LAST EDITED ON Jan-06-20 AT 04:56 AM (EST)
 
And spent a bit of time with a friend, shooting his gun at the local police/homeguard shooting range. Much fun was had and a pleasant time was spent.

Ok, so, why am I posting that here? Well, because of this: (big image so no direct link)

http://seanchaithe.net/images/GunSlide.jpg?x

For those not too well acquainted with German handguns, that's the Walther PP, or Polizeipistol, and the precursor to the PPK, the famous James Bond gun. (the PPK is the Polizeipistol Kriminal, or detectives version). Ok, that's cool, right? Yeah, it is, but there's a bit more to it than that.

First, is the chambering. As you can see in the image, the gun is chambered for .22. Now, you could get the gun(obviously) in .22, but the VAST, and I do mean vast, number of guns were made for .32ACP/7.65. Finding one in .22 is not impossible, but they're rather rare.

Secondly, is the manufacturing place. As can be seen, the slide reads "Zella-Mehlis (Thur)". And that's where Carl Walther founded his shop. Zella-Mehlis, in Thüringen, way back in antiquity. And then came World War 2, and Walther relocated to Neuengamme, and the guns weren't marked Zella-Mehlis any longer. After the war, Thüringen was in the Soviet sector (This led to Fritz Walther, son of Carl, having to start over with basically a collections of esigns and patents).

What this means is that the gun we went out to shoot today is not only chambered for a, for the model, rare caliber but it's also on the order of 80 years old at least. The serial number, which I didn't get a picture of because serial number, was(I think) 5 figures long, so it's probably not much less than that, but it's still pre-WW2 from the markings.

I had a fun time, AND also quite and interesting one, and thought there might be others who would find it interesting too.
...!
Stoke Mandeville, Esq & The Victorian Ballsmiths
"Nobody Want Verdigris-Covered Balls!"

Hey, neat. .22-caliber PPs are reasonably easy to find here in the United States, but for the most part they were made here, and much more recently (and they're usually that weird hybrid PPK/S version Walther developed when the PPK wouldn't meet import regulations any more, rather than the PP proper).

Speaking of which, ever see a Walther TPH? They're kind of a weird micro-PP thing, also in .22 rimfire. The TPH is like someone looked at a PPK and said, "No, no, this won't do at all. It's much too cumbersome." :)

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

>Hey, neat. .22-caliber PPs are reasonably easy to find here in the
>United States, but for the most part they were made here, and much
>more recently (and they're usually that weird hybrid PPK/S version
>Walther developed when the PPK wouldn't meet import regulations any
>more, rather than the PP proper).

Yeah, it is rather cool. Friend who got it is the same guy I mentioned briefly under the "Worst Gun Ever" post, towards the end. He got rid of the GSG 1911 .22 that wouldn't fire the Italian crap-ammo, and got the PP instead. Which I heartily approve of, for all sorts of different reasons.

>Speaking of which, ever see a Walther TPH? They're kind of a weird
>micro-PP thing, also in .22 rimfire. The TPH is like someone looked
>at a PPK and said, "No, no, this won't do at all. It's much
>too cumbersome." :)

Well, I've seen in in the sense that I knew it existed, and in pictures. I've never actually seen in in reality, though. Still, it seems like a fun gun as such. On the other hand, the PP isn't all that big but it was really nice to shoot even one-handed(dueling style, with one hand behind the back :) But I wonder if the TPH would bee to small even with a .22, or if it would jump all over the place. .22 is about as mild a recoil as I'm likely to run into, but 11.5 ounces unloaded? The PP I could just pop 10 rounds as fast as I could pull the trigger and get them in the center.

...!
Stoke Mandeville, Esq & The Victorian Ballsmiths
"Nobody Want Verdigris-Covered Balls!"

LAST EDITED ON Jan-09-20 AT 05:53 PM (EST)
 
Yeah, so...in relation to Bond, who once carried the PPK, I went and looked at the Walther P99, once used by Brosnan as a possible replacement. That, of course, didn't happen for long, Craig got the PPK back in QUantum of Solace, but that's another story.

And so, I found out that there is a Walther P99 "Anti Stress".

I....don't think they mean the stress-relief of shooting the hell out of a target, but that WAS the first thought in my mind.

...!
Stoke Mandeville, Esq & The Victorian Ballsmiths
"Nobody Want Verdigris-Covered Balls!"