Dural PP opinions wanted

[Von Hoth]

I was only allowed to take two crappy pictures. You know how some gun shop owners are. It is a nazi commercial stamped on the right side of the chamber. But the chamber has a thick painted looking finish that obscures the nazi eagle a bit. It does not have one below the chamber on the slide as most should. The matching dural frame and slide are 281092 P. Since i've never seen a dural before, and because the condition is so good, I at first assumed it was reblued. Notice the safe/fire cirlce has no paint. Is this because the slide was reblued? Or did 1942 and blank slides also ship out without paint.

I ask because it has NO walther banner or legend at all on the left slide. No AC code, no police code, no army code. the serial number indicates 1942. (thanks Dieter)

Also, the trigger looks copper red. I can't find any mention of a red looking trigger in Dieter's book or Rankin's book. But when I saw the Pancho collection online, his example of a Dural PP also has the reddish looking steel frame parts.




Of the examples I've seen in Rankin, late war pp's will have at least the AC code if nothing else.

is it safe to assume that it was definitely not produced for the commercial market?

would anyone else agree that the slide appears to have been reblued. While the few steel parts on the frame.. (trigger and few others) maintain the original reddish bluing. And the Dural frame has been re anodized or laquered.?

Shot with Canon PowerShot A410 at 2007-06-30


Shot with Canon PowerShot A410 at 2007-06-30

[Joe N]

Hi, I will have to find my post about my dural framed PP, which is a commercial model dated around 1942. The finish almost resembles a "plum finish", which is quite obvious. Let me see if I can find the post, pull out mine, and give you my thoughts, take care,
Joe

[Von Hoth]

ok, thanks. I found your post by doing a search. However, you don't have any pictures for me to compare the finish to. And to make matters worse, some of the posts here claim that all dural's were anodized when I thought I read that they were also Laquer painted.

I wish I had the time to take better photos of this dural. I am thinking of buying it but not if it's been refinished. the slide is too nice and did any Walther's ever leave the factory with no red paint on the "fire" safety position?

The only thing I know for sure is that the slide number and frame match, and that it was made in 1942 according to Dieter which means you can't bet your life on it.

Is it just me or does every single gun dealer never have any clue where they got the gun from? when I asked him if he thought it was refinished he said I don't know.. but of course that could be to help a potential sale. he only wants 425 for it and durals are kinda of rare, but if it's been refinished it's worth nothing much to me.

[Joe N]

Sorry, the post is 2 years old, lucky I remembered it at all.....

[Von Hoth]

nothing to be sorry about, I appreciate your replies.

I have an idea anyways, I will ask the gun shop owner if he has an inspection period. That way, I can take it home and take high quality photos of it and let the experts tell me if it's any good.

do gun dealers offer inspection periods?