Walther Sportmodell - Walther Factory Prize

The attached showed rifle came with a diopter rear sight fitted to the dovetail on the receiver, very similar to the Walther factory diopter, but some hand welding (possibly the original one broke and got repaired, IDK), so I removed it. Maybe the original rear sight might turn up. It is an unique rifle for having a brass plate fitted to the left side of the stock which identifies it as a prize donated by the Carl Walther Waffenfabrik of Zella Mehlis (need to admit, had to clean off some gulp with steel wool, this made the plate much cleaner - black paint inside the letters survived this very well). Looking at it closer it does appear as if the wood of the stock is pretty fancy grain too. Judging from the firing proof it is a later piece.

A shame it is a latter post 1939 presentation. Walther provided some nice prizes at the SA-Marksman Championships held in Z-M from 1937, though only certain prizes were identified in SA publications.

Beautiful rifle!

JoeW said:

A shame it is a latter post 1939 presentation. Walther provided some nice prizes at the SA-Marksman Championships held in Z-M from 1937, though only certain prizes were identified in SA publications.

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Have you ever seen one of the 1937 presentation pieces? I wonder how much they were different.

I'm still happy to own this one though .. there are worse things than a post 1939 presentation piece .

It is a handsome piece and my comment was not meant to denigrate it. It just seems that more documentation is available for pre-war events than after Sept 1939. The SA Marksmanship Championships were moved to Zella-Mehlis in 1937 which proved a financial boon for the city. Many businesses, including Walther responded by supplying prizes for the contests. Walther provided pistols and rifles as documented in SA publications. I had a Walther PP in .22 given as a prize in 1937.

I have a PPK with a gift engraving - it was purchased by a town and gifted by the mayor though - see here for it: https://www.k98kforum.com/threads/commercial-walther-zella-mehlis-ppk.46395/

I mistakenly posted this on your link. The SA shooting championship was different from you Hannovet PPK.

“The Hannovet shooting matches and presentations in 1938 and for this one in 1939 were held during the Gautag days in early May. The Gau shooting matches were final preliminary events to determine the Gau teams to be sent to the National PL shooting matches. Each Gau held such events. I have one of the several PL winning prize PPK for the 1939 Gau Franken match. But the winners of the 1939 matches in each Gau never got to compete in the national matches. As those were held during the Reichs Party Days, the start of WWII cancelled the events.”

No beauty, but also a sportmodell

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