Scarce East German P1001-0, .32 ACP

The P1001-0 is an unlicensed East German copy of the well known Walther PP. The P1001-0 is an exact copy of the Walther PP and the parts are fully interchangeable, even though the P1001-0 lacks some of the refinement of the early Walther made pistols. It was mostly used as a service pistol in DDR, until it was replaced with standard Com-Bloc pistols like the Makarovs.

There is some speculation about the origin of these pistols, but most seem to agree that they were made in the ’50s on original Walther equipment in the Zella-Mehlis plant, with early examples utilizing parts left over from Walther’s WWII production. Since the plant ended up in East Germany it was now “under new management”, and the Ernst Thalmann company in Suhl is often mentioned as being the manufacturer. However, some are debating if the Thalmann company was involved in the actual production of the guns, or if it only proofed them.

This example is in excellent condition and has obviously seen little use. The build quality is very good and on par with Walther’s own production, even though you’ll find some rough machining and finishing in a few places. The bore shows some minor roughness which appears to be from worn tooling, but the rifling is clean, strong and fully serviceable. The P1001-0 pistols were at some point marketed by Hammerli and are often found with fake stamps like the Walther “ac” code and a “Zella-Mehlis” slide legend, but this one is as issued, including the original wooden grips. The magazine is correctly marked “1001-0” on the left side, and has a very faint number electropenciled on the right side. This number is so faint that we couldn’t get a picture of it, but it appears to be non-matching. If you take the slide off you’ll find that it is marked Hammerli on the barrel trunnion and there is also a discreet import mark under one of the grip panels, but none of this is noticeable from the outside.

Overall, this is a very nice example of a scarce pistol, and it would fit in nicely in any collection of Walthers or  Com-Bloc pistols.

C&R eligible. SOLD