
The shooter could chamber a round, use the safety-decocking lever to safely lower the hammer without firing the round, and carry the weapon loaded. The P38 was the first locked-breech pistol to use a double-action/single-action (DA/SA) trigger (the earlier double-action PPK was an unlocked blowback design, but the more powerful 9×19mm Parabellum round used in the P38 mandated a locked breech design). Design details įrom an engineering perspective the P38 was a semi-automatic pistol design that introduced technical features that are found in other semi-automatic pistols like the Beretta 92 and its M9 sub-variant adopted by the United States military. 22 Long Rifle versions were also manufactured and sold. In addition to the 9×19mm Parabellum version, some 7.65×21mm Parabellum and some. 38 Super, but these were never mass-produced. Several experimental versions were later created in.

After a few thousand pistols the Heer changed all codes from numbers to letters and Walther was given the 'ac' code.
#P38 serial numbers spreewerke wiki code
The third series pistols satisfactorily solved the previous problems for the Heer and mass production began in mid-1940, using Walther's military production identification code '480'. Walther began manufacture at their plant in Zella-Mehlis and produced three series of 'Test' pistols, designated by a '0' prefix to the serial number. The P38 concept was accepted by the German military in 1938 but production of actual prototype ('Test') pistols did not begin until late 1939. The first designs submitted to the German Army featured a locked breech and a hidden hammer, but the Heer (German Army) requested that it be redesigned with an external hammer. Serial numbers run trough the 'g' block and will have the early frame and extractor cut, there is cross over from the first and second variation for these changes about 80,000 produced.
#P38 serial numbers spreewerke wiki serial number
