Very rare 9mm Walther
 

Greetings all

I seek info about rare and obscure WW1 guns.
In this case I`d like to ask you about Walther Modell 6.This is IMO the least known of all Walther pistols.It`s also the first Walther chambered for the 9mmX19 Parabellum cartridge.
The Modell 6 was produced in years 1915-1917
for the always handguns-hungry German army.
As to construction,it`s a single action semi-auto pistol with concealed hammer,frame mounted safety and 8-round magazine released by a heel type catch Simply put,the Modell 6 is a Modell 4(.32 ACP)on steroids. Compared to the Luger it is pretty simple gun IMO and I often wonder why didn`t it find more use,especially that the Modell 6 was produced in wartime,good time for simple and quick to make weapons.
Was there something wrong with the design?
Granted,there`s not many 9mm blowbacks but OTOH I`ve never heard about ASTRA 600s,VKT 44s or COLT Pocket Nine falling apart.Anyway,can you tell me how did the Modell 6 cope with WW1 battlefield conditions and what was general users` opinion of it?

Regards

Darth, I've never owned one of these rare M6 Walthers, but if it borrowed it's design from the M4, probably the hammer broke off at the retaining pin, if the trigger was pulled with the slide removed. Not a very rugged design particularly for a 9MMP. I also doubt that there was any demand for it in infation plagued post WW1 Germany. TH

The rare and obscure 9mm's from WWI pop up every now and again. I've also not seen but maybe 2 or 3 Modell 6's in 20 years, and also never owned one. How about a another rarity for fodder:

http://www.gunbroker.com/auction/Vie...?Item=25778702

bit high...

Current Bid $0.00 Reserve NOT Met Started at $32,500.00
BuyNow! Price was $38,500.00

Ah, come on Ed. You only live once! Everyone should own at least one gun that costs more than a house in a moderately priced neighborhood in... say,... Clarience, Louisiana.

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...131957345&rd=1

"Wehrmacht. Beschreibung Pistole Walter Model: IV, V, VI & VII mit 32 Seiten vor 1945 in einem Heft A5. Kein Orginal!! Neufertigung. Zeichnungen & Abbildungen prima. Versandkosten in Deutschland 2 Euro. R�¼ckgaberecht gegen Kaufpreiszahlung innerhalb von 10 Tage m�¶glich."

Army. Description of the Walther Pistol Models 4,5,6,&7 with 32 pages from 1945 in a manual. Not an original! New production. Excellent illustrations and pictures. Cost to mail in Germany 2 euros. Return for purchase price permitted within ten days.

rk

Thanks for the replies and the links.
Wow!I didn`t think the Modell 6 was THAT rare! :o

"...probably the hammer broke off at the retaining
pin,if the trigger was pulled with the slide
removed."

Hmmm..I`m not a gunsmith but I`m inclined to say
that pulling the trigger with the slide removed
would be very harmful to any semi auto pistol
having a hammer.That brings some memories btw.
I used to own a Beretta 92FS.Once when I was cleaning it something bad tempted me.I took the
frame assembly and....pulled the trigger.When the
hammer slammed down I felt some odd vibrations in
my hand and I could swear I heard the gun shouts
"OUCH!!" Fortunately nothing broke but that was the first and the last time I did dumb experiments
with any gun.
I have a photo of fieldstripped Walther Modell 4
at hand as I type this,and I must admit that its
swan neck-like hammer doesn`t look very strong
indeed.In your opinion would it be the first part
to break if the design is scaled up to 9mm
Parabellum chambering?

One more interesting thing about the Modell 6.
It has the ejection port and extractor on the
proper side of the slide. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

Darth, As a former left-hand shooter, I can appreciate the ejection port on the left. Fortunately for us, the P38 also ejects to the left, since the ejector is on the right hand side. TH

Picture and some info could be found at http://www.hoba.cz/index.php?c=clane...nd=view&id=196
Franz

Thanks Franz

Looks interesting
:)
I`ll borrow a Czech dictionary from a friend
(I hope he still has it)and try to translate
that part of the text which seems to concern
durability of the M6.
If I make it I`ll post the translation here.

I`m back with the translation

Not exactly the tech info I`m looking for
but still something new to learn.

"As you may remember I`ve written an article
about Walther pocket pistols for Strelecka Revue
magazine.There were several photos in the article
Two of those photos show Walther Model 6,a gun
produced in really small quantity.
As a reminder let`s have it said that the
internal design of the Walther Model 6 is
patterned after earlier Walther models 3 and 4,
the only differences being dimensions and the
cartridge the pistol is chambered for.The Model 6
is essentially Walther`s reply to military
authorities` demands for more semi auto pistols
firing 9mm Luger cartridge.In default of such
weapons during WW1,Walther built a gun which was
supposed to be an adequate partner of the
Pistole 08.However,a blowback pistol chambered
for the 9mm Luger failed to raise interest of the
army and was rejected.
It turned out that just scaling up the dimensions
and fitting a stronger recoil spring was not
the way to satisfying results.Total production of
the Model 6 was one thousand,and because they are
so seldom seen nowadays I`d like to present these
two photos here on my website."

Some words from the original Czech text couldn`t
be found in the pocket dictionary I have used,
therefore I had to make one or two guesses.

Interesting site btw. Have you seen that folding
stock for the Luger? Really ingenious and looks
good too.IMO it would look even better attached
to an Artillery Luger,wouldn`t it? <img border="0" alt="[cherrsagai]" title="" src="graemlins/drink.gif" />
:D <img border="0" alt="[jumper]" title="" src="graemlins/jumper.gif" />

Regards