9mmP lead 125 grain load for Walther P1?

[The Virginian]

I would like to shoot my Walther P1s with lead handloads and prevent the aluminum frame from cracking so I want to know if you all have any pet loads for this gun using 110-125 grain lead bullets?

[NuJudge]

Worry a lot more about the steel slide cracking on your P1, than the aluminum frame. I used to hang out at Interarms, which imported the P1/P38 from the 1950's to the early 90's, and I saw lots of cracked slides, but no cracked frames. Parts for the P1 are cheap now, so buy a spare slide. If you shoot a lot of rounds, in 25 years or so, you may see a crack form on one side of the the slide, starting about at the rear of the locking block. I got my first P38 in 1968, and it's slide finally cracked about 1990.

The Walthers are also known for having large groove diameters, about .358" on mine, so try using a .38 Special bullet. Make sure it chambers freely before you load a lot of them. I am using .359" Lee 358-125-RF bullets in WW brass, with WW SP primers with 3.7gr up to 4.3gr WW231 powder. Best results for me are with 3.7gr.

If I use a .356" Lead bullet I get a lot of Leading.

Beretta also uses larger than usual groove diameters, apparently it is something they do to control pressures with hot ammo.

[Andyd]

Is your gun one of the newer models with the re-enfocements? Hex bolt through the frame and stouter slide?

Those can take a lot of shooting. The German military used pretty stout ammo, the same as for the UZI and the problems with cracked frames, more than cracked slides, came up when the West German police started to practice a lot more shooting during the threat of the Baader-Meinhoff terrorists.

If you shoot lead bullets it is anyway adviseable to keep the velocities down. So, you should not run into problems while getting good accuracy.

I served in the German army back in the 1970s and shot a lot, a lot of different P1s and personally never witnessed a cracked frame or slide but know that it happened frequently.

[theperfessor]

No experience with the gun mentioned, buy I too like the Lee 358-125RF sized to .358 in my HiPower. I use 6.5 to 7.0gr Blue Dot. Doesn't seem all that hot to me.

[Artful]

I'm using either Red Dot or VV N320 to load my 9's either 125 or 147's.

[Freischütz]

In my P.08 and P.38 6.0 gr of HS-6 and the NEI truncated bullet is a reliable load. The bullets are sized .357", and overall length is 29 mm.