Hello!

I recently received a war era p38 from a friend. The gun needs blueing and some trigger work. Also a couple of new grips. I made up my mind to make it a silencer host. It crossed my mind to also shorten the barrel enough to keep normal ammo subsonic. If the slide will let me shorten it enough. So my question is: How much will I need to cut the barrel to keep normal ammo at subsonic speed.

soundless wrote:Hello!

I recently received a war era p38 from a friend. The gun needs blueing and some trigger work. Also a couple of new grips. I made up my mind to make it a silencer host. It crossed my mind to also shorten the barrel enough to keep normal ammo subsonic. If the slide will let me shorten it enough. So my question is: How much will I need to cut the barrel to keep normal ammo at subsonic speed.

DO NOT TOUCH IT!!!!!!! It would be as painful to those who cherish the piece
as if you decided to take an Aston Martin DB5 and add 1959 Cadillac fins, take out the
engine and put a Chevy Volt electric engine to keep Al Gore happy, and put California hydraulics
on the wheels so that you can jump up and down at the lights. I hope this extreme analog
conveys our apprehension.

Said a simpler way: "Leave the F*****G Gun alone!"

It is a WW II historically important piece.

If you want to add a can onto it (not sure why ) have made a slip-on adapter that
slides past the front sight and has split rings to keep it tight. Then you will have
saved the P-38 and yet can add a can.

Hope you make the correct choice.

GO, SOLOMON,GO

Ali Baba,

If you want to get a modern, spare barrel to shorten, go for it. But leave all of the original stuff alone.

Please.

soundless wrote:Hello!

I recently received a war era p38 from a friend. The gun needs blueing and some trigger work. Also a couple of new grips. I made up my mind to make it a silencer host. It crossed my mind to also shorten the barrel enough to keep normal ammo subsonic. If the slide will let me shorten it enough. So my question is: How much will I need to cut the barrel to keep normal ammo at subsonic speed.

If this gun has Nazi proof marks and the #sn match, do not touch it.The general rule is if its a gun without marks or made up from mismatched parts or is in general very poor condition less than 60% finish then its okay to refinish it.In short take it to a competent gunsmith first.

Many ,if not all P38 barrels are two part

they have a thin barrel liner brased in

so be careful if you DO thread the barrel
chose a thread size that do the less harm (the biggest diameter )

get a spare barrel made out of one piece

Why would you want that old dilapidated thing? Just throw it out and go get a P99.

pmchenry wrote:Why would you want that old dilapidated thing? Just throw it out and go get a P99.

True. I'll trade you for a nice, brand new P226.

pmchenry wrote:Why would you want that old dilapidated thing? Just throw it out and go get a P99.

Ok i know it might be a joke

but if not
the P99 has a tilting barrel
the P38 does not
its still a locked design , but can take a heavier can without a booster than a tilting barrel design
you can make a can that goes back over the barrel making a shorter gun/can combo

Coolness factor

Well, if it's not valuable I don't see the problem, but getting another barrel is never a bad idea. Don't know if you can get reliable operation from standard ammo though, and certainly not without a boosted can. Factory loads can be so much so it's hard to say how short you'll need to get the barrel, but I'm guessing 3", perhaps shorter. This will reduce the impulse noticeably, and adding mass to the moving part won't do you any good either. Me, I'd go for 147's and a telescopic silencer just for the hell of it.

"Don't know if you can get reliable operation from standard ammo though,
and certainly not without a boosted can. ".

Standard 9mm did function on the one I had.

Back in Luger collecting days I was given a few unopened boxes of 'hot'
WW II 9mm that were intended for the Schmeisser MP-40. Told by armorer
not to use on Luger as it would damage toggle assembly.
MP-40 was designed in 1938.

Historian wrote:Standard 9mm did function on the one I had.

With a shortened barrel and a silencer? If so, I stand corrected.

wolf wrote: Ok i know it might be a joke

It was most certainly a joke.

The P-38 is a fine candidate for a integral as others have noted.
Does anyone know if a braised in barrel liner was a standard military rebuild /refit procedure or just a attempt to salvage a barrel post war!

Op how about some pictures we are a virtual group------I have a true love of old well made weapons.

EYE CANDY

Capt. Link. wrote:The P-38 is a fine candidate for a integral as others have noted.
Does anyone know if a braised in barrel liner was a standard military rebuild /refit procedure or just a attempt to salvage a barrel post war!

Op how about some pictures we are a virtual group------I have a true love of old well made weapons.

EYE CANDY

I'm guessing relined to salvage a worn out or otherwise damaged barrel, MG34 looks nice. Looks like a P1 in the bottom frame

Capt. Link. wrote:

It always amazes me how you can still see the German MG's influence in even the newest light/medium machine guns. The aesthetic characteristics of the MG34 immediately remind me of the 240B we use today. They were some evil bastards to be sure, but the Nazi's sure knew how to design a weapon system...

About the liners in the P38, the ones i have seen where originals , no refitting

you have to look at the breach end , if its one that is blued you can see the difference in color
maybe even a ring around the chamber

i think it was for easy production

rifling such a od shaped part using a cutting rifler , would be a stink


mass produced liners would make sens

And reading this , and from memory , i dont think i am far of

http://www.waltherforums.com/forum/clas ... -long.html

That forum i think would be a good place to ask (i am not a member )


a Colt government (1911) also used brased barrels
here it was the rear part including the locking lugs that was brased on

Tornado Tech did my P1 threads - needed some sort of adapter thimble but Mike took care of it.

You will need a boosted can with restricted boost or the recoil on the gun is murder. On my Gemtech Tundra I had to put a 0.1 inch washer under the spring to reduce the boost action. Too light a spring and the gun suffers under the delayed recoil, too heavy a spring and the gun fails to feed.

I kinda want one too. I found a hacked up one at Cabellas with a 2.8" barrel I was thinking of buying. I didn't know why I actually wanted one until I googled suppressed p38 and got this back:

http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Wild_Geese,_Thed

Saw the movie as a teen and it must have stuck.

My Man from U.N.C.L.E. project. P1 with a WWII solid barrel, threaded 1/2x28tpi, with a somewhat rare AAC Scorpion can.

[quote="soundless"][/quote]


Google search will help as well, there are some fine photo's online

No need to go that far for intel.



(hope they do not mind using this, if they do let me know I'll take it down)


Friend of mine has an original silencer but not the gun, I got some and will change the barrel for him to be like in the image.

Gunny

Resurrecting this thread...

I found a butchered WWII P38 barrel that I had cut, crowned, and threaded to ~3" for use with a Blackside-40 on a P1 host. The Walther consistently stove-piped when using a Gemtech fixed mount. But it functions reliably when using the Gemtech LID along with 147 gr. rounds. (FWIW, I did not monkey at all with the factory Walther spring weights.)

I have read on the interwebs that using a can with Nielsen device on a fixed-barrel pistol could potentially damage the gun. Any truth to this on a P1/P38? It sounds like others here have successfully used recoil boosters on their fixed-barrel P1/P38s. Thanks.

Silence-Dogood wrote:Resurrecting this thread...

I found a butchered WWII P38 barrel that I had cut, crowned, and threaded to ~3" for use with a Blackside-40 on a P1 host. The Walther consistently stove-piped when using a Gemtech fixed mount. But it functions reliably when using the Gemtech LID along with 147 gr. rounds. (FWIW, I did not monkey at all with the factory Walther spring weights.)

I have read on the interwebs that using a can with Nielsen device on a fixed-barrel pistol could potentially damage the gun. Any truth to this on a P1/P38? It sounds like others here have successfully used recoil boosters on their fixed-barrel P1/P38s. Thanks.

Found th following online, came from Walther Forum.
A guy in Germany made these.


Gunny

Looks like a pistol made by Mr. Joniskeit from Allmersbach in Germany.

XLmoby wrote:Looks like a pistol made by Mr. Joniskeit from Allmersbach in Germany.

Might be, but keep in mind Mr. Joniskeit also makes silencers and than it would be strange that the image shows the B&T silencer.

Gunny