Walther P88

[Bobby Ricigliano]

Greetings Shootists,

In my travels, I saw a couple of pistols for sale at a shop that were unfamiliar to me. I recognized the Walther Banner Logo on the box since I have a P1 and a couple P38's.

So it turned out that both pistols were Walther P88's. Both appeared to be unfired, unissued, and in perfect condition with just the faintest of handling marks. Both were in what appeared to be the original factory cardboard box with two magazines and cleaning brush.

Initial impressions indicated that these were quality pistols, and quite attractive. As a lefty, the 100% ambi controls were a big plus to me. When you have been handling nothing but polymer pistols for a while, the heft of an all metal gun is quite pleasing.

I was told these were the last two on hand, so I decided to buy whichever one was in nicer shape. At length, I couldn't see any difference between the two in condition, so I bought both of them. Not cheap pistols by any means, but $800 each seemed like a good deal. Perhaps one will be a shooter and the other a safe queen.

I will post up photos when I get them out of jail, because "THIS THREAD IS WORTHLESS WITHOUT PICS." Maybe even a range report if this ammo drought gets sorted out.

Thanks,
BR

[Donkeypunch0420]

You stole those Bobby! Nice scores! Sold mine a few years back. Still miss it.

[mtenenhaus]

wow, great buy

[Bobby Ricigliano]

Thanks gents. It felt like a good pickup. Those time machine finds are great.

[nitroxdiver]

[vf111]

Wow, smoking pick-up. The P88's were never cheap and pretty hard to find. I seriously wanted one in the 90's but they were crazy expensive ($1,000 in 1996 is different than $1,000 today)

[Pupulepeter]

I remember passing up $700 p7s and $500 WWII surplus 1911s. You done good!

[dfletcher]

Greetings Shootists,

In my travels, I saw a couple of pistols for sale at a shop that were unfamiliar to me. I recognized the Walther Banner Logo on the box since I have a P1 and a couple P38's.

So it turned out that both pistols were Walther P88's. Both appeared to be unfired, unissued, and in perfect condition with just the faintest of handling marks. Both were in what appeared to be the original factory cardboard box with two magazines and cleaning brush.

Initial impressions indicated that these were quality pistols, and quite attractive. As a lefty, the 100% ambi controls were a big plus to me. When you have been handling nothing but polymer pistols for a while, the heft of an all metal gun is quite pleasing.

I was told these were the last two on hand, so I decided to buy whichever one was in nicer shape. At length, I couldn't see any difference between the two in condition, so I bought both of them. Not cheap pistols by any means, but $800 each seemed like a good deal. Perhaps one will be a shooter and the other a safe queen.

I will post up photos when I get them out of jail, because "THIS THREAD IS WORTHLESS WITHOUT PICS." Maybe even a range report if this ammo drought gets sorted out.

Thanks,
BR

Great price and the"about $1,200.00" is about right for what they typically run.
I presume you got the P88 rather than the P88 Compact. Either is hard to find in CA but the P88 full sized is the scarcer and better value. The slide release that also functions as a decocker is quite the innovation.

Magazines are a bit difficult to find and not cheap. IIRC ProMag (sorry ) makes them, S&W 59s can be made to fit by slicing in a new mag release.

[SkyHawk]

Nice score for sure and good call grabbing both. I have been looking for one of these too....

[aklon]

After reading this thread (so far), I'm glad to say I've had a Walther P88 Compact for lo these past twenty-two years. My cost for this pistol, NIB, was $zero - that's right: nothing. I'd done some political work for a man who had a large retail / wholesale organization selling firearms here in CA and this is how he thanked me. He also threw in a case of PMC 124 grain FMJ.

I took this picture of it and its' grandfather.

[Romeo_alpha01]

Oh man what a score! Congrats!

[Dimitri A.]

You literally stole those at that price. One of the finest handguns made. That's pretty much the price they were going for new back in the late 80's early 90's. They weren't made very long, probably about 10 years. The P88 was developed by Walther back in the 80's for entry in the XM9 pistol trials for a replacement candidate for the 1911. Rather than let all that R&D go to waste when they didn't win the contract, they produced it for LE and civilian sales. It, along with the P5 and P7 (Another gun that was part of the XM9 trials) are among my "grail" guns. Like many great guns, being too expensive to produce is the main factor why they finally ceased production.

[Bobby Ricigliano]

I really appreciate the feedback from everyone. It did seem like quite a good deal. That was the asking price, no haggling. Google Fu doesn't show much in the way of accessories or parts, but I did see someone selling the factory magazines for $200 each and the factory wood grips for about the same price. Seller's market I suppose.

[Bobby Ricigliano]

The compact version looks to be dimensionally the same size as the F/S and identical other than the decocking lever.

[Bobby Ricigliano]

It seems that the civilian market benefitted from the Army handgun trials. I have a pair of Star 30M pistols that I believe were also part of that trial. Nice guns, but heavy and clunky next to most of the other candidates.