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Title:	PISTOL, SEMI-AUTOMATIC -  GERMAN PISTOL WALTHER P-38 9MM SN# 5678q
Maker/Manufacturer:	WALTHER, CARL
Date of Manufacture:	1944
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 920
Measurements:	OL: 21.5CM 8 1/2" BL: 12.7CM 5" 2 lbs. 2 oz.

Object Description:

GERMAN PISTOL WALTHER P-38 9MM SN# 5678q
Manufactured by Walther, Zella-Mehlis, Germany in 1944 - The Walther is a recoil-operated semi-automatic pistol with a slide that moves directly to the rear. Weapon is fed by an 8-round magazine that fits into the pistol handle and the magazine catch is located on the bottom rear of the butt and is moved to the rear to release the magazine. Blued finish; horizontally grooved plastic grips. Safety lever located at the left rear of the slide. Inverted V-blade front; open U-notch, nonadjustable rear sight. 6-groove rifling; right hand twist. Weapon has muzzle velocity of 1,040 fps. Effective range of 25 yards and maximum range of 1,150 yards. Weapon weighs approximately 2 lbs. 2 oz. with empty magazine. Cartridge: 9mm Parabellum.

Markings:
Frame: 5678q. Eagle/135.
Slide: P.38, BYF/44, 5678q. Right side: Eagle/135. Eagle/Swastika. Eagle/135.
Barrel: 5678q.
Magazine: P38v. byf = Mauser.

Weapon transferred to the Museum on 17 November 1950.

Notes: "This is probably the best-known Walther of all; developed first as the AP, the military authorities preferred to see a visible hammer and it was redesigned as the HP, and this model was accepted as the standard pistol of the German Army from 1938 onwards. Owing to this official acceptance its title became P-38, only the early models - a few of which were released to the commercial market - taking the name HP. The Walther was chosen to supplement and later replace the P-08 as the standard military sidearm, since it promised to be a pistol more amenable to quantity production, less liable to derangement in the strain of battle, and less critical of the ammunition supplied to it. In addition to its adoption by the German Army, it was also taken by the Swedish Army in the following year under the title P-39 and, since the war, has been revived as the official pistol for the Bundeswehr under the nomenclature of P-1." - Hogg

References:
Buxton, Warren. THE P38 PISTOL. Taylor Publishing Company. Dallas, Tx. 1978.
Gangarosa, Gene. P-38 AUTOMATIC PISTOL: THE FIRST 50 YEARS. Stoeger Publishing Co. South Hackensack, N.J. 1993.
Hogg, Ian G. GERMAN PISTOLS AND REVOLVERS 1871-1945. Galahad Books. N.Y., N.Y. 1971.
Military Intelligence Service. GERMAN INFANTRY WEAPONS. Military Intelligence Service. War Department. Washington, D.C. 25 May 1943.