The Bond Gun Is Back--Walther To Release .32 PPK

    The Walther PPK was first released in 1931, being a variant of Walther's PP (Polizeipistole, or "police pistol") handgun which was intended as a duty sidearm for police officers. The PPK (Polizeipistole Kriminal or "police pistol criminal") had smaller dimensions that made it more suitable for plain clothes or undercover work. It was offered in both .32 ACP and .380 ACP, but the .32 ACP apparently was the more popular chambering. 

    It is also the handgun carried by the fictional James Bond, 007, starting with both the novel and movie, Dr. No. And it appears to have been a somewhat popular import into the United States until the passage of the Gun Control Act in 1968. 

     Among other things, the 1968 Gun Control Act was intended to foreclose the importation of small, foreign made handguns under the "sporting purpose" part of the Act. One of the victims of the "sporting purpose" test was the Walther PPK. To get around the restriction, Walther took the frame of the larger PP pistol and put on the shorter slide and barrel of the PPK, creating the PPK/s (or "Sport" version). This meant that the handgun carried one more round in the magazine, but also made it just a tad too big to be a pocket pistol, which was the point of the "sporting purpose" requirements for handguns.

    Although Walther was able to import PPK/s handguns into the U.S., Walther eventually licensed production in the United States for the PPK/s and, a few years later, the PPK. Ranger Arms produced them from 1980 (1983 for the PPK) to 1999 (they were marketed through Interarms during this time), and Smith & Wesson did so from 2001 to 2012. Except for a brief 2-year period when the .32 was available, these were only offered in .380 ACP.

    Eventually, however, Walther moved some of its manufacturing into the U.S. and, in 2019, Walther released the PPK and PPK/s. Unfortunately, for the collector, the Walther manufactured PPK and PPK/s were only released in .380 ACP, whereas the PPK carried by the fictional James Bond (at least in the novels) was the .32 ACP version. 

    Word is now out that Walther is reintroducing the .32 ACP versions of the PPK and PPK/s. Like its larger .380 versions, it will be offered in bare stainless steel and a black coated stainless steel. The advantage for someone wanting to carry or shoot these is that it offers an additional round of capacity over the .380 versions, and it should have more mild recoil. And, of course, this will be the correct caliber for a "Bond gun". Per the article cited above, both are now shipping and have an MSRP of $969, although I expect the street prices will be less.