UBB.threads Forums General Militaria Historic and Period Firearms Forum PPK Markings

A friend just acquired an early 30's PPK with stamped markings C.P.B. (note the periods, please). They are in the area of the ejection port (I haven't seen it). Anybody have an idea what the markings represent? Thanks!

Grumpy,

I suspect that it is identifying the German dealer like the Geco markings.

One or two of these have been reported before, in the late 700,000 range. Rather than the stamp of a retailer such a Geco or Waffen-Jung, these letters each with a period are individually engraved. Can't find the thread showing them on another forum, so I can't recall if there was a property number included that might indicate a Werkschutz unit. I at first thought they resembled Cyrillic letters. But so far, no authoritative explanation.

Joe...I did the same thing thinking i remembered a thread on a gun forum about those initials. I couldnt refind it either. If i remember right there were no property marks.

I've heard several different stories about the C.P.B. guns. Some say it's Criminalpolizei Berlin. Other say the "C" would have been "K" during that time period so that can't correct. Others says it was a dealer or exporter. We may never know the true story.

The time period of these guns would have been during the Prussian police era of the early 1930s. The Detective police force of Prussia was never spelled Criminalpolizei. The Prussian regulations for marking weapons and equipment that dated from 1932 indicated the Kriminalpolizei weapons would be marked with a "K.". The Berlin Detective Force was indicated by "K.B.". Before that time, the Kriminalpolizei was a part of the Berlin Police Prasidium and so marked. This information is also found in Don Maus's excellent work "History Writ in Steel". So you can dismiss the idea of Criminalpolizei Berlin.

I even read once someone trying to make a connection to Russia with the C.P.B. relating somehow to CCCP. I'd say the store or distributor relationship is most likely.

That was me suggesting the letters might be cyrillic as I explained in the post above. I checked with a collector friend in Russia and he couldn't find a match.

Grumpy, can you get the serial number of the gun? Would be interesting to know if it is in a tight range in the 763 xxxs. The last three digits are important. Thanks.