The Walther Polizeipistole

1929 was a pivotal year in modern human history. The 1929 stock market crash triggered the Great Depression, fundamentally altering the fabric of life on earth. The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre showed the world just how pitiless and bloodthirsty American gangsters had become. Motorola produced the first car radio and Sam Foster sold the world’s first pair of sunglasses. Meanwhile in Germany, Carl Walther produced a trim little pocket pistol to change the trajectory of combat handguns forever.

In 1929 Germany had yet to recover from the First War to End All Wars. WWI ended in defeat for the German Empire, and the onerous stipulations of the Treaty of Versailles crippled the German economy and humiliated her people. Across a bitter Germany this desperate economic restlessness set the stage for Adolf Hitler and the most repugnant political regime of the modern age.

Triggering The Pocket Pistol

Amidst this toxic political milieu Carl Walther GmbH Sportwaffen introduced the Polizeipistole (Police Pistol) as a weapon with which to arm European Law Enforcement Officers. The PP featured an exposed hammer, a fixed barrel, a single-column magazine, an automatic internal safety system and a simple blowback-operated action. These features combined with the gun’s original rather anemic .32 ACP chambering kept it tidy, compact and perfect for undercover concealment. What really shook the world, however, was the PP’s radical single-action/double-action trigger mechanism.

In the 19th century Samuel Colt laid the foundation for the modern combat handgun with the Colt Single Action Army revolver. Packing six rounds and featuring a divinely crisp single-action trigger, the Colt SAA changed the way men killed each other. However, in the world of gunfighting, speed is life. In short order gun manufacturers were producing similar weapons equipped with a double-action trigger firing the gun via a long trigger pull. In the early part of the 20th century the single-action/double-action wheelgun reigned supreme, filling Law Enforcement holsters around the globe.

Autoloaders like the P08 Parabellum Luger and the Colt M1911 pistols were fine combat tools to be sure. However, they both featured single-action triggers. The P08 had an awkward safety, while the M1911 had to be manually cocked before firing. Herr Walther felt he could do better.
The Walther PP featured a radical hammer drop-safety mounted on the slide. Rotating this lever down with the action cocked safely dropped the hammer over a live round. A gunsmith friend I knew as a youngster introduced me to this device as a “heart attack safety” for the sound it made as it dropped the hammer over a live cartridge.

The gun could be stored with the hammer down and safety on for maximum security. It could be carried with the chamber loaded, hammer down and safety off for fast access. In this state, a firm pull on the trigger automatically deactivated the internal safety system and fired the gun from a cold start. This negated the need to manipulate any extraneous switches. For maximum precision, the hammer could be manually cocked yielding a single-action trigger that was relatively crisp and precise.

The Modern Combat Pistol’s Family Tree

The original Walther plant was located in Zella-Mehlis in the Thuringia province of Germany. After WWII this area fell under the Soviet zone of occupation, so Walther moved his operation to Ulm in West Germany. The Allies forbade gun manufacture in post-war Germany, however, so the enterprise was then moved to France. PPK pistols are made in Arkansas today.

The United States has always been the world’s largest consumer of commercial handguns. However, the Gun Control Act of 1968 outlawed importation of compact concealable handguns. This resulted in the PPK/S, a holy melding of the stubby PPK slide with the longer PP frame holding an extra round of ammunition. This was likely the only example in history wherein gun control legislation made a gun better.

In the 1980s the gun world was overcome in its enthusiasm for the “wondernine.” These high-capacity 9mm pistols packed at least 15 rounds onboard and all featured the same single-action/double-action triggers pioneered by the Walther PP back in 1929. The SIG P226, Beretta M9, Walther P88 and period Smith and Wesson guns all followed this same general template.

Nowadays it is the polymer-framed, striker-fired action reigning supreme. However, for a generation, Carl Walther’s trigger drove every major combat handgun in the world. Versatile, intuitive, effective and safe, the Walther PP indeed blazed an enviable trail.
Special thanks to WorldWarSupply.com for the replica gear used in our pictures.

WaltherArms.com

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