I recently say a CO2 powered Walther P38 for sale that is distributed by UMAREXUSA. The price was right, so I picked it up from Amazon.com. I have to say that I was pretty impressed when it came in. The pistol is nearly the exact same size and weight as a steel framed P38. The slide is a bit wide (about the same diameter as the later P1 Pistols at 31.5mm). I have a steel framed P38 with a P1 wide slide and it weighs 882 grams unloaded. The UMAREX P38 weighs in at 874 grams with the CO2 cartridge installed. I have included some photos below of the box and pistol as it was unwrapped. I will further discuss aspects of this pistol in subsequent posts.
The UMAREX Walther P38 is actually a pretty good copy of the actual P-38. I have included photos below of the UMAREX P38 and a 1963 Walther P-38 together. The UMAREX pistol carries 20 BBs in a detachable magazine. Like the actual P-38, the magazine is held in place with a heel mounted release located in the same place as the prototype pistol. Unlike the double row magazine pistols from UMAREX, the CO2 cylinder is contained within the handle of the pistol and not in the magazine. While this reduces some of the realism of the magazine assembly, there is not much choice since the prototype P-38 is a single stack pistol and there would be no room to include the CO2 cylinder within the magazine. UMAREX did an excellent job with the CO2 storage since there is nothing that protrudes from the bottom of the pistol grip. The cylinder screw handle folds up into the grip. The cylinder and screw assembly are accessed by removing the left hand grip panel.
The UMAREX P38 is a blow back CO2 pistol. This means that the slide moves back and cocks the hammer with each shot. An interesting feature of this pistol is that the slide locks slightly to the rear on the last shot and is held open with a functioning slide release, just like on the prototype pistol. The safety functions as a safety, but not as a decocker. To decock the pistol, one must hold the hammer back and then pull the trigger, gently lowering the hammer by hand. Unlike the prototype, the UMAREX pistol is single action only.
The barrel can be removed from the UMAREX pistol by rotating the takedown lever and pulling the barrel forward. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES REMOVE THE SLIDE. The recoil spring for the slide is NOT captures as in the prototype. Air pistol forums are full of sob stories about the spring getting away. UMAREX carries NO spares for this spring, and even if you do have the spring, reassembling the slide is NOT an easy process. There should be no reason to remove the slide. The barrel assembly has a bit a detail, and the silver locking block moves somewhat like the prototype.
Shooting the pistol is rather fun, however the trigger is somewhat heavy and gritty. I had no problem keeping BBs in a one inch circle at 15 feet, and the pistol shoots to point of aim. The sights are NOT adjustable, but everything that I have read indicates that this pistol routinely shoots to point of aim.
In all, I believe this pistol to be an excellent value and recommend it purchase for anyone that wants a matching air pistol to go along with their P-38 / P1 pistol.
It seems to be more reliable than the PPK pistols currently being made, even if it is made of what seems like the same metal. So I hope they don't "improve" it.
Punch, I've gotta say that pistol is pretty cool. If I were ever to find myself in the market for a CO2 BB pistol, that P38 would be the one. I had one when I was younger (UZI replica) and it was a lot of fun. My buddy and I used to get about forty good shots out of a cylinder of gas back then... how many can you get with your P.38?
So far I have gotten at least that. The magazine holds 20 and I have fired it about twice. The weather has not been good enough for me to get out and give it a good workout.
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