Went to research & rent, ended up buying a Walther P1.

[bigfatdave]

We went to our somewhat local gun shop which has a range and rental program to research SD/HD handguns, and had about given up on getting to rent a 9mm handgun that would be a good fit to MrsBFD's hands [tiny] and usable for my hands [yeti].
So after some renting and shooting [SIG226, Glock17, S&W M&P [in .40] we took a break and were browsing the used/new handguns looking for a better fit, and hoping to find then as a rental elsewhere or in the future.
After some digging through the overloaded used gun section, I spotted something odd in the back, tag obscured, no visible markings, "lugeresque" profile. Turns out it was a Walther P1 made in 1979 and refurbished sometime since then. Appeared to have been refurbished and then not used much, as it was cosmetically in pretty good condition. MrsBFD liked the grip and action, as did I, so we inquired on the possibility of firing it.
This local shop will let you shoot their used handguns on their range with their ammo. No range fee, but if you don't buy, there is a $20 cleaning fee.
We were sure to buy this gun assuming it didn't malfunction ... but I admit that the $20 cleaning fee was probably a subconscious factor in the shop's favor.

So we ran 50 rounds through it, no problems except a failure to lock open with an after-market magazine twice in 5-6 attempts [we tried to replicate with single round in the mag, and of course it laughed off our troubleshooting by functioning perfectly]
It is a breeze to strip, I had it figured out with only a basic glance at the manual online, and could do it without reference material after one run-through. After my Ruger MKIII, a gun that needs no tools to strip is a nice change. In fact, the only gun I have stripped that was simpler is MrsBFD's P22 after we converted it to short barrel.


I have some questions on the gun, perhaps better suited to their own threads, but I'll drop them here and see what happens.
1-Hopefully we got a reasonable deal on our new toy. Is paying $319 for a good condition refurb P1, 2 magazines, and a decent case [Doskocil] from '79 too much?
2-I know that it can't handle the higher power 9mm, does anyone recommend any particular ammo brand or load?
3-Is there any chance of this being a CCW handgun? If you didn't guess from the screen name, I'm fairly large at 6'3" and 325#, so there's a lot of room to conceal all kinds of things, but the shape/length of the P1 seems to not lend itself to a concealable holster.
4-Where would be good for getting magazines? Walther certainly doesn't have them any more, they don't even have a manual online
5-Any other tips/tricks/must-have-accessories for the P1? We are novice shooters, so advice would be appreciated.

[Bullseye]

Welcome to Guntalk-Online Dave!

Basically what you have is a post war Walther P-38 style pistol.



I'm not particularly familiar with the P38 style pistol. I do remember my first experience with one many years ago, long before there was an internet, when a fellow JO brought a WWII P38 to me at work in a brown paper sack to reassemble. It took me about 20 minutes to reassemble it for him because I had to figure it all out first.

I can't speak to condition of your pistol but $319 for a used 9mm auto is good in my book.

Another pistol you may wish to look at for Mrs. BFD is a Browning High Power. The BHP has a smaller profile grip and is good for small sized hands. My only drawback with it is I have big sized hands and it tends to nip the top of my hand with hammer bite. Gripping the BHP is no problem for hands my size with Pachmayr grips installed, but the hammer bite is annoying.

I really don't see P1 as a good CCW gun. They're profile is on par with a full sized 1911. It can be done but isn't very concealable.

Standard 115 grain 9mm ammo like WWB (relatively inexpensive at wally world) will work fine in your P1. Using high velocity ammo (greater than 1,100 fps) is not recommended.

Since I'm not deeply familiar with this pistol, my best advice is to also join a into a discussion forum that specializes in P38/P1 style pistols. Here's one I know of http://p38forum.com/index.htm Maybe some of our other GTOL members have information they can provide for you concerning your new P1 pistol.

Hope this helps.

R,
Bullseye

[KAZ]

Certainly a historical heritage pistol Dave! You won't be shooting next to them like we do with more common 1911s,Glocks,etc. I'll bet Numrich and others will have all of the parts you might need. Perhaps some neat holsters like those you see in the WW2 movies. Regards

[bigfatdave]

Thanks for the info. I'm relieved that I made a good call picking it up.
Darned thing wouldn't go back in the case.
And it was making MrsBFD and I almost fight over who got to play with it.
So we brought it home to show it who was boss!