Designed in the 1970s in an attempt at police contract sales for agencies wanting a single-stack locked breech handgun that was a solid update to the WWII-era P-38, Walther’s P5 is a rare and beautiful pistol.
Building on their success with the P-38/P-1 (which remained in service with the German Army and some police units well into the late 1990s), the revamped P5 is more streamlined with better ergonomics and a number of minor tweaks. Most commonly found in 9mm para, it was also made in .30 Luger (its a 20th Century German sidearm meant for military and police use, so this is a no-brainer) and 9mm IMI.
First hitting production in 1977, some 100,000 were made and used largly by West German and Dutch police and in smaller numbers (as the L102A1) by the British Army, the gun was in limited production for about 15 years in standard, long barreled target, and compact models– and Western European pistol authority LifeSizePotato gives a great run down on all in the video above.
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