Luger and his brother from another mother.....

[F15E_WSO]

Originally Posted by mrerick

At sn 253xx your pistol is also very early Manurhin production, probably from 1954. I've been interested in understanding the point at which the logo banner on these pistols changed to the later one. Your pistol is from the first marking variation.

The PPK was a compact version of the PP.

The "K" follows the German word for "Detective": Kriminalpolizei by branding it the "PolizeiPistole Kriminalmodell".

It was the smaller pistol they preferred carrying in plain clothes.

Your Manurhin PP is in .32acp, of course
The "K" in "Kurz" is for "Short" in German, and is how they describe a .380acp cartridge there. "9mm Kurz". In a similar vein, the Spanish call it the "9mm Corto". It is, of course, possible that the more compact pistol also had the unofficial nickname "short" in German.

PPK advertising clearly referred to it as the"Kriminalmodell".

mrerick, that is a SOLID post. Very informative, thank you for the insight to include the S/N date on my particular gun. Obvious question but suppose you are also member of Walther forum? If on the small chance you are not, can I grab your comment and post it on the Walther site as "good to know"?

Where are you in Eastern NC? I was stationed in Goldsboro for a while, ran around Kinston, MCAS Cherry Point, Morehead City, WIlmington. Eastern NC is good country.