Volkspistole

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The Volkspistole ('People's Pistol') was a prototype pistol produced by Carl Walther GmbH, Mauser-Werke and Gustloff-Werke in 1945 for an emergency German pistol design to help mitigate the loss of pistols before the war's end in Europe.

Contents

Volkspistole (People's Pistol)
WaltherVolkspistole.webp
Type Semi-Automatic Pistol
Place of origin Nazi Germany
Service history
In service1945
Used by-
Production history
DesignerVarious
Designed1944 -1945
Manufacturer Carl Walther GmbH
Mauser-Werke
Gustloff-Werke
Produced1945
No. built~12 or 24 (estimated)
Specifications
Mass1.088 kg (2.40 lb)
Length215 mm (8.5 in)
Barrel  length128 mm (5.0 in)
Height140 mm (5.5 in)

Cartridge 9×19mm Parabellum
BarrelsRifled (Mauser)
Smoothbore (Gustloff)
Rotating barrel (Walther)
Action Blowback
Rate of fire 116 rpm (Walther) (estimated)
119 rpm (Mauser) (estimated)
109 rpm (Gustloff) (estimated)
Muzzle velocity 381 m/s (1,250 ft/s)
Effective firing range50 m (160 ft)
Maximum firing range75 m (246 ft)
Feed system8 round detachable box magazine
SightsIron sights

History

In the first half of 1944, the German troops had lost more than 110,000 pistols, when the project started (by the end of the year, an additional 170,000 had been lost), as Carl Walther GmbH, Mauser, and Spreewerk, the three major producers of the current service pistol, the Walther P38, could not produce P38s fast enough to account for their losses. It was to be assembled from simple steel pressings with a minimum of machined parts and to be used by the Volkssturm. [1] Only prototypes were produced before the end of World War II. These prototypes had various unusual locking systems to figure out a cheaper design than the short recoil action of the P38. They also all reused the P38's magazine, another pivotal point in the plan's goal for low-cost production. Three prototypes were designed by Walther, [2] Mauser [3] and Gustloff-Werke, and all three failed. These prototypes had slightly different actions:

Mauser's design of the Volkspistole. Mauser 1945 experimental pistol 1.jpg
Mauser's design of the Volkspistole.

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References

  1. McCollum, Ian (2013-03-06). "The Walther Volkspistole". Forgotten Weapons. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
  2. Heidler, Michael (March 6, 2013). "The Walther Volkspistole". Forgottenweapons.com. Retrieved March 7, 2013.
  3. McCollum, Ian (June 22, 2010). "Mauser Volkspistole Video". Forgottenweapons.com. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  4. McCollum, Ian (March 11, 2015), Walther Volkspistole, Forgotten Weapons, retrieved 2022-06-28
  5. Issue; V9N3; Volume 9. "German Late-War Pistols of World War II – Small Arms Defense Journal" . Retrieved 2022-06-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. Katz, Stephen T (2019). The Holocaust and New World Slavery. Cambridge University Press (published May 2019). pp. 837–852. ISBN   9781108227483. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108227483.018 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Print publication year: 2019