Another modern aspect was locking open when empty. The only thing missing was a magazine safety, and I suspect that would have been included if the designers had figured a way to do it. And finally, there was a loaded chamber indicator on the back of the slide. The safety lever blocked the firing pin before it dropped the hammer, so you could safely de-cock the pistol when you needed to. The PP also included a hammer-dropping safety. You could, if you wished, thumb-cock the hammer for the first shot. That is, you fired the first shot double action, and then the slide cocked the hammer for each shot afterwards. In the modern part of the PP, it is what we now call a traditional double action pistol. The Germans were not outliers in this, across the European continent, those in charge couldn’t agree on much, but one thing they all agreed on was. 32 was deemed more than sufficient in many European countries. Meant for police use, the European attitude towards pistol calibers was “That’s plenty, no need to make a fuss over this” and so the lowly. It was meant to be the amalgamation of all things modern. The PP was brought to the market by Walther in 1929, the end days of the Weimar Republic. The first is the origin of the Walther PPK/S. In this issues installment, we have two historical paths to explore, because it is Bond, James Bond.
