P-38 Slide Cracking

[Lone Star]

Over on the Smith and Wesson forum (www.smith-wessonforum.com), in the Lounge section, some member using the name Milo (like a thug whose gangs once controlled much of ancient Rome, until he killed his principal rival and got banned from Rome) has challenged a comment I made about P-38 Walther slides being somewhat prone to cracking, as has also happened with Beretta M951 and M92 slides, which use the Walther style locking block and open-top design.

I can't immediately recall the sources where I saw this mentioned.

Does anyone here know much about P-38 (and postwar P-1) slides cracking around the area where the locking block fits? I believe it applied mainly to postwar guns.

This is SLIDE cracking, not the frame cracking on aluminum alloy frames, which was supposedly fixed by adding a hexagonal bolt to the frame.

Wish I could recall where I read that...

If I'm wrong, I'll admit it, but don't think that's the case.

Lone Star

 

[RON in PA]

There was a problem with the post-war P1 (p-38) and hot NATO ammo so Walther redesigned the gun in two ways. They added a hex-shaped steel reinforcing bolt for the aluminum frame and to solve the slide problem they increased slide thickness. This was done in the late seventies. The surplus P1s that came into the country in the past year or so were of both types. My 80s vintage has both improvements.

 

[Broadside]

It is my understanding from speaking with a former Interarms gunsmith that the slide problem was not limited to just the post war P-38's. He said that it was not a common occurance, but it was a weak point on the P-38 pistol. As mentioned by RON, the P-38 slide was modified sometime in the late 60's or early 70's to strengthen it.

Based on the discussion I had with the Interarms gunsmith, who has seen thousands of P.38's and P-38's, I don't think it is fair to say the slide is prone to cracking. I think it is more accurate to say that this is a weak spot in the design of the pistol and if the pistol is abused this is one place it can fail. It is something to keep in mind if you are thinking about purchasing one or performing routine maintenance.

 

[Jim Watson]

I have no personal experience or expertise, but one of my favorite authors, Jan Stevenson said of the 1951 Beretta: "The P-38 lockup offers the advantages of straight line barrel movement and an easily variable length of locked travel. The disadvantage is that it transmits stresses which the narrow slide of the 1951 can ill accomodate. Some cases are known in which the P-38 slide has cracked at the locking recesses in service, and though I am not aware of the m1951's having done so, it is reasonable to assume that the Italian gun is vulnerable to the same affliction as the German, if not more so."

 

[Lone Star]

Thanks, guys. I guess that cracking isn't too common, but I doubt if many P-38's are shot really extensively.

I think some South Africans used them in IPSC matches at one time, when they were the police gun there, but I don't know how they held up.

Of course, shooting much in those action pistol matches will eventually break a Colt, too. Those competitors go though a LOT of ammo!

I liked Jan Stevenson, too. Pity that he died so young.

Lone Star

 

[emc]

I had a P-38 manufactured by Manurhin in the early 1960s, allegedly issued to the German border police. It developed a crack in the slide similar to what's been described earlier.

FWIW,

emc