It debuted with several features that take for granted today such as a decocker safety lever, loaded chamber indicator, a slide release, a rebounding hammer, a floating 4.9-inch barrel and a static takedown lever that did not leave the frame. Twin recoil springs were located on either side of the frame top to keep the breech locked until the moment of firing.
The Walther fired from a locked-breech with a double-action trigger, and was the first to use this arrangement, which is now almost standard on modern hammer-fired combat handguns. Walther borrowed from Kiraly’s unproduced design, changed the delayed blowback bolt and controls, added the same type of trigger used on their PP series pistols, and came up with an entirely new gun. The thing was, Kiraly introduced the design in 1929 at the beginning of the Depression and, with money drying up everywhere, it was never put into production. His gun was a short recoil auto-loader with a swinging lock under the barrel. Pal Kiraly, a Hungarian firearms wonk living at the time in exile in Switzerland came up with a novel handgun he referred to as KD Danuvia. It was also expensive, and every army in history had a budget.Ĭarl Walther, an up and coming firearms manufacturer who had just won a contract to supply his innovative PP and PPK pistols to the German police, threw a design from his workshop into the ring. While the Luger was a beautiful weapon, its toggle-action was prone to clogging, especially when dirty. One of the things the army wanted was a new handgun to replace the 1900-vintage Luger. After Hitler came to power, this process got louder. Even before Hitler came to power, the tiny Reichswehr had done extensive research into rearming their nation with the most modern of equipment. In the 1930s, the German military was quietly rebuilding.
You may call it the Walther P38 and its influence has been felt far and wide.
The thing is, the Germans themselves wanted something better and came up with one of the great-unsung handguns of all time. When you think German Army pistol, the Luger comes to mind.
0 kommentar(er)
