Rare and lesser know Walthers

This is the part that I didn't want to bore the casual reader with. Many people who do not collect Walthers or who only have a passing interest in Walthers may not know these pistols exist.

For the serious collector, this page is for you.

The Walther HP

Photo courtesy of Midwest Firearms / midwest2@cwix.com.

This was the commercial pre-war version of the Walther P.38. HP is the German abreviation for Heeres Pistole, or "Army Pistol". This pistol was developed from the MP and AP Walthers. Sale of the Walther HP began in late 1938. It did not do as well as anticipated. However the German Army was quite interested in the new pistol and awarded a contract in late 1938 to supplement the P.08 Luger which it was intended to replace. Advertisement of the Army's acceptance of the new pistol increased civilian sales and several thousand were sold before the outbreak of war.

The earliest HP's had a manual safety that caused the firing pin to retract into a recess in the slide and locking it as the hammer fell over the firing chamber. This system was extremely safe, but expensive to manufacture. At the Army's request, Walther altered the safety so that it only locked the firing pin in place before the hammer fell. The very first HP's and very early P.38's had a square-tipped firing pin. Subsequent examples had a round tip and a square shaft untill the end of the war.

The first HP's had beautiful walnut checkered grips but as more pistols were ordered by the Army, Walther switched to Bakelite plastic grips which were used untill the end of the war.

An HP sold for 75.00 in 1938. Quite a lot of money in those days when you made .22 cents an hour. In 1939, Super .38 and .45ACP was available special order. Four were known to be made in .45ACP and one survives today. I do not know who owns this pistol but if your out there please contact me via E-mail. Several hundred were also chambered in .30 Luger, or 7.65mm. The example in the link is one such pistol chambered in this caliber and is worth $14,000.00. How's that for a return on your investment!

Walther offered the Army an alloy framed version, but fatigue testing revealed a service life of only 1500 rounds before fretting and galling occured. The Army rejected it. Metalurgy was not advanced enough then to produce a frame that would stand up to the 9mm round. The P.38 would have to wait untill after the war for an alloy frame.

Production from 1938 to 1945 was around 30,000 pistols based on reports of serial numbers. Exact figures may never be known if Walthers records are not found.

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