Walther PPK/S .22cal pistol with original box and test target.

[drm3m]

I noticed a Walther PPK in .22 l.r. cal on EE with original box and test target –shown below.
The description suggests that these are rare and desirable. (Albeit a 12(6) category pistol in Canada with that ownership limitation.)

It got me thinking about a Walther PPK/S in .22 l.r. cal with original box and test target that my father bought back in Sept 1974 for $265 in an Ontario sporting goods store….as shown below. I still have the gun.

From what I understand the difference between the PPK and the PPK/S in .22 cal is indicated below.

The PPK/S was developed following the enactment of the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA68) in the United States, the pistol's largest market (Hogg 1979:164). One of the provisions of GCA68 banned the importation of pistols and revolvers not meeting certain requirements of length, weight, and other "sporting" features into the U.S. The PPK failed the "Import Points" test of the GCA68 by a single point. Walther addressed this situation by combining the PP's frame with the PPK's barrel and slide to create a pistol that weighed slightly more than the PPK. The additional ounce or two of weight of the PPK/S compared to the PPK was sufficient to provide the extra needed import points. In addition, because U.S. law allowed domestic production (as opposed to importation) of the PPK, manufacture began under license in the U.S. in 1978; this version was distributed by Interarms, based in Alexandria, Virginia. The version currently manufactured by Smith and Wesson has been improved by incorporating a longer grip tang, better protecting the shooter from "slide bite," i.e. the rearward-travelling slide's pinching the firing hand, which was a problem with the original design.
The PPK/S differs from the PPK as follows:
• overall height of 104 mm (4.1 in)
• weight—the PPK/S weighs 51 g (1.8 oz) more than the PPK
• the PPK/S magazine holds one additional round, in both calibers

As of 2007, the PPK/S and the PPK was offered in the following calibers: 32 ACP (with capacities of 8+1 for PPK/S and 7+1 for PPK); or 380 ACP (PPK/S: 7+1, PPK: 6+1).

Apparently the .22 l.r. is the rarest of the three calibers.

David

P.S.

Both the PPK and PPK/S pistols shown above were manufactured in Germany.
I believe the U.S manufactured/imported guns would have the 'Inter Arms' marking on the right slide.

Somehow these guys liked these pistols....perhaps not in .22 cal.

I understand that Herr Hitler also owned one of these pistols that was used in his final moments...not a .22 cal.

Probably more like this. Not mine. It was sold at RIA Auction Sept 2012 for $28,750 including holster.

Walther Mod. PPK Party Leader pistol with the highly desirable and very rare Political Leader Party grips. These PPKs were officially known as the "Honor Weapon of the Political Leaders", as these PPK pistols, with these special grips installed were presented, by the Fuhrer, to high ranking Nazi officers of the NSDAP for meritorious service to the Nazi Party.

The holster.

 

[highbeam]

Ever since I got my grubby little mitts on a Crosman PPK/S I've desired the real thing. Alas, I'm far too young and my only possible chance, my grand fathers bring back Luger, was sold in the 50's or 60's. Such a great feeling little pistol with great lines. I hope you enjoy yours for years to come, I'll try to not be too jealous.

 

[Max Owner]

I have a stainless Inter Arms one that gave me my 12(6) and another one that I bought used on here about a year ago. Both in .380.

There is a 32ACP in the EE right now that I am having bad thoughts about. Hope someone buys it so I don't have'ta worry about it.................

 

[drm3m]

Highbeam and Max Owner.....to add to this PPK stuff;

This is old stuff off the Internet.

Goering's PPK.

The gold-plated handgun handed over by Hermann Goering as he surrendered to allies resurfaces for sale at £30,000. Senior SS officer gave it to Lieutenant Jerome Shapiro as he fled from Germany in the final days of the Third Reich.

It was a key moment at the end of the Second World War.
Nazi monster Hermann Goering – fleeing for his life from his own side – handed his gold-plated pistol to an Allied soldier and surrendered.

Lieutenant Jerome Shapiro was allowed to keep the gun he received on a road in Austria in May 1945.
Sixty-seven years on, it is being put up for auction and is expected to fetch £30,000.
The gold-plated pistol Nazi Hermann Goering handed over to the allies when he surrendered at the end of the Second World War has been revealed in public for the first time.

Lt Shapiro, an American, apprehended Hitler’s henchman as he fled Germany in his bullet-proof Mercedes car with bags of luggage strapped to the roof.
After being held at gunpoint, the head of the Luftwaffe presented Lt Shapiro with the Walther PPK pistol along with a ceremonial dagger.

When Lt Shapiro died in the 1970s his widow gave the pistol to a friend of her late husband living near them in Delaware who sold it some 20 years later to a private collector.

An interesting photo of Goering with his S&W revolver.

David

 

[gunzik]

Show us a description in the EE that doesn't suggest the item for sale is rare and valuable!

That being said, the .22 PPK is probably my favorite pistol. They won't bite you even if you forget to touch your thumb to your middle finger when you hold the grip.

The PPK/S in .22 is apparently very desireable, all of mine were carried off by collectors. I'd expect a PM or two...

 

[wheaty]

Here is the original gun from the early James Bond movies.....There were 2 used. One with a can and the other without. Labeled A and B on the boxes.

 

[wheaty]

As an aside...The "Hitler gun" was owned by a collector in Sask. until his death and not sure where it is now. I have a picture here somewhere of my wife holding back in 1971-2..

 

[drm3m]

wheaty,

Here is an article regarding the "Hitler gun" and the reference to the collector in Sask.

The bloody mystery of Hitler’s golden gun.

More than 40 years ago, a Swift Current, Sask. man who dreamed of opening a Nazi memorabilia museum thought he had pulled off the ultimate coup in buying the gold-plated pistol that Adolf Hitler used to commit suicide.
By:Maurice Possley Special to the Star, Published on Fri Jul 01 2011.

http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2011/07/01/the_bloody_mystery_of_hitlers_golden_gun.html

 

[Max Owner]

Thanx for posting the infomation, guys.

Neat reading.

In the end, did Hitler use a Luger?

 

[Max Owner]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walther_PP

 

[drm3m]

From everything that I have read it was a PPK that Hitler used to end his life.....a gift from Walther...who knows?
Too many stories....and many theories.

Try this photo on for size?????

Definitely not a Luger in answer to your question.
Who knows for sure?

David

A comment found on the Internet for what it is worth?

"We know that Adolf Hitler was not a gun collector or weapons enthusiast as was the Reich’s hunting master, Herman Göring. Hitler despised the killing of animals—he was a vegetarian.

Hitler collected nothing, as he admitted in the collected works known as “Hitler’s Table Talk.” He was a plain and simple man who was not a materialist in any sense of the word. Unlike the flamboyant Hermann Göring, the Führer’s material possessions would fit into a traveling valise."

 

[drm3m]

The gold-plated PPK handed over by Hermann Goering as he surrendered to allies.

I suspect that this is the gold-plated A.H. marked, ivory gripped PPK that is referred to in the article below.

The bloody mystery of Hitler’s golden gun.
More than 40 years ago, a Swift Current, Sask. man who dreamed of opening a Nazi memorabilia museum thought he had pulled off the ultimate coup in buying the gold-plated pistol that Adolf Hitler used to commit suicide.
By:Maurice Possley Special to the Star, Published on Fri Jul 01 2011.

http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2011/07/01/the_bloody_mystery_of_hitlers_golden_gun.html



David

 

[wheaty]

Thanks for posting the news item and if I remember correctly Andy had the blood found under the grip typed and it did match Hitler's blood type. Nowadays with the advent of DNA typing, IF the Russians would release a DNA sample of Hitlers skull fragments they possess, it would answer the question once and for all. I don't know where the gun is now but as I said, do have a picture of my wife holding it at Andy's house...a LONG time ago.

 

[drm3m]

This pistol is believed to be a shooting prize by Heinrich Himmler, Reich Fuhrer of the SS. The upper left side of the slide has been deep relief engraved inside a double banner; "Das Reich Fuhrer SS/Dem Besten Schutzen der SS" with "H. Himmler" behind that. This loosely translates to "From the Reich Fuhrer SS to the Best Shot of the SS". This pistol was apparently intended as a shooting prize at a pistol or rifle shooting event held by the SS.
Sold on RIA Dec 2010 Price-$17,250

Himmler on the left.

SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler was head of the entire Nazi police force including SD and the Gestapo, he was Minister of the Interior and commander of the Waffen SS and the Home Army. One of Hitler's most sinister henchmen, he was also in charge of the death camps in the East. The account of Himmler's life and his impact on the rise and fall of the Nazi state make a gripping and horrifying story.

Although Adolf Hitler held the ultimate responsibility for what became the Holocaust, it was Heinrich Himmler who essentially laid the plans and devised the schemes that led to the killings of six million Jews.

Heinrich Himmler was born October 7, 1900, as the son of a secondary school instructor and strict Roman Catholic. By the end of World War I, Himmler had completed secondary school instruction and went on to receive a diploma in agriculture from the Munich Technical High School in 1922.

Himmler worked as a salesman for a firm of fertilizer manufacturers before joining a paramilitary organization in 1923. In 1925 he joined the Nazi party, 1927 he worked as a Poultry farmer but his future would be imbued following his appointment in January 1929 as leader of the SS, an elite guard of Hitler.

Himmler quickly moved up the ranks, and once Hitler became Chancellor in 1933 Himmler became the head of the Munich police. From this position he organized the first concentration camp at Dachau and began to organize the Nazi political police throughout Germany.

In April of 1934 he was named assistant chief of the Prussian Gestapo, the secret police, and in June of 1934, Himmler successfully crushed the paramilitary SA, headed by Ernst Röhm, making the SS the dominant organization in Germany.

Two years later, a power-thirsting Himmler got full control of the SS, and became SS Reichsführer.

From a number of letters and speeches of Himmler it becomes clear, that he referred to the annihilation of the Jews in Europe - the Holocaust - as a task which he had to carry out on the behalf of the highest authority in the Third Reich - Adolf Hitler.

In 1941, Himmler summoned Rudolf Hoess, SS Commandant of the largest killing center ever created, the death camp Auschwitz. He told him that "the Führer had given the order for a Final Solution of the Jewish Question" and that "we, the SS, must carry out that order".


In 1943, Himmler became Interior Minister, and in July of 1944, he attained the rank of chief of the army's home organization - now second only to Adolf Hitler.

But Himmler's empire was already crumbling from within and under attack from without. Weakened on all fronts, he was attacked after 1944 by Martin Bormann, who tried to revitalize the party organization as a rival of the SS. Bormann emerged victorious in April 1945, when Hitler ordered Himmler's arrest because he had tried to propose peace to the Allies.

The chief of the SS sought to win asylum for himself and 200 leading Nazis in the final days of World War II by offering cash and the freedom of 3,500 Jews, according to British intelligence documents released last year.

According to the documents, details of which have been held in the secret files of Britain's MI5 intelligence agency, the concentration camp inmates were to be sent to Switzerland in two trainloads. The offer was made by Himmler and orchestrated by his intelligence chief, Walter Schellenberg.

But the arrangement was aborted after the first trainload of 1,700 left Germany - Hitler ordered the plan halted immediately.

Heinrich Himmler fled Berlin after the German surrender in the disguise of a discharged Gestapo agent with moustache shaved and wearing an eye patch.

After being captured by the Allies, Himmler committed suicide by biting a vial of cyanide that he had hidden in his mouth. The doctors attempted to remove the poison from his stomach by causing him to vomit, but with no success. After a 12-minute long death throes, he died.

Three days later, the British buried anonymously his remains somewhere in a forest near Lüneburg.

David