Ive been there, and the factory floor is cleaner and more orderly than some of the radio stations I worked at.The PP was brought to the market by Walther in 1929, the end days of the Weimar Republic.It was, at heart, just a blowback.32 ACP pistol.
Meant for police use, the European attitude towards pistol calibers was Thats plenty, no need to make a fuss over this and so the lowly.32 was deemed more than sufficient in many European countries. The Germans were not outliers in this, across the European continent, those in charge couldnt agree on much, but one thing they all agreed on was;.32 is enough. In the modern part of the PP, it is what we now call a traditional double action pistol. That is, you fired the first shot double action, and then the slide cocked the hammer for each shot afterwards. You could, if you wished, thumb-cock the hammer for the first shot. And finally, there was a loaded chamber indicator on the back of the slide. The only thing missing was a magazine safety, and I suspect that would have been included if the designers had figured a way to do it. Yes, full-sized pistols did it, but in 1929, not all pocket, or compact, pistols had that feature. I guess a full-sized PP was just too big for German detectives, and they had to have something smaller. The PP has a full frame, and the grips are simply a pair of plastic slabs, one on each side of the frame. The PPK dispensed with the frames backstrap, and the grips are wrap-around, covering the hammer spring and associated parts. Time marched on, as it will, and when Germany started the war, they found they needed firearms, and a lot of them. Every German firearms maker upped production, and upped it again and again. The PP and PPK were produced in moderate numbers, some 200,000 of the PP, and 150,000 of the PPK. The low (compared to some other firearms produced) production numbers were due to both the involved manufacture, and the high desirability. ![]() For example, the P38 production ran over 1.2 million pistols, but they were used at the fronts, and the high polish and hand work a PP or PPK received was just not in the manufacturing schedule. The Walther was a high-status item during the war, and used in military service. The Waffenampt, the inspection stamp, WaA359, can be seen on this wartime PP. The millions of P38 and P08 pistols produced were to be found at higher prices at gun shows, and with collectors, back when I was first working gun shops, than the rarer PP or PPK. At least, the.32s.) Go figure. The passage of the Gun Control Act of 1968 caused another new model of the Walther line to be produced: the PPKS. The importability of firearms was determined by a points system, adding up the points earned from size, weight, and features. The PPK was too small, falling one point short of the minimum required. So, Walther assembled the slide and barrel of the PPK onto the frame of the PP, and called it the PPKS, making it importable. Mostly Yes, the slide, the bare slide, is being made at the Walther plant in Ulm, Germany.
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