ltorlo64
10-13-2014, 07:48 PM
Went to the range with my brother-in-law today and took my 1943 Walther P38. I loaded it up with some Federal, 115 gr, FMJ rounds and fired the gun for the first time. The shot went pretty well but then I noticed the slide looked like it was locked back. Next I noticed the rear site was out of position. I brought the pistol down where I could see it looked like the top had been blown off! I cleared the weapon, unloaded it and packed it up. My BIL found the top of the slide on the ground but we didn't see any other parts.
When I got home I took a better look at the pistol and there didn't appear to be any missing parts. The top that came off exposed the firing pin and loaded chamber indicator pins and springs. First thing I noticed was that all this stuff was full of cosmoline. I had cleaned the gun before taking it too the range, spent a few hours on it but I had not went into this area of the weapon. I took the upper slide assembly apart, compared the parts to an exploded view drawing of the P38 and found that no parts were missing. Also, no parts were damaged. Next, I spent another 3 hours cleaning all the cosmoline out of the firing pin housing. I put the pistol back together and function checked it and everything is working fine.
Next time I head to the range I am going to take it back and try it again. This time though, I will only load one round for the first shot just to make sure everything is working right.
When I got home I took a better look at the pistol and there didn't appear to be any missing parts. The top that came off exposed the firing pin and loaded chamber indicator pins and springs. First thing I noticed was that all this stuff was full of cosmoline. I had cleaned the gun before taking it too the range, spent a few hours on it but I had not went into this area of the weapon. I took the upper slide assembly apart, compared the parts to an exploded view drawing of the P38 and found that no parts were missing. Also, no parts were damaged. Next, I spent another 3 hours cleaning all the cosmoline out of the firing pin housing. I put the pistol back together and function checked it and everything is working fine.
Next time I head to the range I am going to take it back and try it again. This time though, I will only load one round for the first shot just to make sure everything is working right.