Can anyone trace the manufacturing date on a Walther PPK_S .380

Need pics! Ppks are pretty hard to date (especially the Interarms guns), but the pictures will give you a starting point as far as country and year of production. The German/French/Interarms/Smith and Wesson guns are all very distinct series.

There is a date code in German proof marks, or most of them.
Show close clear pictures or accurately describe ALL markings.

Late 70s to early 80s is as close as you can get without the factory box and test target. Ranger/Interarms were very secretive about production numbers and dates. Not only that, but their serial ranges overlap between the ppk and ppk\s, so that doesn't help. Still, with that low number 1979ish is a good guess.
I had one just like that and I wanted SO badly to like it, but, alas mine was a jam-o- matic with all but a handful of ammo brands and it had to go. The machining and polishing alone was so much better than those abominations S&W made later on.
Beautiful gun! But I would never trust my life to it.
Supposedly the .32s are better feeders.

Olderbutwiser said:

Thanks NightLord. I suspected the date to be around late 70's. I carried it as a Concealed Carry weapon for a while but like you, it jammed one day at a range I suspected failing springs in the mags..I bought new mags and it never jammed again but I decided to go to a Mdl 85 Ultra light 5 rd revolver for a while. A buddy got a S&W Shield 9 mm in 2013 and I fell in love with it. Got one myself and that's my carry shootin' Iron since then. Really fits my needs. Still pop a few rds at a gun range with the Walter once in a while.. I think it;s a sexy looking gun but that's the only place I shoot it. I do have the black box it came in along with instru manual but no test target, Is there something on the box that might be helpful I should look for??

Click to expand...

Sometimes there is a handwritten inspection/shipping date on the white sticker on the side by the barcode- but not always, ugh.

NIGHTLORD40K said:

Late 70s to early 80s is as close as you can get without the factory box and test target. Ranger/Interarms were very secretive about production numbers and dates. Not only that, but their serial ranges overlap between the ppk and ppk\s, so that doesn't help. Still, with that low number 1979ish is a good guess.
I had one just like that and I wanted SO badly to like it, but, alas mine was a jam-o- matic with all but a handful of ammo brands and it had to go. The machining and polishing alone was so much better than those abominations S&W made later on.
Beautiful gun! But I would never trust my life to it.
Supposedly the .32s are better feeders.

Click to expand...

I had an original German PPK in .380 (not Manhurin either) that was brought into the country prior to the GCA 1968. It was also a trainer for feeding and extraction issues despite having parts replaced, new factory mags, new recoil, and did so regardless of a variety of factory ammo. Replaced with a Sig P6 which just works-no drama. Will say that the Walther was dead on accurate at 7 yards or less despite the tiny sights and very heavy trigger pull in DA. Also disliked the slide cutting my hand if you had a high grip--always had to wear a shooting glove with it and the recoil was outsized considering the firearm weight and ammo shot. I have also heard that the .32 ACP's were more pleasant to deal with.

boom boom said:

I had an original German PPK in .380 (not Manhurin either) that was brought into the country prior to the GCA 1968. It was also a trainer for feeding and extraction issues despite having parts replaced, new factory mags, new recoil, and did so regardless of a variety of factory ammo. Replaced with a Sig P6 which just works-no drama. Will say that the Walther was dead on accurate at 7 yards or less despite the tiny sights and very heavy trigger pull in DA. Also disliked the slide cutting my hand if you had a high grip--always had to wear a shooting glove with it and the recoil was outsized considering the firearm weight and ammo shot. I have also heard that the .32 ACP's were more pleasant to deal with.

Click to expand...

I never had an issue with the PPKs shooting characteristics or bite, though I considered the accuracy to be "meh". The Zella-Mehlis, Ulm, Manhurin, and Ranger made PPKs are all fine examples of old school gunmakers craft, but the Bersa thunder, Sig P230/232, Makarov, Mauser HSC, and Astra Constable are all probably more reliable (at least in .380.) Unfortunately, it appears the new Walther USA is just going to continue producing the dreadful S&W pattern.
Maybe someday, I might be tempted by a .32 gun....but then I would lose all rationale for resisting the 1914 Mauser, Savage 1907, or CZ 24-" Well, I already stock that round for the Walther, so......"

NIGHTLORD40K said:

I never had an issue with the PPKs shooting characteristics or bite, though I considered the accuracy to be "meh". The Zella-Mehlis, Ulm, Manhurin, and Ranger made PPKs are all fine examples of old school gunmakers craft, but the Bersa thunder, Sig P230/232, Makarov, Mauser HSC, and Astra Constable are all probably more reliable (at least in .380.) Unfortunately, it appears the new Walther USA is just going to continue producing the dreadful S&W pattern.
Maybe someday, I might be tempted by a .32 gun....but then I would lose all rationale for resisting the 1914 Mauser, Savage 1907, or CZ 24-" Well, I already stock that round for the Walther, so......"

Click to expand...

That might be because the true PPK has a shorter grip than the PP sized PPK/s because of the GCA act of 1968 required Walther to redo the PPK in order to sell it in the U.S. To hold onto it and pull the trigger in DA and for repeat shots, you really have to use a death grip and that results in slide tracks across your hand.

Surprisingly, the .32's ACP are still pretty reasonably priced along with .32 S&W revolvers compared to .22 LR for some of these.

Since I have most of the stuff that I am looking for in WWI and WWII bolt action milsurps, I am kinda looking at either project level .32 caliber handguns or rebuilding old .22's in commercial rifles and/or converting scrap milsurps into .22 LR's. Have some old pitted crappy receivers that look pretty good for that are more than strong enough for .22 LR. But those would be projects for next summer and winter. It is either that or getting into trapdoors/rolling blocks/martini's/etc. that would be wall hanger projects for the most part. Not really interested in shooting blackpowder that much nor percussion/flintlock rifles at this point.

I had one of the Interarms-Ranger built stainless steel PPKs probably in the mid to late '80s. While the gun itself was well made and finished it did suffer from numerous problems like the magazine occasionally falling out, countless failures to feed, and way too many sharp edges on the slide. The double action trigger was extremely heavy, the stainless steel sights with the orange colored inserts were difficult to see, and the felt recoil was more noticeable when compared to shooting a Walther PP in .32 ACP.

boom boom said:

That might be because the true PPK has a shorter grip than the PP sized PPK/s because of the GCA act of 1968 required Walther to redo the PPK in order to sell it in the U.S. To hold onto it and pull the trigger in DA and for repeat shots, you really have to use a death grip and that results in slide tracks across your hand.

Surprisingly, the .32's ACP are still pretty reasonably priced along with .32 S&W revolvers compared to .22 LR for some of these.

Since I have most of the stuff that I am looking for in WWI and WWII bolt action milsurps, I am kinda looking at either project level .32 caliber handguns or rebuilding old .22's in commercial rifles and/or converting scrap milsurps into .22 LR's. Have some old pitted crappy receivers that look pretty good for that are more than strong enough for .22 LR. But those would be projects for next summer and winter. It is either that or getting into trapdoors/rolling blocks/martini's/etc. that would be wall hanger projects for the most part. Not really interested in shooting blackpowder that much nor percussion/flintlock rifles at this point.

Click to expand...

Ya, Ive been TRYING to avoid any more odd calibered milsurps, but if a .22 Martini or .410 Enfield falls from heaven on me, well.......
Ive also been successfully staving off the horde of classic .32s so far, but my father is getting on in years and I'll probably wind up with his mint Spanish Ruby .32 at some point. Then the flood gates will open....

NIGHTLORD40K said:

Ya, Ive been TRYING to avoid any more odd calibered milsurps, but if a .22 Martini or .410 Enfield falls from heaven on me, well.......
Ive also been successfully staving off the horde of classic .32s so far, but my father is getting on in years and I'll probably wind up with his mint Spanish Ruby .32 at some point. Then the flood gates will open....

Click to expand...

Yes, I've found if you have one firearm in a caliber, then your resistance is less to the second one, and so on. If you reload for that caliber, then naturally you find that additional firearms in that caliber let you buy bullets in bulk which simply feeds the monster. The Spanish Ruby's are a whole interesting field in themselves with their variations and often WWI and WWII involvement. The .32's are interesting to me in revolvers or as semi auto's as they typically have lower recoil--have some problems with my hands that can make it quite painful to shoot full blown large calibers or hard recoiling rounds at times. No so much problem shooting rifles or shotguns at this point in time. However, it can also make firing .22 revolvers difficult as these typically have stronger springs than do centerfire handgun rounds such as the .32 S&W. Then, if I reload for .32 S&W then reloading for .32 ACP seems inevitable and a lot of classic designs were made in those guns prior to WWII.

The other problem is the odd or disfavored calibers are often available at bargain prices relative to their more standardized ones. I've found when collecting surplus if cheap ammo is or becomes available, then prices climb on those reflecting shooter interest versus obscure rounds that require handloading and often forming brass for it. I believe that Prvi in making old military rounds available again has helped boost prices for rifles in those cartridges.

The pre-WWII and wartime pistols are very rare in .380 (9mm Kurz) since that cartridge was not in the German police/military supply system, and was almost unknown even in civilian use.. It became common in the U.S. after 1968 when the new import law effectively banned import of pistols in .32 ACP (7.65mm Browning).

There were problems with the Walthers in .380, especially with Remington ammunition, which had a more pointed bullet, intended to work better in Italian Beretta M1934 pistols. But it malfunctioned a lot in Walthers, to the extent that Interarms had a notice printed up and included in the boxes, advising the buyer that Winchester-Western ammunition was recommended (they never gave the reason or used the Remington name, though.)

Jim