Walther P88

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Walther P88
Walther P88.jpg
general information
Civil name: P 88
Military designation: P88
Developer / Manufacturer: Carl Walther GmbH sporting arms
Manufacturer country: Germany
Production time: 1986 to 2000
Weapon Category: gun
Furnishing
Overall length: 187 mm
Total height: 142 mm
Total width: 38 mm
Weight: (unloaded) 0.895 kg
Sight length : 150 mm
Barrel length : 102 mm
Technical specifications
Caliber : 9 × 19 mm
Possible magazine fillings : 15 cartridges
Ammunition supply : Bar magazine
Cadence : 120 rounds / min
Fire types: SA / DA
Number of trains : 6th
Twist : Right
Visor : Open sights
Closure : modified Browning system
Charging principle: Recoil loader
Lists on the subject

The Walther P88 is a 15-shot, semi - automatic self - loading pistol with cocking trigger (DA / SA) in 9 × 19 mm caliber from the German gun manufacturer Carl Walther GmbH .

General

To save weight, the handle is made of duralumin . Walther was able to fall back on more than 50 years of experience with the dural grip of the Walther P1 , which initially did not achieve the specified break and abrasion resistance.

In contrast to the Walther P38 or Walther P1 and their later derivatives, the swivel bolt lock was not used again in the new P88, but - a novelty for Walther - the modified Browning system was used. The reasons for this were that with this type of breech and the barrel bearing specially refined by Walther for the P88, higher shooting precision, a narrower breech design and simplified production could be achieved.

The Walther P88 was mainly designed as a side weapon for military and police use. It was also Walther's contribution to the army's upcoming US handgun trials "Joint Services Small Arms Program" (JSSAP XM9), which began in 1981 and only ended with interruptions in 1984/5. With the future M9 pistol model, the test program had to clarify the successor to the Colt Government 1911A1, which was now getting on in years . For reasons of standardization, the Department of Defense had opted for the “un-American”, but at the time already internationally common, NATO caliber 9 × 19 mm.

With the Walther P88, Walther already had the intention of being able to offer the German armed forces an adequate successor to the now aging Walther P1. The designation “88” was chosen when the civilian marketing began in 1986/1987 in view of the 50th anniversary of the legendary Walther P38.

System description

Barrel and locking system

The barrel, which is traditionally pressed without cutting, has a length of 102 mm (4 inches) with six lines and fields. The twist length is 250 mm, the pull diameter 9.07 mm / 0.357 inches. The breech with the uncovered bolt block forms three locking points between barrel and slide: The first “rear” on the chamber by means of a 10 mm wide cuboid nose which precisely fits into a 3 mm deep recess in the upper part of the slide's bottom plate; the second “middle” with a “shoulder” behind the cartridge chamber between the upper half of the barrel and bolt, the third “front” through the fixed fixation of the barrel muzzle against the lower half of an ogival slide opening.

In the locked state, the chamber is raised. In the three described contact points, the contacting surfaces rest against one another in a form-fitting manner. When the lock is opened, the slide and barrel move approx. 3 mm backwards on the shoring section - that is, they are still locked. The barrel is then steered downwards by the open, rigid control link, thereby decoupling the barrel from the slide. The elliptical slide opening on the mouth side allows the corresponding inclination to run. When the bolt is locked again, the barrel and slide always assume a reproducible position in relation to one another. The weapon has a scattering circle from the shooting machine of approx. 30 mm.

One control lever

The Walther P88 is designed for right- and left-handers. The slide catch is unlocked by means of an operating lever and - if necessary afterwards - the hammer designed as a ring hammer is also released by pressing it down again. This large operating lever, which is flush with the grip on both sides, is also easily accessible for short thumbs.

In the magazine holding mechanism, which can also be operated from both sides, a resilient pawl is also integrated, which works as a tactical magazine brake for about 20 mm when the magazine is released.

A manually operated safety device "in the classic" sense is missing; However, the P88 has internal, automatically operating safeguards, which will be discussed in detail below.

Tactical handling security

The possibility of incorrect operation of the unlocking lever on the one hand and separate safety or release lever on the other hand, which occurs again and again under stress, has been minimized in the Walther P88 by the universal operating lever. It allows left and right-handed people to shoot two-handed z. B. the even faster release of the magazine with the index finger of the supporting hand. Unlocking the lock and releasing the hammer can also be done without reaching around with the respective supporting hand.

There is only one function on the left: In order to be able to keep the slide open when the magazine is removed (e.g. for the purpose of checking the function after cleaning), the slide catch lever is pushed up after the slide is withdrawn, which - arranged slightly offset under the operating lever - with it is mechanically coupled.

Main parts

After the magazine has been removed, the main parts are dismantled in the locked state by turning the barrel lever above the trigger by 90 °. With the bolt left out towards the front, the spring guide rod with the bolt spring and the barrel can now be removed. Any dismantling beyond the main parts is not necessary for cleaning purposes.

Sights

The 150 mm long sight line is formed from a solid, 3.5 mm wide front sight with a white twilight mark and a 3.9 mm wide rectangular rear sight with micrometer adjustment and two twilight marks. The visor widths correspond to military standards. The detent of the micrometer adjustment corresponds to a point of impact shift of 22 mm over 25 m. The height can be adjusted using three front sights of different heights in a 50 mm grid. The top of the slide is matted and therefore free of reflections. The line of sight “painted grain” runs above the surface at a relatively large height of approx. 8 mm. Also a military requirement: it ensures that e.g. B. after a fall with possibly still adhering dirt the risk of an immediate impairment of the finish line is minimized.

Handle

The handle consists of a forged wrought alloy with a minimum tensile strength of 530 N / mm². Due to the N-HE layer with very hard aluminum oxides of approx. 1200 HV produced by hard anodic oxidation, the handle is extremely resistant to abrasion. The service life of the handle thus corresponds mechanically to that of the steel parts, with no permanent contamination of the lock guide by z. B. fine sands o. Ä. Is required. The specifications stipulated a minimum load of 10,000 rounds without functional impairment or serious loss of precision, based on ammunition that is already outside the maximum permissible gas pressure according to the CIP ( Commission Internationale Permanente pour l'Epreuve des Armes à Feu Portatives ).

For reasons of stability, the handle sides were not skeletonized, but made over the entire surface. The grip angle is 72 ° or 108 °. The trigger stop was made by means of a detachable grub screw in the handle.

magazine

The magazine is loaded “from the front” and takes 15 rounds in two rows. Magazine base and magazine spring guide are stamped sheet metal parts; the asymmetrical feeder consists of a solid, wear-resistant die-cast part.

Security system

The Walther P88 has four automatic safety devices that operate independently of the shooter:

  1. Non-positive vertical barrier for longitudinal locking of the firing pin
  2. Positive spatial recess in the striking surface of the hammer
  3. Non-positive locking latch on the trigger of the hammer
  4. Non-positive locking protection by means of an interrupter

The individual fuses 1. and 2. act in addition to each other and can only be bypassed if the trigger is fully pulled; Fuses 3 and 4 work until the bolt is completely locked again after the loading or the shot has been fired. If one or both conditions are not met, the firing pin cannot be thrown forward by the system. This makes the P88 safe when the hammer is hit, dropped or snapped. All four safety devices are also effective when relaxing using the control lever.

Trigger system

The clamping trigger is structurally / mechanically identical to that of the Walther P38 or Walther P5 .

Military trials

The Walther P88 was eliminated from the US tender (XM9): It did not meet one of the 72 “Shall” conditions because it lacked the “manual” safety device. Beretta won with the later modified model 92FS in the final against the SIG Sauer P226 .

The Walther P88 also took part in the Bundeswehr tender from 1990 onwards and was initially rejected by the WTD91, which was tested by the WTD91, due to the lack of manual safety .

P88 model variants

The derivatives "Compact" and "Competition" that were added later were revisions that defused the "military-striking-angular" exterior of the Walther P88 for the civilian market.

The Competition corresponded outwardly practically the Compact ; this model was the sporty version with a coordinated DA trigger.

The Walther P88 Compact has become slightly more handy: 7 mm shorter, 3 mm narrower, 70 g lighter, an approx. 2 mm shorter barrel and a sight line lowered to approx. 4 mm as well as 1 shot less in the magazine.

Technical changes 'Compact'

Walther P88 compact

The coordinated Browning-Petter system of the Walther P88 was retained. The closing spring no longer consisted of just one solid wire, but of three thinner individual wires twisted together. With a comparable cross-section, these strand springs have a somewhat smaller spring constant due to the lower edge stresses, which counteracts material fatigue.

There was a significant technical change in the safety system: Instead of the single operating lever and the 4 automatically acting safety devices, a "manual" safety device was again integrated into the slide. The reason for this was the police and military tenders, which just called for them. The "manual" safety supplemented the force-fit vertical barrier, automatically controlled by the trigger, with longitudinal locking of the firing pin (fuse no. 1 of the Walther P88) with the again purely form-fitting firing pin lock. As with the Walther PP, Walther PPK and Walther P38, this safety device also functions again as a release device for the hammer.

After the German Armed Forces initially rejected the Walther P88 and the “Compact” was subsequently submitted during the trials by Walther, which continued until 1993, it was now also ruled out. Heckler & Koch won the race with the "P8". This was a slightly modified "USP" in terms of barrel bearings, manual safety and magazine design. In the final overall evaluations by the WTD 91 and the Army Office after detailed testing / troop testing, the pricing also played a very important role. The list price of a USP was around 1000 DM at the end of 1992; that of a Walther P88 “Compact” at just under DM 1800.

In 2000 the production of the Walther P88 “Compact” was stopped after approx. 7000 units had been marketed purely commercially.

P88 'Competition'

With a 101 mm long barrel from 1993 to 2000 - parallel to the "Compact" - a "sport-light" variant was also built. The lock continued to correspond to the "Compact", but the pull trigger (DA) was omitted. The automatically acting, non-positive vertical barrier safety device (No. 1) and the relaxation device for the hammer were also omitted. The manual, force-neutral securing was retained. The trigger is released after an advance of 3.3 mm. The standard pull-off resistance is 14 N, but could be individually reduced to approx. 10 N with Walther spring sets. The trigger stop was still adjustable by means of an adjustable grub screw, as with the utility models of the Walther P88.

With the decision in favor of a purely sporty SA system, which can only be used on secured shooting ranges, not only was it possible to reduce the intervention in the clamping catch of the striking piece, but it also enabled a new grip geometry tailored to sporting requirements. For example, the trigger distance, which is important for precise triggering of the shot, in the 'Competition' can be brought forward by 6 mm to 67 mm, which is ideal for the average hand size, compared to the somewhat tight 61 mm of the P88 “Compact”.

With appropriately selected branded ammunition, the 'Competition' achieved a range of less than 30 mm from the shooting machine at a distance of 25 m.

Wischo GmbH & Co. offered various special accessories as well as a 5 inch barrel with a front thread, onto which a 27 g or 69 g barrel weight or a compensator could be screwed. It was fixed with interlocking ISK grub screws. The Walther compensator with 94 g was the classic combination of a single-chamber muzzle brake with a wide expansion space and a flat frontal impact surface, vertical to the axis of the core, as well as a deflector with oval relief slots. The 9.4 mm bullet exit hole had to rely on tight system tolerances.

For all variants of the Walther P88, the Nill company still manufactures wooden grips with and without thumb rests. The already very good hand position with the standard plastic grip panels can be further optimized with the somewhat more voluminous wooden grip panels.

See also

literature

  • IWS 2/1983: The new Walther P88
  • Deutsches Waffen-Journal 4/1985: P88 - the new self-loading pistol from Walther
  • Deutsches Waffen-Journal 8/1992: Walter P88 Compact - the big little one
  • Deutsches Waffen-Journal 6/1994: For experts - Walther P88 Competition

Web links