the "permission slip" with it. It's got a cool shoulder holster, also.

I need to shoot mine -- been at least 30 years.
 
I am glad you shot it too. I have a SVW 45 that was made in the final days of the war and used by French forces. Trigger is less than target variety. It was made by Mauser.
 
Ah yes, very interesting, nice too! Bought a bring back AC-43 back in the mid seventy's from my landlord, if I recall it was a good shooter as well. Stupidly sold it to fund my first IPSC 1911 project.
 
I acquired a Walter P-4 about 5 years ago. It's a cool gun - I need to shoot it again - I don't recall it being very accurate.

FYI, the P-4 was made in limited quantities, it's a beefed up P-1 to the best of my knowledge. I think it's barrel is shorter, too.

***GRJ***
 
Michael T. DePace of Long Island, NY.
After posting the above, I did a map search of the DePace address. It is in the borough of Queens and his home was about halfway between the northern part of Central Park in Manhatten and LaGuardia Airport. Also, Public School 122 is nearby as stated on the back of the certificate.
Click to expand...


PS 122 is located at 21-21 DITMARS BOULEVARD, which is in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens. That's very near the East River and a very old neighborhood - it's Archie Bunker territory!!! :D

***GRJ***

PS:

For those unaware, Brooklyn and Queens are NYC boroughs on Long Island, followed by Nassau and Suffolk Counties that are not part of NYC. It actually is a pretty long island!
 
I have one that's virtually identical to the OP's, an AC44 two-tone with what a dealer friend of mine calls "honest wear". My dad, a retired Sgt. Major, won it in a card game from another NCO who'd relieved its original owner of it. For some reason it stayed in the back of my safe for the 26 years since my father's death and I'd almost forgotten about it until I ran across it a few months ago. I took it to a smith to have new springs installed and an unreliable safety fixed, and then took it out and shot it. It grouped beautifully, as befits a gun with an almost pristine bore. Lots of fun.
 
Thanks everyone for your kind comments and informative replies. I checked under the grips to see if there were any assembler initials or marks but I did not see anything. I think that by 1944 they were in such a hurry to get these guns into the field that little extra steps were omitted.

My gun looks pretty typical of other AC 44 production that I've seen or seen pictures of. Mine appears to have been shot very little as there appears to be almost no wear on the slide rails or anywhere else. It does have a small amount of holster wear on the front sight and in a couple of other high spots.

I have always assumed the Bakelite grips to be original to the gun. They have a few small scuffs but are in overall great condition. However I did see numerous wartime examples wearing reddish brown Bakelite grips.

With the grips off, I noticed a very thin insignificant looking spring that was wrapped around a small post. It almost looked like it didn't belong there. It was just hanging there doing nothing. After some serious thinking I finally figured out that the spring was in the down position and by moving it up it put tension on the lever that helps cock the hammer. When the spring is not in the proper position the ratcheting mechanism that cocks the hammer sometimes fails to engage. Very interesting!
 
I once had a collection of Walther PP`s and PPK`s . I was proud of them and showed them to my Dad who was a machine gunner in the 3rd inf div. He held one in his hand and snorted "that Sissy gun, I would`d even bend over to pick one of them up" All he bothered with, were Lugers and P-38`s to sell to "them Airforce Bums for $50 bucks".
The stories he told were always done in a humorous way even when they were deadly serious, It was his way of dealing with the horror he witnessed. He was the best and I sure do miss him!
 
loeman said:
......
I have always assumed the Bakelite grips to be original to the gun. They have a few small scuffs but are in overall great condition. However I did see numerous wartime examples wearing reddish brown Bakelite grips.......
Click to expand...

The Bakelite grips do vary in color from a light reddish brown to pure black, Also some have some sort of saw dust added to thin the mix but IIRC they are usually found on late Spreewerke CYQ code guns...been a while so I could be wrong,
Also some various changes from the early checkered grips as well as the different war time production horizontal groove grips.

BTW the P-4 has a different safety system , rear site and decock mechanism....basicly a different gun that looks similar to the P-1/P-38 and the stepping stone to the more advanced P-5 design.
 
I have a P38 from Mauser, Walther, and Spreewerke, as well as a later production Walther P1.

Contrary to popular belief in the German military, those pistols were capable of excellent accuracy. I did better with the P1 than the P8 (HK USP) in the state championships.

P1.jpg


This shows the different colours of bakelite grips.
AC43.jpg


DSCF7018.jpg


Comfy grips.

P38cyqleft_zps03c257b3.jpg
 
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I have 2 P38's, one is a Walther AC44 that my dad brought home after WWII ended..Pictured bottom..
The other is a GI bring back Mauser BYF43, pictured on top..

DSC00204-1_zps58eae057.jpg
 
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