About the Walther P1 9mm: An Interesting and Valuable Military Surplus Pistol

At the end of the Second World War, Imperial Japan and Germany lay in ruins. Japan’s military structure was effectively completely dismantled and they were not allowed to rearm; the same was true for a divided Germany, for a time.

The two great powers that emerged from the Second World War were the United States and the Soviet Union. To check Russia’s power in the East, they were not permitted to be a party to the occupation of Japan. That fell solely to the Americans.

In the West, however, the Soviet Union was much more instrumental to Germany’s fall, and Germany was divided up among the Allies, with the Russians taking the East and America, France and the United Kingdom taking the West.

After a while, to keep the threat of the Russian menace in check, the Germans were permitted to formally rearm and the Bundeswehr was established in 1955.

One of the tasks faced with this new fighting force was what to fight with; this gives rise to the story of the Walther P1 in 9mm, an interesting military surplus pistol, and one you can still periodically come across.

The Origins of the Walther P1 9mm

An important distinction to draw here is that the Walther P1 is not a unique platform, but rather is a variant of the Walther P38.

The Walther P38 was developed for the Wehrmacht by GmbH as a service pistol at the beginning of World War II; it was intended to replace the somewhat complex Luger 9mm pistol that was in service for years before that.

The new Walther P38 offered effectively the same performance as its predecessor the Luger P08, but took much less time to reduce, improving the economy of production. The pistol, like the Luger P08, was built around the 9mm Luger cartridge; it was powered by a short-recoil action and fed from an 8 round mag. Somewhere around a million were produced, many of which were in service in the hands of the Germans in World War 2.

Fundamentally, the Walther P1 9mm is a very similar platform to the P38; it was however made with an aluminum frame rather than a steel frame, which lightened it somewhat. The slide design was also updated to make it stronger and more reliable.

There are some other relative advantages that the Walther P1 in 9mm had going for it, which continue to make it valuable today as a military surplus pistol, wherever it is encountered. On top of its light weight, it is easy handling and fairly intuitive to operate. Most remark that it is an “easy to shoot” pistol, all things considered, with basic and intuitive controls.

One thing that’s generally universally lauded about the design of the P1 are the sights. They are large and easy to see, and very durable and rugged, so they are unlikely to become damaged, even with rough handling.

The decocker and safety mechanism is also easy to engage or disengage, which is another thing that operators, collectors and shooters have noted. Adjusting the sights is easy, too.

There’s also a loaded chamber indicator that protrudes from the gun, which makes visual ascertainment of the weapon’s state of readiness, but also tactile investigation even in complete darkness. The Walther P1 in 9mm is also relatively easy to field strip via the takedown lever, which is another bonus of the design.

One potential weakness of the Walther P1 is the magazine release, which is a heel magazine release. The design of this magazine release can potentially slow down reloads. Another is that the gun has a fairly small capacity magazine; it’s an 8-round magazine, and it’s a single stack design. A double-stack mag could have doubled capacity, perhaps even better, depending on the length.

Accuracy is decent and recoil is mild at worst, both of which are desirable attributes you’d want to encounter in a surplus service pistol. The chambering is not a bad one either; whereas some niche military surplus pistols are chambered in hard-to-find cartridges, you’ll (probably) never have trouble finding ammo for a Walther P1 in 9mm. Any collection of Army surplus that has a few Walther pistols in it is worth a closer look. It’s a piece of history, and still a functional gun.

Where to Find a Walther P1 in 9mm

The bottom line is that, if you’re looking for a reliable military surplus pistol in a chambering that won’t make finding ammo a chore, consider a Walther P1 in 9mm. We carry some of these, and in addition to ammo not being a scarcity, it’s generally not too hard to find parts for them, too.

Regardless, take a quick look through our Army surplus and our collection of military surplus pistols and see if you can find something from our collection that appeals to you. If you have any questions about this platform, its specifications, or about any of our other military surplus firearms, get in touch with us and we would be more than happy to help.