BACKGROUND: In 1935 the HwaA, Heereswaffenamt, (Army Ordnance Office), a subsection of the OKH, Oberkommando des Heeres, (High Command of the Army), began looking for an alternative pistol to replace the P08 Luger which had been in army service since 1908. Although the Luger was favored by the troops it was expensive to produced and was prone to allowing dirt into the toggle breech affecting its firing. In 1938 the Heereswaffenamt accepted the new P38 pistol, developed by the Carl Walther Waffenfabrik. The new P38 didn’t completely replace the Luger which was still being manufactured until 1943 when it was finally discontinued. The Carl Walther Waffenfabrik was originally founded at Zella Mehlis in 1886 as a sporting arms manufacturer and produced its first automatic pistol in 1908. In 1915 the firm produced its first military pistol with a blowback recoil design which the German army found unsuitable. In 1929 the firm developed the PP29 for the police market and it became one of the mostly widely used pistols through-out Europe in the 1930's. In 1931 the firm developed the PPK which was a smaller version of the PP29 and was intended for use by plain clothes policemen. In 1934 the firm began development of pistols for military usage with the first model being designation, MP for Militär Pistole, (Military Pistol). The MP was a reworking of the PP with an upgrade in caliber to 9mm. The MP retained the blowback recoil design and was again found unsuitable. As a result the firm began development of a locked-breech design in 1937 that was designated, AP, for Armee Pistole, (Army Pistol). The AP with its internal trigger hammer was rejected by the military and Walther reworked the design to incorporate an external trigger hammer and designated it as the HP, Heeres Pistole, (Army Pistol). The HP was accepted by the German military in 1938 and was re-designated as the, P38. As with any pistol an integral part of the P38 were the hand grips. Generally the earlier grips had a checkered pattern while later production grips had a horizontal groove pattern.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Roughly, 10cm tall, 5cm wide, uniquely contoured, injection molded, black bakelite construction, left and right side P38 pistol grips. The obverse of each grip features a repeating, impressed, horizontal line pattern for a secure grip, and a small, circular screw port with an inset, screw threaded, metal ring for the screw retainer. The left grip also has the addition of an vertically rectangular recess with a small, cut-out, horizontal slot designed for a raised bar on the pistol to secure a lanyard. Also included is the original small blued, tooled steel retaining screw. Small chip out of the top right grip.