Notes: Though the Dreyse was never formally adopted by the military of any country, the Dreyse was carried by many German officers during World War 1, and it was sold in large numbers to civilians between 1912 and 1915. An original Louis Schmiesser design, the Dreyse was originally chambered for .32 ACP and had a 3.6-inch barrel, and was targeted at the civilian self-defense market. Unofficially, it was carried by many German staff officers and rear-area troops in World War 1. In .32 ACP, the Dreyse was an easy to use and shoot pistol, with simple operation and take-down.

Unfortunately, someone has the bright idea to up-caliber the Dreyse to 9mm Parabellum. This required not only strengthening of the components, but a much heavier recoil spring. This meant that the Dreyse was virtually impossible to cock in the normal way (by pulling the slide back); instead, the slide could be unhooked from the frame, allowing it to be pulled back much easier, then locked back into place. (If you had the strength and time, you could still cock the 9mm Dreyse in the normal manner.) The barrel was also lengthened to 5 inches. Examples of the 9mm Dreyse are rare today, and they are usually dangerous to fire, since wear means the strange cocking mechanism can make the slide sit loosely on the frame.

Notes: Also called simply the Sauer-Pistole, the M-1913 was built in dozens of varieties, but these for the most part differ only in markings and minor details such as the grip plates. The M-1913 was built for sale to both police and civilians, and was sold in over a dozen countries. German military officers also often carried these pistols.

The original version of this pocket pistol was built 1913-31. It fired .32 ACP ammunition through a 2.9-inch barrel, and featured very small sights that are almost unusable (and the first few thousand M-1913s didn’t even have a rear sight). Originally, the grip panels were checkered bakelite plastic, but these were changed to cheaper plain panels with the Sauer & Sohn logo stamped at the top of one of the grip plates and the caliber on the other. The original trigger guard was round, but this was changed to a flat trigger guard underside in the mid-1920s. The slide grips were also extended at the same time for a better grip. The manual safety doubled as a slide hold-open device; the weapon also has a magazine safety. Also in the 1920s, a version of this iteration of the M-1913 was made in .25 ACP; it’s essentially a smaller form of the .32 ACP version.

At about the same time as the .25 ACP version of the M-1913 was being produced, an even more popular .25 ACP-firing version was being manufactured – the Westentaschen-Modell (vest-pocket model), or simply WTM. The WTM was tiny version with a 1.9-inch barrel and a very short grip. The slide of the WTM was simplified, with a large cutout section that exposed the ejection port at the right time in the firing sequence. Versions with minor changes internally and in the trigger were introduced in 1928 and 1933.

The last version was the M-1930, more commonly known as the M-30 Behorden. Based on a 1914 version of the M-1913, the M-30 featured several improvements, including a more ergonomic grip shape, a return to checkered grip plates, and stronger internal parts. Some also had chamber-loaded indicators and lanyard rings. The barrel was slightly longer at 3.1 inches. There were myriad finishes available, and some were even made with light alloy frames. Examples of the M-30 can still be found in operating condition today. The name "Behorden" (Authorities) stems from the fact that the M-30 was normally carried by German military and civilian police; in small numbers, it was also used by German staff officers.

Notes: This was a pocket pistol designed for police and personal defense use. It is regarded as an excellent design and remained in the inventories of several European police forces until the end of World War 2, when they were largely sold off to civilians. They can still be encountered today, usually in good working order, and over 175,000 were built before production ceased in 1930.

Notes: Though a very innovative design for the time, the Schwarzlose had the bad fortune of arriving on the market shortly after the Mauser c/96. It was therefore not a commercial or military success, and fewer than 500 were made. It is is now a very rare pistol and a much sought-after collectors’ item. Oddly enough, the best place to find one today is Russia; the few M-1898s that were made were sold to Russian revolutionaries in 1905, and later used in the Russian Revolution of 1917. Most of these examples were later passed on to Russian border police and literally worn out over the years. Most examples these days are in museums or private collections.

Notes: This is a very unusual pistol design (some might even say weird). It looks ordinary enough, though it appears to be a "hammerless" design of very small proportions. It is, however, one of very few successful weapons of any kind to use blow-forward operation – the M-1908 has no slide, and the weapon is operated by the pressure of the fired round pushing the barrel forward, which then springs back, and in the process ejects the spent round, chambers a new round, cocks the internal hammer, and readies the weapon for another shot. It’s a method of operation which results in a very compact weapon, but is somewhat complicated and prone to extraction and ejection failures. Blow-forward operation also results in a weapon with somewhat more recoil than a standard pistol, so it is generally restricted to low-powered cartridges.

The M-1908 proved to be rather unpopular due to its unconventional operation, and was built only from 1908-1911 in Germany. After that, the design was bought by Warner Arms in Brooklyn, New York; they also produced the weapon for a couple of years, but it didn’t take off in the US either. The M-1908 remains an odd but interesting weapon which today is primarily a collector’s item.

Notes: This is a new compact pistol, built after SiG-Sauer moved to Germany. The P-250DCc is really more a medium-sized pistol, if you look at the barrel length (4 inches); however, the weapon itself is quite compact at only about 7.1 inches total length. The magazine capacity is also quite large. The P-250DCc is a recoil-operated weapon using a locked breech and the standard SiG-Sauer cam-operated rotating barrel. The trigger action id double-action-only (DAO), but the first-pull trigger weight is actually fairly light for such a weapon at 4 pounds. The P-250DCc uses a bobbed spurless hammer, and there are no manual safeties, though there is a firing pin safety. Under the barrel is a MIL-STD-1913 rail for accessories, and the sights are fixed and of the three-dot variety (using white dots). It was designed specifically for sale to the German Police, though that sale has not yet gone through.

Testing of the P-250DCc began in 2004, though full-scale production has yet to commence. Currently, the P-250DCc is offered in 9mm Parabellum, though other calibers are to be offered soon. (I have included them below with some estimates of the performance, weights, and magazine capacities of those calibers for completeness and just to be interesting; bear in mind they are estimates.) Also slated for the future is a full-sized version of the P-250DCc, but I have no information on this yet.

Twilight 2000 Notes: This weapon does not exist in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

Notes: This pocket pistol was introduced in 1908, even though the patent was not awarded on the design until 1911. It is a modification of the Browning Model 1906, with a fixed barrel, open-topped slide, and a barrel jacket.

The Model 2 is a simplified version of the Model 1; it has a conventional full-length slide with an ejection port, and a chamber-loaded indicator. It is somewhat shorter than the Model 1, but has a slightly longer barrel and is lighter.

Notes: The Walther Model 4 was built in response to a German requirement in 1915 for a larger, more powerful pistol. Walther ironically did its job too well for the military, who felt the Model 6 was too big, heavy, and powerful, and ordered it discontinued in 1917.

Notes: This has been described as a three-quarters sized version of the P-99, and the resemblance is undeniable. It has the same salient features as the P-99, but fires the .22 Long Rifle round. It has three interchangeable backstraps to allow for different hand sizes. The barrel and most of the operating parts are steel, but the slide is aluminum and the frame is of polymer. There is even a carbon-fiber-frame version that is slightly lighter than the standard model. A version also exists that can take a silencer. The safety is ambidextrous, and the P-22 has an integral, internal lock that operates with a key and locks the trigger and hammer. The front of the trigger guard is hooked for a finger of the off hand to help stabilize the weapon. Unfortunately, disassembly does require a special tool (a small rod used during the replacement of the slide). There are three different barrel lengths available, 3.4 inches, 4 inches and 5 inches. There is also a special Target version which comes with a 5-inch match-quality barrel, a bridge-type scope/optics mount (the mount is above the slide, but does not touch it, being anchored at the bottom of the dust cover in front of the trigger guard), and a 3-slot compensator. The P-22 Target comes only with a polymer frame.

Twilight 2000 Notes: The P-22 does not exist in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

Notes: The P-38 was designed to replace the Luger in Nazi service (while the Luger was an accurate pistol with natural pointing qualities, it was also temperamental, intolerant of dirt, and expensive to produce). The P-38 is essentially an evolutionary development of the PP and PPK; after much experimentation, a pistol was designed which was able to fire the much more power 9mm Parabellum cartridge. (Walther also made P-38s chambered for 7.65mm Parabellum, but these are quite rare; only the 9mm version of the P-38 was ever built in quantity by the Nazis.) The Nazi government later also had Mauser and Spreewerke building the P-38, and several other companies in Germany and in conquered countries were producing parts for the P-38. The wartime P-38s were all-steel (even the grip was ribbed steel with no grip plates), though some built before World War 2 and early in the war had actual wooden or plastic grip plates of various types.

The P-38 and P-1 are virtually the same weapon, but the P-38 was built before and during World War 2 and the P-1 is of post-war manufacture. The P-1 is built with a lighter frame and uses a slightly shorter barrel. The P-1 was also chambered in .22 Long Rifle, .32 ACP, and 7.65mm Parabellum in addition to the standard 9mm Parabellum caliber. Other than that, the difference is mainly in the markings and finish of the weapons. The non-9mm versions were primarily designed for export to countries where civilian use of "military" rounds like the 9mm Parabellum was prohibited; the .22 Long Rifle version was also meant to serve as a training pistol. (A conversion kit for .22 Long Rifle was also made.) P-1s and P-38s are sufficiently differently that the parts should not be interchanged, even though it is possible to do so with most of their parts.

After making the P-1, Walther also tried some other iterations of the P-1, with varying degrees of success. The P-4 was essentially identical to the P-1, but had a barrel a half an inch shorter and a decocking lever on the frame in place of the slide-mounted decocker. A firing pin safety was also added, though the "chamber loaded" indicator was omitted. The P-38K went even further, with a barrel of only 2.8 inches, and with the front sight moved to the slide bridge. A subtype of the P-38K, the P-38SD, was also built in very small numbers; this version had a threaded barrel extension for the attachment of a suppressor.

In 1978, Walther introduced its last version of the P-1: the P-5. Though never used by military forces, it was picked up for use by several police departments in the US, Western Europe, Africa, and Central America. Again, the 9mm Parabellum version is the most common, though it is available in two other calibers. The P-5 uses a light alloy frame and is partially dehorned to allow for smoother draws. A total of four safeties are employed, two manual and two passive. A P-5 Compact version was also produced; this version sports a 3.1-inch barrel, almost a full half an inch shorter than the standard P-5’s 3.54-inch barrel. A target version of the P-5, the P-5 Long, also was built; this version has a 5.25-inch match-quality barrel with the front sight near the muzzle, and an adjustable rear sight. The P-5 Compact and P-5 Long did not appear until 1987. It is not certain when P-1/P-4/P-5 production stopped; some put it as late as 1999.

However, this was not the end of the P-38/P-1 story, for many ended up far and wide around the world, taken as war trophies by Allied servicemen. In addition, there was a lot of experimentation with the P-38 and P-1 designs; some were even modified to take different cartridges, the .38 Super and the .45 ACP being the most common. Stoeger also built the P-38 for a while in the mid to late 1930s in the US; though their catalogs offer them in 7.65mm Parabellum, .38 Super, and .45 ACP, it appears that Stoeger actually only built 9mm Parabellum versions, for whatever reason. (I have decided to include .38 Super and .45 ACP versions below, just for the heck of it.)

In addition, there are a lot of refurbished P-38s in the world; most come from Russia and Ukraine. Many are marked as such, but many are shamelessly marked as originals. These refurbished P-38s may be blued, nickel-plated, chromed, engraved, etc., but the Nazi’s never made any P-38s finished in anything but blue.

Twilight 2000 Notes: As the P-38 was a common war trophy from World War 2, they were often pressed into use by veterans of that war or their descendants.

Notes: This weapon was different from previous Walther designs, in that it (and the later P-99) uses a Colt/Browning method of breech locking rather the complicated design used in previous Walther pistols. The previous method, while much safer in operation or for fumble-fingered pistol shooters, was also mechanically complex, led to more failures when not maintained properly, made disassembly and reassembly difficult, used more parts, and was more difficult to manufacture. The safety on the P-88 is ambidextrous, as is the magazine catch; there is also a pin safety which means that P-88 will not fire unless the trigger is pulled. Despite being a good design, the P-88 suffered from a worldwide glut of military and civilian pistols and was primarily bought by civilians.

The P-88 Compact is, as the name indicates, a shortened version of the P-88. The PC-Police is a variant of the P-88 that has an ambidextrous decocker; it is identical to the P-88 for game purposes. The P-88 Competition comes in three versions: one that is more-or-less standard, but has more precise sights and a better-quality (but slightly shorter) barrel; the P-88 Competition-5, with a longer 5-inch barrel; and the P-88 Competition Compensator, with a 5-inch barrel and a muzzle brake. The P-5 Champion has micrometer adjustable sights and a 4, 5, or 6-inch barrel; at the front of the barrel is a locking block that acts as a counterweight.

Twilight 2000 Notes: In the Twilight 2000 World, this glut did not occur as severely; military, civilian, police, and government personnel all wanted to get their hands on as many weapons as possible.