Walther PP with heel magazine release

In 1931 Walther decided to chamber the PP and PPK in 9mm kurz. They used the standard frames and an enlarged barrel with some slight modifications to handle the more powerful cartridge. Two metal pins were added to each side of the top of the chamber at the breech. These pins were 1/8" long and extended rearward to help feed the heavier cartridge into the chamber. The face of the breech was extended to ensure reliable feeding from the magazine. The magazines and followers were beefed up as well to handle the kurz round.

A major mechanical feature was added during this time. That was the heel magazine release as is found in the P.38 and P5, eliminating the pushbutton found on the left side of the frame on most other PP's and PPK's. These pistols were produced with this feature for only twelve years, and are very scarce, if not somewhat rare. Some of the very rare models with this feature are:

Most of these pistols came with the finger extention magazine, and very few were chambered in 7.65mm. Many collectors do not realise how few of these pistols were produced. Production lasted through the end of the war, but the 7.65mm chambered PP and PPK with the heel release was never produced in the quantity that the 9mm kurz was. Value will undoubtably will continue to increase as the years pass.

Photo courtesy of Midwest Firearms / midwest2@cwix.com

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