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Help me date my Walther KKM

3K views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  superdave269 
#1 ·
I have owned this rifle for years. I forget what I came up with when I tried to date it many years ago. This time I will ask for help in dating it. Believe it or not I bought it from the CMP old auction site. I always figured that someone donated it to the CMP or it was sent back to them when a gun club turned in their rifles by mistake.
I am attempting to attach a pic to help determine the date of manufacture. I do recall that the serial number doesn't help unlike US made rifles.
The barrel is stamped Kal.22l.f.b. Then an Eagle stamp followed by z 70 then what looks like an antler. Next to this on the receiver is the eagle cartouche z a
I hope you guys can help me. I promise to write it down this time LOL.
Trigger Air gun Office supplies Wood Cylinder
 
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#2 ·
The 70 stands for 1970. The rifle was proved at Ulm, where Walther settled after 1945; the Antler is the mark of Ulm, and derives from the arms of Wurtemburg. I think the Z is actually an N for Nitro.

Lfb is Lang fur Buschen, Long Rifle.

Strictly speaking, the 70 is the year of proof rather than manufacture, as Walther do not prove in house. However, it's likely the rifle was tested soon after manufacture.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Tim is correct about the "Z" actually being an N. The eagle and N below it are stamped sideways. The N refers to Nitro to denote the firearm is proofed for modern smokeless powder.

Does the four digit serial number of 3838 seems low for a 1970 Walther smallbore -- KKM or other?

Edit: The rifle must be a UIT model, which would explain the serial number. By 1974 the SN were at 16xxx.
 
#7 ·
0.873im is near as darnit 22mm. That's a lighter target weight among European rifles. Those are often known as an ISU barrel, after theISU Standard Rifle which was limited to 5kg maximum weight. Walther standardised on a 650x22mm barrel later in the 1970s, but I thought they still made a heavy barrel I 1970 (680mm long from.memory).

What's the stock on this one? A Free Rifle would have a thumb hole and all the metal Gibbons at the butt. An ISU Standard would have just a pistol grip, and usually a pretty thick fore-end; Walther made their Standard Rifles in a few variants at this time. There was a special Prone rifle, but these seem to be pretty rare.
 
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