Walther sbs shotgun dated April 1940

[Pongobear]

I have this Walther sbs I picked up at auction thought you guys may be interested in seeing it ...it was made in April 1940 and is one of if not the last ever made by Walther with a four digit serial number so not many were made it also has Nazi era proof marks and east German proofs finally proofed in the UK in the near past it's got the gunsmith details it went to then a strange mark on The stock that looks like a stahlhelm with letters underneath it would deffo have been owned by a high ranking Nazi official who then wangled another job in the sov block after the war due to civvies being banned from owning guns in both eras hope you enjoy looking at it and if any info out there I'd be Interested to know

[1066]

Interesting.. J.A. Frank, Stettin was the "outfitter" for the Nazi upper crust of the area.

My uncle is buried in Stettin. (He was visiting the synthetic oil refinery there in 1945 in a Lancaster)

[ovenpaa]

Nice, is it the Model 80?

[froggy]

Nice gun,

it also has Nazi era proof marks
Are they "nazi" or German 3rd Reich period marking ? Those are 2 very very different things, with a very different meaning.

The stock that looks like a stahlhelm
Can you show us, that sounds interesting

it would deffo have been owned by a high ranking Nazi official
What makes you say that ?

[Pongobear]

Hi the gun was manufactured in 1940 by that time your common garden German citizen couldn't easily aqquire a gun I will attempt onto attach pic of stockings put "Nazi" due to that being the party in power and it's a gereralisation used by most people ie Nazi era

[froggy]

Thanks for those photos.
I can not see any "nazi" markings . If you are referring to the eagle over what looks like a M, they are normal standard proof marks that would be on every 3 reich period shotgun barrels.
The helmet design is, on the other-hand, far more interesting. It looks like a fireman/civil helmet with its typical comb on top (?). I read the 2 first letter on the left as DR (Deutsch Reich) but can not make for sure the on the right ? WZ ?

[Pongobear]

Hi yes I agree they are third Reich markings I put Nazi era to make it easier for all to understand the lettering is D.R WZn I have looked but can find nothing about this whatsoever
Regards
John

[froggy]

Someone /something can be Nazi and not German, and a lot of Germans were not "Nazi" ...
The word "nazi" would have implied your shotgun had an affiliation to the NSDAP, not the case here.

The only Wz I can think about is for WarenZeichen , as in DRWz the trademark, but then what would the N stand for ? and that would make, I guess, the helmet a logo ? Sry I cant help more.

[Pongobear]

Think you are taking out of context my Nazi era statement the NSDAP were in power between 1933 - 1945 Nazi third Reich ....both inventions of a seriously screwed up could try at the time

[Laurie]

Hey, maybe you have one of Fat Hermann's large gun collection there! Thanks for posting the pics - very interesting. Who'd have thought Walther would have still been making shotguns in 1940?! (You can tell Albert Speer was designing over-size egomaniac psychopath-compatible state buildings and Berlin triumphal avenues and arches at that time and hadn't been made Minister for Armaments and War Production!)

I particularly like the helmet icon - somebody somewhere must know what it signifies. 'DR' was a commonly used abbrevation for Deutsches Reichsbahn (German State Railways) but that doesn't seem appropriate.