Funny how the PPK looks just like a 1911

[DMK]

A policeman shows the gas-pistol, a Walther PPK replica, which a kidnapper had used to steal a motorized glider on Sunday during a news conference at the Rhine-Main-Airport in Frankfurt, Germany, on Monday, Jan. 6, 2003. The theft of the plane and the man's threat to crash it into the city's financial district had caused fear of a terrorist attack and had prompted the evacuation of skycrapers in central Frankfurt on Sunday. (AP Photo/Bernd Kammerer)

Erma-Werke looks just like a PPK huh?

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/030106/168/2zgys.html&e=9&ncid=708

 

[Kestryll]

That is just wierd.
1911-style frame, double-action trigger, PPK-style trigger guard. grip saftey, PPK-style mag release and slide mounted saftey and a barrel bushing. WHAT THE HECK IS THAT!?!?!?!?!? And how do you strip it???

This handgun is why you don't leave your 1911 and you PPK in a dark safe alone!

 

[4v50 Gary]

What a misbegotten hybrid. Yep, definitely don't leave your PPK and 1911 together in the dark. Balloon distance between them, just like in the 1950's school dances.

 

[teombe]

Reminds me of that movie Snatch...

 

[MJRW]

I believe it says "45 Kal" on the rollmark, too. A PPK in .45? I want it.

 

[Tamara]

That is obviously...

...a PP11.

 

[Daniel Watters]

Erma Clones

This is similiar to the design that Charter Arms once imported and sold as the Model 79K in .32 ACP and .380 ACP. The M1911 appearance is entirely cosmetic; the mechanism is a Walther clone.

If you read the rollmarks properly, it should be Mod. EGP 45 Kal, 8mmK.

Erma is the same outfit that has made mini Luger-clones in .380 and M-1 Carbine knockoffs in .22 LR.

 

[Marko Kloos]

That's no real firearm at all, it's a Schreckschuss-or Gaspistole. It's a pot metal replica that fires blanks and tear gas rounds. The barrel is mostly plugged so you can't shoot live rounds through it.

These things are just about the only "weapons" you may legally carry for self-defense in Germany. They're pretty popular, and their quality ranges from abysmal junk to very nice replicas of real guns. Companies like Walther/Umarex offer Schreckschuss replicas of the Walther PPK and P99, for example. Smith & Wesson licensed their logo to Walther/Umarex for a line of S&W replicas that have the S&W name and logo on them.

The model pictured is an Erma EGP45, in 9mmK (for 9mm Knall, not 9mm Kurz.) Erma replicas are better in quality than most others, since they also make real firearms. The Erma replicas are copies of Erma's "real" gun line, not copies of famous guns like most other replica guns.