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Polish contract Walther PPK

Absolut

Absolut

Senior Member
To my surprise a friend recently purchased a Walther PPK that I've seen in an auction. They got aware of on last day that this was an extremely rare Polish contract pistol and changed the description - it therefore sold higher than I thought it would if it was not advertised this way. But since this happened so late, it could had sold easily double that price if advertised this way from the beginning, since Polish guns are extremely sought after at the moment. People from Poland feel proud of their country and "buy back" their items, and I'm sure if they would had been aware of this one, it would had been repatriated and a true battle among the Polish collectors would had been fought over it.

After having heard that the friend of mine bought it I kindly asked him if he would borrow it to me to take pictures as reference. He kindly agreed, so I took the attached shown pictures. Note I digitally removed the last three digits of the serial number (the slide on the inside has the last three digits scratched opposite the ejector window too, as it should be from factory). The only detail that identifies it for being a Polish contract is the G2 stamp in oval on the left side of the frame, right behind the trigger guard.

Not much is known on these pistols, except from what I could gather that they represent possibly the rarest PPK contract to be found (some claim except for the Estonian (or was it Latvian?) contract, though I didn't find total numbers for either of these contracts). They are made within a very certain serial range and date to 1939. Hence a bit surreal, they must had been delivered to Poland and just days later then occupied/taken over again. Some sources I found claim these were for "secret service". Will ask a Polish friend of mine though, he maybe knows and can tell me.

Appreciate any input on those, and hope these pictures will not be a reference for myself, but also for others.
 

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Very interesting. I recognize that G2 stamp from seeing it before but can't put a finger on where it was.
 
Absolut said:
Not much is known on these pistols, except from what I could gather that they represent possibly the rarest PPK contract to be found (some claim except for the Estonian (or was it Latvian?) contract, though I didn't find total numbers for either of these contracts).
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I think you are thinking of the alleged Lithuanian PPK.
 
G2 in an oval was a proof used by Polish army military inspector cpt. Gadomski in Radom factory, who was approving weapons produced there. Interesting and strange to see that proof on a pistol made in Germany, not at Radom factory. It wasn’t a general military acceptance proof, but in-house one at Radom factory.
 
Thank you for posting this. I studied PPK for some time and was not aware of this series
 
Are there any documents or records that say about this variant and Polish military ordering them?
 
Leszek gave a go, so this is what he provided me with:
Walther PP/PPK was VERY much known and renown with the Polish cops, and the first tangible proof of their interests comes from as early as 1929, when the profile of the PP graced the commemorative badge of the Police Sergeants Course held in Sosnowiec, Silesia.

The Silesian (Katowice-based) gun store of Fryderyk Hoppen featured four variants of PP in their 1929/1930 price list - blued and nickel-plated PP with and without chambered round indicator. I have never seen a nickel-plated PP that early, but if they were offered, they probably existed. Or they did not - the catalogue had a large red stamp on the first page to the effect that no German manufactured guns featured within were temporarily available due to the "customs war" waged by the German authorities. But anyway, PP and PPK continued to be en vogue with the Polish cops, to the extent that in 1936 a Polish language manual was printed in the Police weekly Na Posterunku, along with the note that the State Police Inspector General has allowed privately-purchased specimens to be registered as service weapons (which allowed the officers to draw training and duty ammunition from the Police stocks and have their weapons serviced by the Police armories).

Later on Walther printed a Polish-language version of the PP/PPK manual of their own, which were inserted in to the cardboard boxes of the pistols sold in Poland.

I have actually seen a 1939-dated sales invoice for a PPK citing the "police rebate" - s/n 209531K. All the while the State Police tried to buy a batch of Walthers to actually issue these to the officers - Na Posterunku run several articles praising the PP and PPK, and promising it would be introduced "soon". The problem was, Police was WAY behind the Army in spending, and the State had protectionist ideas, so they tried to make them buy all their weapons from the Polish sources - no matter that these were simply either unavailable, or not useful for the Police specific needs. The Nagant revolvers were chosen by the Police as a sidearm in 1929 - LONG time ago, and ever since then many things changed. They were still marginally useful as uniformed Orpo-style sidearm, but for the Kripo they were too large and unwieldy, almost useless for concealed carry. The 30 000 revolvers were ordered in 1929, with delivery date until 1931. Actually, the first revolver was handed over in 1932, and never more than 17 000 were delivered. It was this shortage of the pistols that made the Police HQ allow the policemen to actually buy their own handguns for service - along the lines that the Army allowed the commissioned officers and NCOs to have their own, and not issued weapons.

The state-owned State Armaments Works (PWU) concern was very reluctant to release the Police procurement from their clutches. Even though they had NOTHING to offer to him - as they already stopped making Nagants he didn't wanted anyway, and the wz.35 Vis pistol was even bigger, even heavier, and even more unavailable, as all production was slated for the Army, which at that time estimated was 88 000 handguns short for the mobilization TOE&A - anytime the Inspector General (who was an Army major-general) tried to buy his Walthers, they fired volley after volley until they were able to sink the initiative again. Finally, being a Pole, the head cop was able to find the way around them - and ordered 3000 PPKs on April 3, 1939, with the delivery date on June 15, 1939. The contract (Nr 22/39) was signed not with Carl Walther Waffenfabrik, but with the Fabryka Amunicji Pocisk SA ammunition manufacturer in Warsaw - specifically to avoid having it killed once again, before it was a done deal.

The full contract was for 3000 pieces, which went for the State Police's Criminal Division - while the uniformed division stayed with the Polish-manufactured Nagant revolvers (for a while, at least - the State Police HQ was fully aware of the flaws of the Ng wz. 30 revolver, and probably if the PPK purchase went down good, the uniformed division would be next in line, for probably at least 15 000 PPs). The PPK delivery was made in time, then military-accepted by the Mjr Grzybowski (his personal acceptance stamp was "G2 in oval") of the Army's COMU (Ordnance Materiel Acceptance Center) - same arrangement as with Radom-manufactured Nagant revolvers for the Police. The (G2) acceptance was Warsaw-based - you might remember seeing his stamp on Warsaw-manufactured or Warsaw-delivered Vis accessories, e.g. the magazines and cleaning rods.

So far a grand total of six G2-stamped State Police PPKs are known to me, and I handled two of these here in Poland. It seems they were not manufactured for the Polish contract (as the Persian contract was), but just taken off-the-shelf, as there were 3000 of them, but serials cover 8000 pistols at least. There are other PPKs known within the range, some being the EPL, some e/C German police contract, and some just plain-Jane but withing the range. The 8000 inner range runs from 219777K until 226518K.
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I also asked him if these pistols made their way back into German hands after occupation, this is what he replied:
They probably did, but remember that Polish Police was still active in the General-Gouvernement (kind of Czech Protectorate, but made out of Polish lands), and was heavily armed, including the Radom pistols - actually it had a large percentage of the early production pre-alpha and 1st Alphabet Radoms. At least it seems that some were delivered and issued, as a friend of mine has got his 219777K in a Polish holster made by the Aug. Boczek i Syn company in Chorzów (until 1921 and again 1939-1945 known as Königshütte), a copy of the famous AKAH Anuschat holster for the PPK (same as used with the Ehrenwaffe der Politischer Leiter - but without an eagle embossed into the flap). His pistol with its original holster was bought 10 years ago in Sweden, probably taken there by one of the Silesian Police bonzoes fleeing Poland in 1939. I have also seen photos of the identical holster, also embossed with Boczek i Syn and stamped with a rubber stamp POLICJA WOJEWÓDZTWA ŚLĄSKIEGO, offered for sale in US YEARS ago.
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His reply also contained pictures of that badge, a description, the original Walther printed Polish language version of the manual (cover picture) and pictures of holsters, etc. Since I had not asked for permission on those, therefore only the written text in here.

Bold written highlights were added by me, to point out the major aspects of these pistols. The quotation is not done in full, just to have it mentioned.
 
It was new for me too. Basically all information available on the internet was Legacy Collectibles video with very little content either. The above story is way more than that and nowhere to be found (unless you speak Polish and have the already mentioned book).
 
Taking pictures and sharing them with friends is helpful in locating them :D

Last three digits digitally removed, not as nice as the one in the starting post, but still ..
 

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Wow! Just wow. Neat PPk variation I wasn’t aware of….now I am and will be on the lookout for one.

Your photographs of that PPk are just great. They really capture the high gloss bluing of that pistol. Your friend got a really nice PPk.

That G2 marking is also on the toe of the early Radom mags.

And, I love the photo with all the Radoms in that case too. Wow. Lots of ‘em.

Really a neat post. Thanks.
 
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krukster86 said:
There’s a HUGE gunshow in Poland this weekend. A Facebook buddy sent me these photos:
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Thank you for this picture! Did he tell you whether this was "just a display", or if the guns in there are up for sale? Also, any chance that he can find out the serial of this PPK? I'd want to see how it compares to the other serials known.
 
Absolut said:
Thank you for this picture! Did he tell you whether this was "just a display", or if the guns in there are up for sale? Also, any chance that he can find out the serial of this PPK? I'd want to see how it compares to the other serials known.
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You can ask him directly via PM, forum member “Bolas”.
 
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