Walther PPk 1944 'Plum" Color

[Bill Grist]

Walther PPK 1944 Plum Color...BILL

[james m]

Bill:
This "Plum" color can be caused by multiple things. Among the most common are high nickel content in the metal or a contaminated blueing solution. Given the date of the pistol I'd opt for the latter.
Jim

[Johnny Peppers]

Probably used the hot caustic blue bath past it's useful life. Some steels which had a lot of nickel in them show up with the purple color immediately, but others fade to the purple color over time.

This Model 52 S&W slide has turned over time. Both slide and receiver were the same color when new about 35 years ago.

[james m]

If that Model 52 is yours Johnny; you have a rare one there.
Jim

[Johnny Peppers]

Jim,

It is mine. Here it is with an original box of S&W 148 grain wadcutter ammo.

JP

[james m]

These are really nice Johnny and that's a great example. I don't want to hi-jack Bills thread but I'll say basically this is one of the few semi-automatics ever built for the 38 spl cartridge. They were designed for target shooting and the loading parameters were very tight using wadcutters only and a very specific powder charge. Not many were made and they bring A nice premium on the collectors market today.
Jim