Walther PP Super - What's it worth??

[JIMinPHX]

A friend of a friend down in Florida has a Walther PP Super that he want's to sell. It's a straight blowback pistol & it's in really nice condition. It kind of looks like a blue PPK with extra big grips. It takes a weird version of 9x18 caliber ammo that I believe is 9 x 18 Ultra. A 9 x 18 mak cartridge jams halfway into the chamber. He says that he has a case of ammo to go with it. He's asking me what I think it's worth. I was thinking that as a regular shooter, it's not worth much, but a Walther collector might be willing to pay something in the $500-$600 range, because it's a rare bird. I'm also thinking that the ammo may be worth more than the gun. Fiocchi supposedly still makes that caliber, but I can't find anyplace that has any on the shelf.

What does everyone else think he should ask for this little oddball?

[btreanor]

Hi Jim:

I've got one in my collection, and I think I paid around $350 to $400 a couple of years ago for it on Gunbroker. You can check the "closed auctions" on their search function to see what they're bringing nowadays.

It is chambered for the 9 x 18 Ultra with a .355 bullet diameter, not to be confused with the 9 x 18 Makarov which shoots a .364 diameter bullet. However, I have made brass for the Ultra by using the Mak brass and running it up into a 9mm Luger sizing die. The rim diameter is still a little over spec, but I've never had a problem with feeding, extracting, or ejecting.

Mine is a fun little gun that "shoots where it looks"!

[JIMinPHX]

Thanks for the info btreanor. I hadn't thought of sizing down Mak brass to fit. That's an interesting way to go. I was thinking that if I bought it, which isn't likely, I'd probably press fit a spacer ring into the chamber to make it take regular .380 ammo.

For the sake of the guy that want's to sell the thing, I was sort of hoping that there might be some hard core Walther collectors out there that look for these things. Apparently, they were custom built for the German police forces back in the '70's. I'm told that they were only used for about 5 years, so I would expect that they are at least somewhat rare.

Functionally speaking, they don't seem to vary very far from a standard PPK, except for the longer chamber.

[9.3X62AL]

The 9 x 18 Ultra was loaded a bit warmer than the 380 ACP, there could be recoil spring and/or slide weight variances from a standard PP.