"Teutonic Trinity": the best German pistols of the first half of the XX century

Back in the 19th century, having barely formed in a form more or less familiar to modern man, Germany literally took off as one of the industrial leaders of Europe. Naturally, a large part of German industry was tied in one way or another to the production of weapons. This allowed, already in the XX century, the "gloomy Teutonic genius" to release some of the best firearms in the history of mankind. Today we will focus on the "trinity" of pistols.

1. Mauser C96

Legendary pistol. | Photo: pholder.com.

The German Mauser C96 pistol was created in 1895 and became the most popular self-loading pistol of the first third of the 20th century. The weapon went through two world wars, in Germany itself, the C96 was officially in service until 1961. In addition to the land of the Teutons, the Mauser was in service with China, the Russian Empire, Austria-Hungary, Finland, Spain, Brazil, the Soviet Union, the Ottoman Empire and many other countries. The creation of the brothers Friedrich and Joseph Federle turned out to be so successful that in the hot spots C96 “pops up” to this day.

In total, at the end of the 19th and the entire 20th century, 950,000 copies of this pistol were produced in Germany. Officially, the Mauser were produced from 1896 to 1938. They were made for cartridges 7.62x25 mm Mauser, 9x25 mm Mauser, 9 mm Parabellum and even under the American .45 ACP. In addition, various elements of ammunition for 6, 10, 20 and even 40 rounds were produced for pistols. A distinctive feature of the C96 was a walnut stock holster that actually turned the Mauser into a submachine gun. The pistol had just a huge sighting range for its class and year of production - 300 meters.

But the most important thing in the "Mauser" at the time of its appearance was, of course, the enormous power of the pistol (for its age). Moreover, the manufacturer himself has always positioned the C96 not as a pistol, but as a light carbine.

2. Luger P08

Another high-end German self-loading pistol from the 19th century. It was designed by Austrian-born Georg Luger in 1898. The weapon was based on the almost completely forgotten today Borchardt pistol. Like the C96, the P08 Luger went through both world wars and several dozen smaller military conflicts. It has been used by many countries. In addition to Germany, the P08 was operated by the United States, France, Italy, and Turkey. The production of the pistol began in 1900 and continued through 1942. In a number of countries "Luger" is still produced in piece quantities, for example, in the USA. In Germany alone, more than 4 million of these pistols have been riveted in 40 years.

For its era, "Luger" became a truly breakthrough army weapon, ahead of its time. This is what explains its immense popularity in Germany. The first Parabellum models were chambered for 7.65 mm. However, later it was converted to 9x19 mm. The P08 was fed either from 8-cartridge box magazines or from 20-32-cartridge drums. The sighting range of the pistol was only 50 meters. At the same time, the most important advantage of the German design was the highest shooting accuracy. In many ways, it is thanks to her that "Lugers" continue to be made to this day.

3. Walther P38

The Walther pistol was developed during the time of Nazi Germany. It was adopted in 1938. The chief designer of the pistol was the German weapons designer Fritz Walter. To assess the success of this weapon, suffice it to say that in a number of European countries the P38 is still in service, although in recent decades the production of these pistols has greatly decreased. In total, at least 1.2 million copies of this short-barreled weapon were created in Germany. Initially, the pistol was created for the needs of the Wehrmacht of the Reich. After World War II, it was mainly used by German police officers. Today "Walter" is mainly used by special units in Germany.

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"Walter" P38 still has relatively high technical characteristics, stands out for its reliability and high resource, as well as price-quality ratio. The pistol is produced strictly chambered for 9x18 mm Parabellum. At all times, factory models of this weapon were equipped with one single type of store - for 8 rounds. The sighting range of "Walter" is no different from the overwhelming majority of other pistols and is 50 meters. Some external similarities between "Walter" and "Luger" are by no means accidental, the P38 used a lot of already well-proven technical solutions from the P08.

If you want to know even more interesting things, then you should read about Stechkin: why it was not made a mass army weapon, but given to special forces.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/140521/58999/

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