Mysterious Walther

[JFuess]

This is referring to the same Walther pistol mentioned in TBeck's post of June 5 and the reply from Ken Strayhorn:

My boss knows of my interest in shooting and asked me to buy it from him - It looked like one of the cheap pistols called Makrov being imported from Eastern Europe, with a holster and two magazines for about $150.00. I offered him $100.00, figured I would never lose any money.

The pistol is not marked Walther on the slide or receiver. The grips and the magazines (2) are marked Walther, but looked like they may have been added at a later date. The single grip screw is 1/4'' to 5/16" too long - I fear if I shot the pistol the end on the screw might cut my hand. The magazines also don't seem to fit quite right, i.e. as there is maybe 3/16" of a gap between the bottom of the receiver and the base of the magazines. The external appearance of the pistol is acceptable, but the inside of the of the slide looks as if might have been "machined" by someone with the shakes using a Dremel tool. There are numerous deep gouges. The Barrel, however, is pristine. The pistol may have never been fired other than "Proof".

After I read Ken Strayhorns reply, (Thanks, Ken)I went to GUNSAMERICA.Com and was stunned to note a low price on a PP 7.65MM was $375.

My real question is, what makes these pistols so valuable? Since I am potentially buying this pistol from my Boss, I would never want him to think he was cheated.

Thanks for any help anyone can give!

[Strayhorn]

You're quite welcome for the help.

As for the pistol - It's really tough to makes these calls without the gun to actually examine but it does sound like a very late-war production. As the Russians advanced on the factory in Zella-Methis, guns were thrown together from parts, some of which were actually parts that had been rejected for one flaw or another. Most slides from the last six or so months of production had no "Walther" markings because the stamping machine had been destroyed in an air raid. These pistols were being manufactured to supply what was supposed to be a guerrilla war against the occupying forces and were very crude, since most of the labor force was young boys and women without any real experience. That, plus the fact that portions of the factory were damaged from bombs.

There's also the chance that you have a PP frame with a PPK barrel and slide on it, examples of which have turned up before. As a matter of fact, the modern PPK/S is basically a PPK slide and barrel on a PP frame, to circumvent the importation laws on small pistols.

And there's also the chance that someone has put a set of Walther grips and magazines into a cheap copy, such as the Hungarian copies that were supplied to various insurgency movements in the 50s and 60s. If you watch "Antiques Road Show" you've probably seen a number of "antique" guns that turned out to be fakes.

It's hard to put a price on a weapon I can't actually see. The prices for PP models currently coming into the country seem to be about $275 wholesale - these are the ex-German National Police trade-ins, and are mostly manufactured in the 60s with very high quality.

Why are they so expensive? Well, Walther is not a large company and their output is tiny compared to concerns like Glock or FN, so there's the supply factor. And they are of high quality, so that costs as well. Plus there's also the collector factor - check out the cost of PP models with Nazi RZM crests on the frame.

You could also call Earl's Repair Service and see if he has an idea of what you have. Earl is a Walther importer and supplier and is probably the most knowledgeable guy you can get on the phone:
Earl's Repair Service, Inc.
437 Chandler Street
Tewksbury, MA 01876
Phone: 978 - 851 - 2656
Fax: 978 - 851 - 9462

There are collectors who specialize in late-war weapons, like a guy I know who buys "last ditch" Japanese rifles - boy, you should see how crude some of these are!

Hope this helps a bit.

Ken Strayhorn
Hillsborough NC