Books for Walther lovers/gun lovers

[yow25]

are there any books that has complete history of these great guns?

[searcher451]

It's good to heed Orv Reichert's advice from the P.38 Forum, available here:

http://forums.p38forum.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6793

Some new books on the market also are worth noting, including Ron Clarin's and Jan Balcar's beautiful and well-written "P.38 Pistol: Spreewerk Production."

As Orv is fond of saying: "Before you buy guns, buy books."

[Larry]

May I add the 2 books of Gene Gangarossa:

P 38 Automatic Pistol: The First Fifty Years

and

The Walther Handgun Story: A Collector's and Shooter's Guide

The author's pics are atrocious but the text is generally accurate and well written. It gives a good, general understanding of the subject. And they are reasonnably priced IMO (gun books in french or german are horribly pricy).

P.S: Oups, I didn' checked the prices on Amazon. That's really awfull!!! But it may prove that these books are looked for. I payed mine in the 25 $ area, that was reasonable...

[searcher451]

If we get some additional suggestions, and there must be a lot of them, we can turn this material into a Sticky notice for future reference.

Keep 'em coming, guys.

As has been mentioned previously, a must-have book for every Walther fan is Dieter Marschall's excellent "Walther Pistols Models 1 Through P99," available from Ucross Books in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

[MN_Swede]

These are the Walther books I have:

Walther Pistols and Rifles, W.H.B. Smith

Know Your Walther PP & PPK Pistols, E.J. Hoffschmidt
Know Your Walther P.38 Pistols, E.J. Hoffschmidt

Walther Pistols Models 1 through P99, Dieter H. Marschall

The Walther Handgun Story, Gene Gangarosa Jr.

Walther Models PP and PPK 1929-1945, James L. Rankin
Walther Volume II, James L. Rankin
Walther Volume III, James L. Rankin

A Pictorial Collector's Guide to the Walther PP - PPK Pistols, Per Mathisen

Walther, A German Legend, Manfred Kersten

All have their individual strong points. Best value is perhaps Dieter Marschall's.

searcher451 quoted Orv at the P38 forum as saying "Before you buy guns, buy books". Words of wisdom!

Best of luck,
Craig

[Jake Starr]

Walther, A German Legend, Manfred Kersten

My favorite

[GED]

Originally Posted by MN_Swede

Walther, A German Legend, Manfred Kersten

Edward R. Hamilton Books(http://www.edwardrhamilton.com) has still(9/15/09)got this book for $29.95 plus $3.50 shipping.

I ordered this book from them about 2 months ago-was pleased with
the shipping & packaging.

BTW: when doing a search for this book on their site, search either by author or if by title omit Walther, i.e.: A German Legend


FYI: They also have a pretty good selection of military history titles-all at
discount prices.

[searcher451]

That's a good tip, and a heck of a good price, PDX; thanks for pointing it out. The normal asking price on the book is $85.

[MGMike]

The most intensely detailed book of all, really only for the advanced collector, is Warren Buxton's 3-volume (so far) magnum opus, The P.38 Pistol.

Other less vertical books contain lots of significant information on Walther pistols, including Jan Still, Axis pistols; Ed Ezell, Handguns of the World; Whittington, German Pistols and Holsters, 1934-45; Jon Speed et al, Mauser Pistolen; Bruno Brukner, Faust-Feuer Waffen; Konig & Hugo, 9mm Parabellum, and W.H.B. Smith, NRA Book of Small Arms, Vol. 1: Pistols and Revolvers. All are useful.

M

[Dave_n]

I can thoroughly recommend the Edward R. Hamilton shop but search on the web, print out the order form and send with a check. This way the price is what you see plus $3.50 for shipping irrespective of the number of books in a package. Prices are excellent, book condition as described. I have been buying from them for years (much to my wife's chagrin). Dave_n