Call me Bond… James Bond.
Yeah, I inherited an old French-made, German-proofed PP over the break. The Walther history is quite fascinating. This is my first real experience (well, I shoot my buddies P22 and P99 from time to time, but that’s not the same animal, is it?).
Anywho, I’m planning on a trip to the range this weekend to sight in the AR (see Cassius’ thread) and I guess put a few through the pipe of this fine-looking .32 ACP.
I suppose there will be a forthcoming review, too.
Magnificent tooling.
Thanks for the closeups…if anything is a testament to the quality of engineering that went into that, it’s that it looks like it could have come off the assembly line this morning.
I sometimes used to carry a PPK as my personal protection weapon in Northern Ireland.
Based on my limited knowledge, this thing is vintage 1958-59. To look at it, it’s well used, but also well loved. A little too well loved, perhaps, or maybe just “oiled for storage.” It needs a good wipe-down, but my other 1950’s weapon is a Winchester .22LR model 710 I think? I’ve spent tens of hours restoring that, and it still has a shit-ton of rust spots.
It came with the original manual in German - I suppose I should get that online…
More on the PP.
Cons:
Starts to foul after 30 rounds or so, and after about 50 rounds it’s FTF on every other round. Not really a factor in SD scenarios, but notable.
The sights suck. I could get mostly COM at 10 yards, but couldn’t keep a nice group past about 10 feet. For the record, I’m no marksman. I imagine the PPK variant is even worse.
Nobody shoots .32, so the ammo is relatively expensive.
The gun is DA/SA. That’s not a con in and of itself. The first pull sucks ass. I mean, it’s got like a 20 pound pull - perhaps more.
Cocked and locked is not possible. The fire/safe selector performs a decock when moving to safe.
It’s heavy, because all steel construction. Relatively uncomfortable by today’s concealment standards.
Pros:
It’s heavy, because all steel construction. This thing will probably work forever, with proper upkeep.
Size matters; PP (and especially the PPK variant) have a history of being popular concealment weapons.
Historical value. I love owning a weapon that has a history. Aside from the Bond-iness geek factor, mine was made in 1958, and was under issue with a police force in Austria (as evidenced by markings stamped in various places). I’m sure this gun would have stories to tell, if it could talk. Secondarily, the whole pre-war/post-war Walther thing is a very interesting story, which bears recollection whether you own a pre- or post-war piece.
Bottom line: take it if you can get it, but I wouldn’t seek one out unless I was a collector. As per Ignatius Piazza (anyone else think his name is straight out of an old Assassin’s Creed game?), “any gun will do if you will do.” Just don’t go out of your way for this one.
Very cool. Based on what I can see in the pictures, I believe the bluing to be original. The lettering is still deep and the lines are still nice and sharp. If it has ever been reblued, they did a nice job on the polishing. I think it’s original, though.
Forgot to mention, the ancient plastic grips (bakelite, anyone?) are held on by a single screw. They tend to work themselves loose with consecutive use. This “con” is borderline functional and aesthetic. Loc-tite ftw?
I also own a French made Walther PP in 32 acp. I was the my first first pistol so I would never sell it, but I would also never carry it.
The biggest problem you might have is that they do not like the lighter 60 grain bullets. These guns were built to run with 70-73 grain FMJ rounds. Most American ammo is 60 grains and pressure is kept low due to the large variety, and quality, of surplus pistols.
If you have problems with the pistol feeding try loading seven rounds instead of eight. That seems to help somewhat. Or you can seek out heavier European ammo.
On the plus side, they are well build and very accurate.
Pretty cool. I love history!
Hard to believe that for Bond it was considered a firepower upgrade. At the same time I’m always a little sad to see a Bond movie today where he isn’t running the PPK.
Wonderful photos. Thank you!