PISTOL: Walther PP serial number question

[Hans Chr. Endrerud]

I have been offered a Walther PP in .32 ACP (7.65 mm), but the current
owner does not know when the pistol was made. The serial number is
162043 P, and I wonder if anybody know the year of manufacture for this
pistol. As the quality of WW2 items is said to be better than later
French and German made versions, I would like to know more about this
before a possible buy.

Are there any web sites dedicated to the PP / PPK models?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Hans Endrerud
P.O.Box 146
N-1432 Aas
Norway

itf...@itf.nlh.no
+47 900 94501

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[Everett]

Hans Chr. Endrerud wrote:
#
# I have been offered a Walther PP in .32 ACP (7.65 mm), but the current
# owner does not know when the pistol was made. The serial number is
# 162043 P, and I wonder if anybody know the year of manufacture for
# this pistol.
#
# Any help is appreciated.
#
# Thanks,
#
# Hans Endrerud

I bought a booklet called "Know Your Walther PP & PPK Pistols". It says
that the Model PP started with the serial number 750,000 in 1929. The
PPK serial numbers were numbered right in with the PP. None of the guns
pictured in the book as pre-war or wartime Walthers have serial numbers
over 1,000,000. Accurate records of production were lost during WWII.
It appears that you may have a French postwar model. They list the PP
32 cal as starting with a serial number of 10,001 and going to 300,001.
The only Walther websites I have seen are tie-ins with Secret Agent
007. Not much use for what you are looking for.

[ho...@phonet.com]

In article <741ssb$k...@xring.cs.umd.edu>,

"Hans Chr. Endrerud" <itf...@itf.nlh.no> wrote:
# I have been offered a Walther PP in .32 ACP (7.65 mm), but the current
# owner does not know when the pistol was made. The serial number is

# 162043 P, and I wonder if anybody know the year of manufacture for this
# pistol.

# Thanks,
#
# Hans Endrerud

Something I had not thought about until just now. There is a real quick and
real easy way to tell if a PP or PPK is prewar or postwar. Unfortunately, it
is not 100% accurate. Look at the magazine and magazine well. Prewar and
wartime magazines have flat sides. Postwar magazines have a vertical rib
running the full length of the magazine on one side (I think it is on the
right). Prewar magazines fit in postwar guns. However, postwar magazines do
not fit in prewar guns.

Here is the innacurate part. I have read that some gunsmiths have filed a
notch in the bottom of prewar guns to allow postwar magazines to be used. In
fact, Major Norte (sp?) recommended it in several magazine articles back in
the 1960's. I have also read that some of the very first postwar guns used
some prewar parts, including the prewar frames and magazines. There were
VERY few of them though.

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