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The Walther MPL is submachine developed in West Germany by Carl Walther GmbH. It was produced from 1963 to 1987 and saw service during the Vietnam War. In addition, it also saw service with the West German police forces, the Mexican Navy and the Portuguese Naval forces. The Walther MPL uses the 9x19mm Parabellum round and feeds from a 32 or 20-round detachable box magazine. Some versions of the Walther MP were also chambered for the .380 ACP round. The MPL is accurate up to a range of 200 meters.The Walther MPL has a close variant designated as the MPK. The only difference between both these versions lies in the length of the barrel. The MPL has a longer barrel when compared with the MPK. The Walther WA 2000 is a semiautomatic sniper rifle designed by Carl Walther GmbH Sportwaffen. The rifle was originally designed to be used as a target rifle. However, the rifle became very popular as a sniper rifle. The WA 2000 used a bullpup design. This design was used because it would help in reducing the overall length of the rifle and yet retain the long barrel length needed to ensure accuracy and range of the bullet. In addition, the rifle also comes with the PV4 aiming optics which allows night vision. The rifle was designed to use the .300 Winchester Magnum round. The calibre was chosen because of its long range and high accuracy. The rifle fires from a closed-bolt and used seven locking lugs. It feeds from a 6-round detachable box magazine. The Walther WA 2000 was an experimental weapon. In total, only 176 rifles were manufactured. These included versions chambered for the 7.62x51mm NATO and the 7.5x55mm Swiss cartridges in addition to the .300 Winchester. Production of the rifle was completely stopped in 1988 due to high manufacturing costs. Of the 176 units manufactured, 15 were exported to the United States. Today, the WA 2000 is a rare weapon. Because of its rarity, it can fetch up to $80,000 in the open market. The Walther PPK is a blowback-operated semiautomatic pistol designed by Carl Walther Waffenfabrik in 1929. During its production history, it was manufactured by various companies such as Carl Walther GmbH Sportwaffen, Manurhin, Interarms and Smith & Wesson under licence from Walther.The Walther PPK is designed for use by police and law enforcement agencies as a concealed weapon. During the Second World War, PPKs were issued in Germany to various military units and also to Nazi Party Officials. In fact, Adolf Hitler used a PPK to commit suicide during the final stages of the Second World War. Several other pistols have been influenced by the design of the Walther PPK. Most notable of these include the Soviet Makarov and the Czech CZ50. The PPK also had several competitors, most notable of which include the Mauser HSC and Sauer Model H.After the defeat of Germany during the Second World War, the occupying allied forces banned the manufacture of guns in Germany. During this period, Walther contracted the manufacture of the PPK to Manurhin in France. Manurhin continued production of the PPK until 1986. Additionally, the PPK was also license manufactured in the United States by Interarms and Smith & Wesson. In fact, today the PPK is manufactured only in the United States.The PPK was the basis of a few variants. These include the PPK/S and the PPK/E. PPK/S was designed to make the compliant with the Gun Control Act of 1968. The PPK/E was announced in the year 2000. It is license manufactured by FEG in Hungary and is much cheaper when compared to the PPK and PPK/S. The Walther P38 is a semi-automatic pistol designed in Nazi Germany at the beginning of the Second World War. It was designed to replace the Luger P08 which was proving too costly to manufacture. The pistol was designed by Walther and later manufactured by other companies such as Mauser Werke and Spreewerke. The design of the P38 was completed in 1938 and the German Army accepted it the same year and scheduled field tests to evaluate the effectiveness of the weapon. However, production of the prototypes didn’t commence until 1939. Production for the army began in mid-1940 after a few glitches found during the tests were rectified. Initially, it was produced only by Walther. However in the later years, Mauser and Spreewerke also manufactured the pistol. More than 1.2 million P38s were manufactured by Germany during the war years. After the war, France also manufactured many more copied using captured parts at the Mauser factory. Production of the pistol continued until 1990s under the name Pistole 1. This pistol was employed mainly by Police and Armed forces of West Germany.The P38 used a double-action trigger and was the first locked-breech pistol to do so. The initial design of the pistol had a hidden hammer. However, the German Army requested an external hammer and so it had to be redesigned. The initial model also has a walnut grip which was later replaced by bakelite. The P38 was used to design several variants in the years following the Second World War. The P1 variant was designed in 1957 and remained in service with the Police forces and Army of West Germany until 1990. The P1 was made using an Aluminium alloy instead of steel and also had minor changes. In the 1970s, another variant was designed. Designated as “P5”, this pistol was designed for use by the Police forces. |
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