Gun Facts. Part Three.
By fullmj|McSChwoartZ
In the third part of my Gun Facts I will go away from displaying main infantry weapons. I will focus on a very famous sidearm, another legend and for many allied soldiers of World War II a war trophy, the Walther P 38 Pistol.
After the National Socialists took over the power in Germany in 1933, they decided in cooperation with the military that a new pistol model is needed to replace the old Luger P 08, which was a very good weapon, but difficult and expensive to produce. An easy and cheap to produce weapon was needed.
It took five years until 1938 till the Walther P 38 was mass produced. It was developed out of a series of designs beginning in 1929 with the Walther PP (PP stands for Police Pistol). The PP was designed for police purposes and wasn’t suitable for military use, so the design was altered with a smaller cock handle and the ability to fire 9 mm Parabellum rounds and named Walther AP ( Army Pistol) or later Walther Heerespistole. That was the prototype of the Walther P 38 pistol.
The P 38 is an outstanding sidearm. Easy to dismantle and maintain, cheap to produce and very accurate and reliable. It is acutally so good that it is still in production and under the label of P1 still in use by the German Bundeswehr (German Army).
Facts in Numbers:
Caliber: 9 mm Parabellum
Lenght: 219 mm
Barrel Lenght: 124 mm
Weight: 0,96 kg
Muzzle Velocity: 350 m/s
Magazine: Clip with 8 Cartridges
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McSChwoartZ
kba
cool stuff. didnt know Bundeswehr was still using the P38. keep those gun facts rolling !
Another good article.
Still in production ?
Jeez, that is longer than the VW beetle !!
Another interesting article. keep em rolling bro.