Welcome to ALPS
Information, photos, references, and trivia on the WW2 Walther P.38 and post-war P38 pistol. If you wish to link to this page, please link only to the main page, not sub-pages or documents. Please do not rip off my PDF files or pictures for your own site. Thanks.
Updated 20 Feb 2014 17:33 -0800
Quick Launch: [Jump to Pistols]Â Â Â [Jump to Information]Â Â Â [Jump to Catalogs]
Most Recent updates:
Two more "BTH12" pistols have been reported. See "BTH12" under "Pistols"
Added "When was my post-war pistol made?" to "Information"
Added another late date AC frame pistol to "Pistols"
Added some late war pistols to "Pistols"
Exercises frequently ask you to identify the correct grammatical gender of nouns or negate a sentence (e.g., Das ist ein Tisch -> Das ist kein Tisch ).
Mastering Menschen A1.1: A Comprehensive Guide to Kursbuch Answers and Learning Resources
Menschen A1.1 Kursbuch Answers: Your Guide to Mastering New German Skills menschen a11 kursbuch answers new
At the end of every three lessons, Menschen features a review page. Treat this as a mini-test to track your retention before moving forward. If you are looking for specific exercise answers, tell me: Which lesson number (Lektion 1 to 12) are you working on? What is the page number and exercise letter/number ? What specific grammar rule or sentence is confusing you?
Jobs, articles (der/die/das), numbers up to 100, family members. Exercises frequently ask you to identify the correct
often have user-uploaded answer keys, though accuracy can vary. Menschen A1.1
Subreddits like r/German often have users who have already completed the book and might have tips or resources. If you are looking for specific exercise answers,
Attempt all exercises in the Kursbuch without looking at the answers. Use the answers only to verify your work.
The official answers (Lösungen) for the and Arbeitsbuch are provided by the publisher, Hueber Verlag , as free PDF downloads on their learning platform. Official Answer Keys
Complete an entire lesson or a full page before looking at the answers. Forcing your brain to recall vocabulary and grammar rules strengthens neural pathways.
To supplement your study, Hueber also provides these free online resources:
Pistol Information
An excellent article by Peter Kokalis on the wartime P.38 pistol can be found here, and another article on the post-war P38 here.
My post-war pistol has no date or date code - about when was it manufactured? You can get a rough estimate based upon these observed pistols.
Need to replace a broken WW2 slide part with a post-war part, and don't know if the new part will fit? Read the slide part compatibility guide. Note: this information is intended as a guide only. I am not a gunsmith. If you do not have working knowledge of the P.38 pistol, consult a competent gunsmith before attempting to effect repairs to your P.38.
Over the long term, will oil cause bakelite grips to deteriorate? An attempt to find out starts here. And continues after one year... and finally ends at three plus years.
Atarian's quick reference magazine guide. Helps to identify which magazine is correct for your pistol.
Atarian's post-war reproduction and aftermarket grip guide. Some of the currently available non-World War II grips for the P.38.
Can a "dipped" pistol be "un-dipped?" The answer is yes, and quite successfully. Take a look at zero series cyq serial number 030.
What's that 13 digit number on my pistol and/or magazine?
Drawings and Manuals
P38 Owner's Manual  (multilingual - 4.8 MB). P38 Owner's Manual v2 (multilingual - 6.2 MB). P38 Operating Instructions (multilingual - 1.2 MB, source: Walther Germany). P38 Owner's Manual (1 MB, source: Interarms(?)). P38 Owner's Manual (edited for clarity - Thanks to Quentin for providing this).
German military drawings of the 9mm Patrone: page 1, page 2, page 3, and page 4.
P.38 manual from 1940 (German) - Thanks to Johan and Ron Clarin for providing this.
P.38 illustrated parts breakdown (German - 95KB, source: Walther Germany).
Explanation of the markings on a post-war P38/P1 (source: Federal Foreign Office – Division 241, Germany).
Time Wasters
Test your P.38 knowledge with the P.38 quiz!
 |
one |
|
|
two |
|
|
three |
|
|
four (new!) |
Auction Antics - Fantastic stories and overpriced pistols:
|
|
Most expensive P.38 ever listed (this was a typo...) |
|
|
Second most expensive P.38 (...that this genius later referenced!) |
|
|
Best story/crappiest p.38 ever? |
Articles and Advertisements
Information on the P.38 from the 2008 Walther catalog.
The Defense Intelligence Agency's Small Caliber Ammunition Identification Guide. German ammunition section (213kb) or the entire document (10.1Mb).
Small arms section of the Handbook on German Military Forces.
1964 Luger parts list and prices.
1964 P38 parts list and prices.
Pricing of Stoeger's Mod HPs and Lugers (1948).
1970 Interarms P38 advertisement.
Stoeger's guide to World War II pistols circa 1948 (page 1, page 2).
Miscellaneous
A baker's dozen of Walther post-war slide legend variations (this is far from all-inclusive).
Here's what a P.38 frame looks like before the machining process begins.
Is Walther still making the P.38?
Information Exchange Pursuant to the OSCE Document on Small Arms and Light Weapons 2003, 2008, 2010. Note in 2002 the United States was by far the largest importer of German "Revolvers and Self-Loading Pistols" with 1,040,985 imported (of 1,082,797 - the balance of 41,812 or about 4% going to 20 other countries), while the Germans destroyed only 5,666 "surplus" pistols. In 2009 the US imported none and 17,520 surplus pistols were destroyed (none were exported to any country). See Annexes 2 and 3.
Patent Information
Fritz Walther's "automatic pistol," patent number 2135992 dated November 8, 1938 (English).
Fritz Walther's "automatic firearm," patent number 2145328 dated January 31, 1939 (English).
Walther pistol patents 1926 to 1942 (German).
 |
Patent | Date |
Page Number |
||||
| 433937 | Sept. 1926 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 664926 | Sept. 1938 | 1 | 2 | 3 | Â | Â | |
| 677094 | June 1939 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 678067 | July 1939 | 1 | 2 | 3 | Â | Â | |
| 706038 | May 1941 | 1 | 2 | 3 | Â | Â | |
| 715176 | Dec. 1941 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 721702 | June 1942 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 722332 | July 1942 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 726501 | Oct. 1942 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
Interarms was a long-time importer of products from Walther and many other manufacturers. Browse some of their catalogs here.
Exercises frequently ask you to identify the correct grammatical gender of nouns or negate a sentence (e.g., Das ist ein Tisch -> Das ist kein Tisch ).
Mastering Menschen A1.1: A Comprehensive Guide to Kursbuch Answers and Learning Resources
Menschen A1.1 Kursbuch Answers: Your Guide to Mastering New German Skills
At the end of every three lessons, Menschen features a review page. Treat this as a mini-test to track your retention before moving forward. If you are looking for specific exercise answers, tell me: Which lesson number (Lektion 1 to 12) are you working on? What is the page number and exercise letter/number ? What specific grammar rule or sentence is confusing you?
Jobs, articles (der/die/das), numbers up to 100, family members.
often have user-uploaded answer keys, though accuracy can vary. Menschen A1.1
Subreddits like r/German often have users who have already completed the book and might have tips or resources.
Attempt all exercises in the Kursbuch without looking at the answers. Use the answers only to verify your work.
The official answers (Lösungen) for the and Arbeitsbuch are provided by the publisher, Hueber Verlag , as free PDF downloads on their learning platform. Official Answer Keys
Complete an entire lesson or a full page before looking at the answers. Forcing your brain to recall vocabulary and grammar rules strengthens neural pathways.
To supplement your study, Hueber also provides these free online resources:
