Ya gotta get one!

[Ron Smith]

If you haven't got one already, start looking.

I have had this little Walther .22 cal. PP for about 5 years. Saturday was the first time I had ever run more than 1 round through it.

Sadly the one round I mention was used to dispatch a serverly injured dog. I couldn't pick it up until now without seeing that dog. So it languished in the safe for all this time.

It is more fun than I can discribe. It is very accurate and sucked up about 125 rounds of every kind of .22 ammo I could dig out of my ammo stash without a hiccup.

It's also kind of unique, in that it doesn't have any inspection marks. It is marked "Hamburg" on one side and "Vandrey" on the opposite side. Dieter Marshall has never seen one without inspectors marks. It was manufactured in the late 40's. I have forgotten what the year was.













Like I said, if you want to have a nice, fun .22 shooter. Look for one of these while they are still somewhat affordable.

Ron

[Hugh]

Ron,

You are right! I have a early 60's era 22 PPK that has a S&W adjustable rear sight installed on it. They are as much fun as Colt Woodsman's to shoot!

[the gunman]

Ron I have an earler one of these for about 25 years never shot it . Will sure now give it a try.

[Lugerdoc]

Ron, Your post WW2 (made in ULM) .22 PP has the postwar E/N proofing on the left side of the slide and importer/exported marking on the frame. TH

[Ron Smith]

Tom,

My understanding is that "Vandrey" is the name of the dealer in Germany and "Hamburg" is their location. It is not marked with the usual "Germany" stamp.

Tac,

My mistake. As I said ,I couldn't remember what year it was made. It seems I only missed it by 10 years or so...

This is Dieter's response from the P.38 / PP forum. And photo of the chamber.

Hello Ron,
I can only guess by interpolation that your PP was made in 1958/59.
Since 1952 Walthers had the Eagle/N proof mark plus the Ulm "antlers" though. The last two digits of the proof year were first used in 1961. The letter year code was introduced in 1977 (starting with "HH").
Dieter H. Marschall.

[John Sabato]

Ron, I owned and carried one of these in my pants pockets when stationed for a year in east Africa back in 1972. It was considered Ethiopia then, but that area (Asmara) is now rightly considered Eritrea...

Anyway... I loved that gun, but when it came time to come home, the ATF said that to import it, it would have to have a target trigger, target grips and adjustable target sights... those were the regulations back then... and if I had to do that to that neat little Walther, I would rather it stay where it could be enjoyed as is... So I sold it before I came back stateside.

I now own a PPK/S nickle finish in .22 caliber that takes it's place on those hot days when a carry gun would be too visible to the nervous folks... fits easily in a back pocket of a pair of jeans. With .22 Stingers, it is more than just a small comfort...

Congrats on yours... it looks like a nice one.

[waltherguy]

Ron.. Fantastic PP.22! The .22's are becoming quite collectable! Great peice..

[Ron Wood]

I had one of those once upon a time. Loved it. Darned near shot myself in the knee with it...but that is another story. It was an early one, but in a weak moment I traded it straight across for a pretty nice 1892 Winchester 25-20 that I used for hunting for a while. I later traded the Winchester for an unmodified 1908 Commercial Luger in about 97% condition. All of this occurred in the late 1960s. I have since owned a .22 PPK but it is gone too. Dang, I wish I had every gun I ever owned (have you heard that before?!).

[Ron Smith]

John,

That's too bad, but I think I would do the same thing.

Thanks...

Reggie,

Thanks! They are fun to shoot. And there's something a bit clandestine about this particular PP. Kind of makes you wonder.

Ron