Welcome to at the moment’s Photo of the Day! As German pistol manufacturing lagged in 1944-45, a number of corporations explored cheaper options to the P38, together with Walther’s “Volkspistole” (Folks’s Pistol) prototype. Walther’s design used a singular rotating barrel locking system, extremely uncommon for handguns on the time. It aimed to simplify manufacturing with stamped metal frames as an alternative of milled, whereas nonetheless using the present P38 journal for commonality. In parallel, Mauser experimented with each gas-delayed blowback and easy blowback actions, whereas Gustloff-Werke submitted a 9mm variant of an earlier failed design. Nonetheless, not one of the Volkspistole prototypes from Walther, Mauser, or Gustloff progressed past a handful of examples earlier than Germany’s give up. Although unconventional designs, the Volkspistole represented Germany’s last-ditch efforts to discipline a cheap service pistol as WWII sources dwindled. The prototypes stay obscure cultivation designs from the waning years of the battle.
LOT #2236: *WALTHER VOLKSPISTOLE 9MM SN 3B. (n.d.). Morphy Auctions. {photograph}. Retrieved March 27, 2024, from https://auctions.morphyauctions.com/LotDetail.aspx?inventoryid=415738.
