New to me, Interarms Walther PPK/S

[drobinson]

Recently I picked up an Interarms PPk/s for a price i could not turn down. it has some holster wear and is blued, marked made in USA . I have not had the chance to fire it yet, it did not come with magazines. These should arrive from cheaper than dirt tomorrow. How can I find out when this pistol was made, is there a list online of serial numbers and approximate y ear of manufacture? What should I know about it? if it needs to be sent to the factory for reconditioning, to what factory do I send it? While in the garage tonight Dropped a cartridge in the chamber and attempted to lower the slide on it, and it did not want to go easily. the extractor did not catch the rim. should I expect that this will be a lot different when loading from a magazine. If it does need some work, are these very intricate pistols to work on, or should it be pretty easy to find a smith locally in nc, sc, or ga.

 

[Dave R]

I'm not aware of any online source for serial numbers and dating.

But the pistol is pretty basic. Not complicated at all. You should have no trouble finding a 'smith who can work on it.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Watch your ejector. If the frame is mis-made the ejectors will break quickly. I went through 3 of them in less then 1000 rnds and the gun went out the door. This is after 2 trips to S&W for repairs and one exchange at my original dealer for a second version. I was very very happy to get anything out of the little piece of junk when I took it to my dealer. He understood the problem, said he would take it off my hands as a valued customer and I was happy.

One of the very few guns out there that I think are just a piece of worthless junk.

 

[Jim K]

That ejector problem, AFAIK, is unique to the later Interarms pistols. I believe the ejector was made by MIM, one of the first uses of that process. The Walthers and earlier Interarms ejectors were made of milled steel and gave no trouble. I don't know how they are being made by S&W, but I have heard of no similar problem with their guns. The ejector is also the slide stop, so the part takes hits from both directions and has to be pretty tough.

Jim

 

[Ala Dan]

My daughter has a stainless Walther PPK as
made by Ranger FireArms in Gadsden, AL
under license of Carl Walther Waffenfabrik
of Germany. I have heard all the horror
stories normally associated with these lil'
.380's; but I'm here to tell you this one
has performed flawlessly, with all types
of ammunition including 90 grain JHP's!

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, N.R.A. Life Member

 

[drobinson]

well, got my mags yesterday and my son and I headed to the range. we fired 100 rds of umc 95 gr fmj, no malfunctions. I could clear the plate machine pretty quickly at 10 yards, but did not try from any farther. Recoil was surprising, heavier then my Sig P229 .40. How does the .380 stack up against the 38 special? my every day carry is a s&w 642 with gold dots, is the walther in the same league?

 

[XLMiguel]

Glad it turned out OK. I had a stainless PPK/S from Interarms that couldn't go thru a complete mag without a jam or a stove pipe. It was truly a jam-o-matic POS. As noted, it was a nasty gun to shoot, recoil-wise, and then there were the slide-bites, and the DA trigger must of been 18 lbs. I realize I got a particularly crappy example, but still . . . .

I took it back to Interarms 3 times, still wouldn't run right, so I traded it off for a Beretta 85

 

[Wildalaska]

Who needs one! Got one around the shop somewhere..

WildsurpriseseverywhereAlaska