Walther

The full and correct name of the famous German firearm manufacturing company Walther is Carl Walther GmbH Sportwaffen. It was first established in the East German city of Zella-Mehlis in 1886 by its founder, Carl Walther, but the original factory was bombed to nothingness during World War II. It was later reestablished in the town of Ulm. The company’s original orientation was purely toward self-loading pistols (in which Carl Walther had a personal interest) and the first product saw the light of day in 1908 - the 6.35 mm caliber Walther Model 1. This handgun was quickly adopted by almost every officer in the German Army during World War I. Carl Walther died in 1915 and his sons carried on the business.

The first product to be manufactured after Carl Walther’s death was the Walther Model PP, which was first pistol with a single/double action trigger to appear on the firearm market. The compact Walther PPK, immortalized by the famous fictional spy James Bond, followed soon after. In 1938, the Walther company designed the classic Model P38 on behest of the German military, which had put a call out for a more powerful 9 mm cartridge-loading handgun. It also has a US-based subsidiary called Walther USA, which was launched in 1999 and handles the distribution of Walther branded firearms and accessories. It has its headquarters at 2100 Roosevelt Avenue, Springfield, MA. Smith & Wesson manufactures certain popular Walther products such as the PPK and PPK/S-1 at their plant in Houlton, Maine, while other famous handguns like the P99, P22 and G22 are turned out at the main factory in Germany.

Walther has a long-standing tradition of technical expertise in firearms design and production and caters to armed forces, law enforcement departments and other government security groups all over the globe. The company works in close conjunction with leading German experts in police firearms and all their products reflect impeccable German precision, reliability and extremely high safety standards. It formed a merger with the German conglomerate Umarex Sportwaffen GmbH & Co KG, which recently also acquired the sports weapon brand Hämmerli from the Lüke & Ortmeier Group. Walther also added a brand new 5000 square meter production unit at the original factory in Ulm. This facility now provides training facilities and advanced firing ranges to law enforcement personnel. It also continues Walther’s tradition of designing and turning out some of the world’s most advanced firearms.

A case in point – the P99, which was designed 1994 and presented on the global market in 1996. Chambered for 9mm Parabellum and .40 S&W rounds, this ultra-modern police and self-defense handgun has extremely advanced features and costs less than the rather unsuccessful and overpriced Walther P88, on which it is based. The P99 is a recoil operated, locked breech polymer frame gun that features a unique combination of striker safety, trigger safety and out-of-battery safety features against accidental discharge. It also incorporates a new recoil compensator and for increased accuracy. This makes it the ideal law enforcement and civilian defense weapon. Smith & Wesson manufactures this handgun, also available in a ‘militarized’ green finish, in the US under the trade name Smith & Wesson 99.
Walther firearms such as the P99 continue to make waves. The P99 is the most preferred sidearm for the German and Austrian armed forces and among law enforcement agency personnel. The company also manufactures a world-class line of knives such as the Allied Forces Linerlock, which features black-coated aluminum frame and a stainless steel fighting blade and retails at approximately $45. Other products in this range are the P99 Tactical Fighter, which is sold with a specially designed sheath system for belt or shoulder wear at a price of $44, and the Belize Linerlock. This one comes with a stainless steel blade and incorporates unique features such as a radial thumb stud, black textured Zytel handles with burl wood inlay and stainless pocket clip/lanyard hole for portability. It sells at $21.95.