![]() ![]() The rear sight is a large rear U notch, the front sight is a triangle shaped affair that can be drifted right or left if necessary. ![]() The original extractor design was considered difficult to clean and was redesigned to the exposed style. One modification was made to the firing pin, changing it from a triangle configuration to an easier to manufacture round type. There were a few minor changes in the design once production had begun. ![]() Subsequent shots would be fired with the hammer back (single-action). The pistol could be quickly fired by simply pulling the double-action trigger. The conventional double-action design allowed a round to be safely carried in the chamber. The pistol was very advanced for the time. The P.38 was the third production double-action pistol design built by Walther (the P.38 was preceded by the PP and PPK models). The retail price of the HP pistol was quite expensive and few were sold. The Walther pistol was offered in several calibers including 9mm, 7.62 Parabellum (.30 Luger) and. The pistol was offered and exported to quite a few countries including the United States. The HP was beautifully fitted and finished. The prewar P.38s were offered as the Heeres Pistol or HP model and sold on the civilian market. ![]() The P.38 double-action design was patented in January of 1938. Walther, like most other German firearm manufacturers, was quietly developing weapons for the military. During the 1930s many militant groups within Germany were secretly rearming in preparation for a revolution against the countries that had plunged the country into post war chaos. The company reopened in 1920 and began to produce handguns for the civilian and police market. The Walther Company had been briefly closed shortly after the conclusion of WWI because of the restrictive treaty of Versailles that disallowed the Germans from developing or manufacturing firearms. The P.38 was preceded by two prototypes the MP Militar Pistole and AP Armee Pistole, both of these designs were rejected by the German Army. Walther Waffenfabrik of Zella-Mehlis designed and developed the P.38. Other pistols issued to the German troops like the Belgium Browning Hi-Power and the Polish Radom were produced by forced labor in countries that the Nazis had occupied. The Germans used a large variety of handguns during WWII. The P.38 was issued to all branches of the German military during the war. The double action P.38 was much better suited for military use than the labor intensive Luger. Although the Luger continued to be manufactured during the Second World War, the P.38 was the predominant German pistol from 1940 to 1945. The Luger was actually the standard German pistol of World War One and issued in great numbers during that conflict. The Luger has often been recognized as the standard issue handgun of the German Wehrmacht. One of the most famous military pistols of all time is arguably the P.08 Luger. A wartime P.38 manufactured by the Walther Company (ac code) in 1942. ![]()
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