HereвЂ™s what we found.ДЄs expected, the machining on this gun was quite rough all over, though the bore looked fairly good. Any decent 9mm for that low of a price could be considered a bargain, but when it has the Walther name on it, as our test pistol did, itвЂ™s amazing.Д«ecause of their low asking prices and historical significance, we wondered how these two guns stacked up in a modern testing situation. The P1 was recently priced in several outlets so low as to be a bargain, in the realm of $200 to $250, though we doubt those prices still hold. Recent offerings were made of the P1 by various surplus gun outlets. Our test P38 was made by Mauser in 1944, as noted by the вЂњbyfвЂќ and вЂњ44вЂќ markings on the slide. Wartime guns were identified by a letter code. About a million P38s were made during WWII by Walther, Mauser, FN, Brno, and several other manufacturers. The P38 was adopted officially in 1938, hence the P38 (for Pistole) designation. Walther developed the P38 out of its PP, one of the very first double-action pistol designs.

We just tested a wartime P38 against a later P1, the latter being about the same as the P38 of WWII, but made for the West German army, and having an aluminum-alloy frame instead of the all-steel frame of WWII.

Many shooters simply wonder how good they were, and how they stack up against todayвЂ™s products. Still, we recognize the appeal of famous names and well-known designations, and because so few shooters still alive today had to use these guns in anger, thereвЂ™s natural curiosity about them. Current manufacturing methods and materials are naturally much advanced over what they were 10, 20, 50 or 100 years ago, so on a quality and consistency basis, todayвЂ™s guns are usually better picks if actual shooting is in the ownerвЂ™s plans. Life is filled with enough regrets without something like this being one of them.We remain mildly surprised by the ongoing interest Gun Tests readers have for tests of collectible, relic, or just plain old guns. (You may get lucky and get one by luck of the draw, but why take a chance?) If you're spending any money at all on a gun it would be foolish not to spend the extra few dollars and have something you really want and really feel confident and happy with. And yet, because of the name 'P.38' and general lack of knowledge on the part of many people, you may pay upward of $150-$200 more just for the name 'P.38' when in fact it still has the aluminum frame WITHOUT the steel reinforcing lug in the frame, better slide and all the other improvements made to later-model P.1's.Д«ottom line: If you're going to buy one from AIM, cough-up the extra $10.00 for hand-select and specify you want a later model with the steel reinforcment lug in the frame. It may be safe to assume that these later-production pistols, with all the design improvements, may provide increased functional reliability than the earlier models, including, ironically the post-war P.38's which never had these design modifications incorporated as did the P.1. (See the photo somebody posted elsewhere on this page to see what I'm talking about.) They also incorporated a slightly thicker sidewall on a section of the slide (commonly referred to as a 'fat-slide' though it's not really distinguishable at a glance) and several other changes as well. In later years (sometime in the 1970's), Walther incorporated several important design improvements into the P.1 including the infamous steel hex-pin through the frame to lessen the impact of the locking-block on the return of the slide into battery. Apart from that one notable exception, ALL post-war Walther P.38 pistols have the same aluminum frame as the P.1. Well, only those made through 1945 under the Third Reich and the relative handful assembled by the French immediately after the war using captured German parts. You'll hear all over the place how P.38's supposedly all have steel frames. All post-war P.38's are more or less identical as far as I know to the P.1, including an alloy ('Duraluminum') frame. The post-war P.38 and P.1 designations were largely superficial and used to designate pistols for the police forces and Bundeswehr (the armed forces), respectively.

Walther p1 problems