The Model 8 is a blowback pistol with a concealed hammer and has several design features that were innovative for Walther, including fewer parts and an easier disassembly.

Proof marks indicating the place and date of manufacture appear above the trigger in some variants.

A rare variant was manufactured with an aluminum alloy frame[1]: 49  and was considerably lighter at 280 grams (9 ounces).

Compact, easy to clean, and attractive, the gun was often carried during the Second World War as a back-up pistol by staff officers, members of the SS, and German air force and tank crews, many of whom needed small weapons for use in tight spaces.

A third variant Model 8 engraved with Joseph Goebbels' name appeared for sale on the GunsAmerica site in 2011.

[7] Fritz Walther (eldest son of Carl Walther) filed six patents in 1919 and 1920 for the Model 8, covering the single axis-pin for the safety and the hammer, the improved spring-supported trigger guard of the third variant which served as a disassembly latch, the attaching of grips using the medallions, and the separated breech block of the first variant.

The third had an exposed extractor, but to make manufacturing less complicated, the locking lug button was removed.

The breech block is integrated into the slide, with a spring and plunger in a drilled recess to retain the external extractor.

After 1927, the Walther banner was stamped on the grips and on the bottom of the magazines, which had a U-shaped flat follower, closed at the front.