As collectors we know the Walther P.38 entered service with the Wehrmacht in 1938 & was the standard issue sidearm for the armed forces & police of the 3rd Reich when things were looking pretty darned good for the Germany who had recovered its military capability under the loud man with the funny moustache.

We also all know how badly things ended up going for the Nazi German regime which was defeated in May 1945 by the combined armies of everyone they picked a fight with.

For pretty obvious reasons, in 1945 production of P.38's ceased at the three wartime factories of Walther, Mauser & Spreewerke.

This remained the case until around a decade later when in 1955 West Germany formed the Bundeswehr to take some responsibility for its own defense against Uncle Joe & his communist hordes in the Soviet Union who still held a bit of a grudge it seemed.

Walther retooled for new P38 production knowing that the military would again seek their firearms. When the Bundeswehr announced it wanted the P38 for its official service pistol, Walther was able to resume P38 production within just two years at their new factory in Ulm, West Germany & this is marked on the slide along with the famous Walther banner.

A key difference from the wartime P38s was the shift from a steel frame to a lighter-weight aluminum alloy frame.

The first of the new P38s were delivered to the Bundeswehr in June 1957, some 20 odd years after the pistol had initially entered service with the Wehrmacht & remained in service until the turn of the century when they were phased out for good.

It is often thought that a post war Walther P.38 was designated the nomenclature of P.1 & this is correct but not initially. It was designated as the P1 by the West German police & military from around 1963 onwards, with some early military issues such as this marked as P38 (note the difference from the WW2 designation of P.38)

This example was made in August 1959 as indicated by the stamp 8/59 on the right side of the slide along with the various proof & acceptance stamps of the day, see photos.

Evidencing the unique history of this pistol are the clearly visible dot within circle & BW on the slide & frame, signifying acceptance into the Bundeswehr.

Not only is this a pretty cool pistol in great original finish which is getting more collectable by the year, this complies with all requirements regarding barrel length, capacity etc. so is 100% legal to own & shoot at your local range on a standard pistol club license!

Why not have something different to shoot from everyone else with their boring modern plastic guns?

Be the one to own & shoot something with legitimate cold war history which is not plastic, just fantastic!

We are not going to try & rate the condition out of 100 as everyone seems to have a different opinion on what the percentages should be, so we'll let the pictures be the description. You will know if this is for you so view the photos carefully & make your decision based on what you see as they form the main description & override all written information.

These are all the photos we have until this arrives from Germany which we expect to be late January, perhaps early February 2026.

We think we have described it accurately & correctly but do not claim to be infallible so if we have got anything wrong, it is unintentional. Once it arrives, we will provide more photos if it doesn't sell before then.

On all of our collectable guns, we have a unique 3 day inspection policy whereby if you receive the gun & it's not as described, return it & we will refund your money in full.

This piece of history can be purchased with a refundable deposit now so call to put your name on it if you think it's for you.

Whilst we check these out for serviceability, the warranty has expired & this is sold on an 'as is' basis. As with all used guns, we recommend you have this checked by a suitably qualified person prior to shooting.