Walther produced more than 150,000 during the war. It saw extensive service in the German government and military during WWII. As a side note, PPK stands for Polizei Police Kriminal, and was first introduced in 1931. Many police officers today trust their lives to this little pistol as a back-up to their service sidearm. The PPK, a smaller version of the PP, was made to fill the need for a compact concealable handgun used by undercover police officers. See under 'Rare and Lesser Known Walthers' an AC41 First Variation that still has the high polish and deep blue finish. It is in excellent condition, with little noticable wear. This pistol has the brownish-reddish grips. Internally, it is every bit as good as earlier examples. Starting in 1942, exterior machining suffered in favor of higher volume production. Machining marks are evident on the slide in this image. This example is an AC43 built at the Zella-Mehlis plant in June or July of 1943. Postwar P.38's were constructed with an alloy frame and a P-1 was issued to the military and West German Police. This pistol was first available in 1938, and a civilian version called the HP was the commercial model. Walther took these designs and futher refined his new pistol to be called the P.38.
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Patents were awarded for protecting these inovative designs. The AP was a refined version with a new type of locking system, extractor, breech, and firing pin. This design would not stand up to the punishment of a 9mm round.
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The MP was in development just after WWI and was a blowback design like the PP series. The predecessors of the P.38 were the Models MP and AP. It too, has been used in various movies and television shows. The Walther P.38 is probably as well known as the Walther PPK.