Recently I blundered into the deal of a lifetime. The same lady that sold me the M14 in another thread in the rifle room tells Mrs gear that she wants all her son’s firearms gone from her life. When I left, it was with a bear empty wallet; I ended up adding a shotty, 4 pistols, and one revolver.

Three of the pistols are pretty significant. As time permits, I’ll post about all three, but here is the most stunning of the bunch.

Walther PPK 7.65mm, or .32 acp. Serial number places the date of manufacture around 1939-1940. Condition is incredible to me for a war time gun near 85 years old, Given the timing on when it was made, you might know what that likely means.







Frame, barrel, and slide numbers match, and all three are stamped with Nazi proofs. The single magazine and holster are not serialized.





The grips have a few cracks, but for a 85 or so year old pistol, not bad.





I wasn’t looking for what I ended up getting, but I’m glad I lucked into it. More to come.

The eagle over N = Nitro powder proofed.

Its civilian 100%.

I want one of these so bad.

I guess I need to look closer at the stamps lol.

Looks like a wonderful PPK you have there Gear!

That PPK is a beauty!

Long ago in a trade deal, I acquired a Smith & Wesson manufactured stainless steel Walther PPK/s in .380ACP. Snappy little devil! It would make you bleed, covered in sharp edges & corners.
I recall having it a few weeks and the S & W recall for all the fire control parts & pieces was issued. I checked my serial number, and it was in the affected group of serial numbers.
Off it went for half a year.
When it returned, the trigger pull weight for DA and SA was even heavier than the original configuration.
I lost interest in it and traded it away.

The only Walther I own now is a W. German manufactured 1970 vintage Walther PP chambered in .22LR. That one is a keeper!

IMG_20221207_160412376_HDR by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

Mine was made about the same time as yours, but is nowhere near as nice. According to a PPK expert I knew when I bought it (late 1970's) it was most-likely a battlefield pickup with what he called "blood rust" from laying under a dead German for a while (yikes!).

If you use it much or carry it as I did, the grips will develop vertical cracks where the screws pass through. Doesn't hurt shootability, but as nice as yours is, I'd avoid that if at all possible.

That's a really nice fine!

Nice find to add to a collection.

After a little more research, it appears that this pistol might be an even more rare gem than I originally thought. The warden eagle over 359 is stamped on the pistol.



This appears to mean this pistol was a very early variant and was accepted after purchase by the military, according to this table. In other words, while a civilian production gun as evidenced by the letter K at the end of the serial #, the stamp indicates it was purchased by the German military. In fact, many such marked guns ended up in the hands of Luftwaffe personnel. A little confusing but I think I’m muddling my way through it.



Apparently, this might be from a very small run of about 3500 pistols before it became standard to proof all military guns with the Nazi style proof. This is getting more interesting by the minute.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: gearhounds,