The moving-barrel mechanism is actuated by a wedge-shaped hinged locking piece underneath the breech. P38 made by Mauser, coded 'byf 44' with matching presstoff and leather holster Besides a DA/SA trigger design similar to that of the earlier Walther PPKs the P38 features a visible and tactile loaded chamber indicator in the form of a metal rod that protrudes from the rear of the slide when a round is chambered. The firing mechanism extracts and ejects the first spent round, cocks the hammer, and chambers a fresh round for single-action operation with each subsequent shot – all features found in many modern day handguns. Pulling the trigger cocks the hammer before firing the first shot with double-action operation. The lever can stay on 'safe', or if returned to 'fire', the weapon remains safely 'ready' with a long, double-action trigger pull for the first shot. The shooter could chamber a round, use the safety- decocking lever to safely lower the hammer without firing the round, and carry the weapon with a round chambered. 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). The P.38 was a cutting edge semi-automatic pistol design, which introduced technical features still used today in current commercial and military semi-automatic pistols, including the Beretta 92FS and its M9 sub-variant adopted by the United States military in 1985. 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.

The third series pistols satisfactorily solved the previous problems for the German Army 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 prototype ('Test') pistols did not begin until late 1939. The first designs was submitted to the German Army and featured a locked breech and a hidden hammer, but the Army requested that it should be redesigned with an external hammer. It was intended to replace the costly Luger P08, the production of which was scheduled to end in 1942. The Walther P38 (originally written Walther P.38) is a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol that was developed by Carl Walther GmbH as the service pistol of the Wehrmacht at the beginning of World War II. Short recoil, hinged locking piece assisted breechblockġ,050 ft/s (320 m/s)

Carl Walther Waffenfabrik, Mauser Werke, Spreewerk

P38 walther serial numbers