Indian Arms Corporation

whitecoyote

whitecoyote

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Has anyone ever heard of the Indian Arms Corporation? I believe they were produced in Michigan for a short time.
Looking for any information on these firearms.
Thanks!
 
Blue Book says they only made one gun. A Walther PPK type .380 ACP. Some had VR with walnut grips. Mfg. 1975-1977 in Detroit Mich. Only approx. 1000 made. HTH
 
I think BlackAgnes had one for sale here in the classifieds a while back.

Maybe it was something similar though...
 
Gordy--

I don't think I ever listed it for sale, but I might have posted a picture of it. Here it is:
DSC00046.jpg


Tim
 
I've not heard of that company but that means nothing. There are scores out there that I have no knowledge of. All that being said, it's a great looking weapon and in the future I'll know what I'm looking at if another comes along. Thanks for the info.
Ron
 
BlackAgnes,
That's it. .380 cal., correct?
How is the quality of your Indian? Have you ever shot it?
I have a line on one for about $300.00. Good price or not? Sorry for so many questions, just trying to educate myself on the Indian.
Thanks for the information!
 
John, "Indian Arms" was the registered name. It was located on Dequindre north of Davison in Detroit. They made more than 1,000 of the stainless steel PPK clones. I know, because I worked there. They were 380s when I was there. Can't say if they ever produced anything else, they had a 22 revolver prototype in the office.
The quality on the 380 auto was very good and it was said that the parts would interchange with a PPK, but I think some fitting would be in order.
I can't remember the owner's name, Italian guy, not much fun to work for. Got in financial trouble and folded.
 
Good info, all!

Mine is a .380 and the quality seems very good-I haven't fired it, but I may sometime. It would be nice if Walther parts would interchange--you never know when something will break!

I remember owning one years ago--so when this one became available with its original box, I bought it, realizing not many had ever been made and thinking it would be a cool collectible.

If in good shape, I don't think you'd get hurt paying $300 for it.
 
I hear the 'Die Time' usually designated for .380 went to making more 9mm this year- it is scarce. One pirate in ABQ, NM ran an ad trying to get $50 a box! I put my Colt Pocket Model away & started collecting Bricks.
 
I have seen a few Indian Arms autos over the years. They were like the photo above and appeared to be very good quality. I'll bet spare mags would be pretty scarce though.
 
Picked up the Indian Arms Corp., .380 Semi-Auto pistol today.
It cleaned up well. Solid pistol, appears to be very well made.
Thanks for all the information everyone!
25rl7hc.jpg

346u9dt.jpg

1jxlhi.jpg
 
Originally posted by BlackAgnes:
Gordy--

I don't think I ever listed it for sale, but I might have posted a picture of it.

Tim
Click to expand...

Oops, sorry Tim. I must have got your Indian confused with one I saw for sale at a local gun/uniform/lumber shop a while back (you know the one).
 
Indian arms

I have three .380 Indian Arms pistols. PPK parts do not interchange. I looked for a saftey for 20 years until I found one that a former employee had. The first one had the hammer dropped by the safety to often with little to no oil and it snapped. I also found a complete parts kit so if anyone needs a paticular part I may have what you need.
 
Three young narcotics officers in my command bought these Indian .380's back in the mid 1970's or maybe a little later. They were junk. These guys were doing "buys and busts" on the street and they were used more as props to appear as "wrong guy" guns, than weapons carried by police. Most undercovers did not carry a weapon for simple recreational street buys. But in some circumstances, undercover officers posing as small time dealers had to have a gun and it couldn't look or be recognized as a typical police weapon.

Informally, we shot two of the pistols. They performed miserably. Every malfunction imagineable was encountered. About a month later, the 3rd. kid showed up at an informal shoot (we encouraged these) and he rang out about 100 rounds on the mark! He handed me the pistol (empty) I loaded a magazine and at 50 ft. nailed a 10X first up. I don't remember the ammo, but it was 2 to 3 inches spread for the remainder of the magazine. Go figure?

Cheers;
Lefty
 
I too have an Indian, purchased NIB back in the late 70s. It was owned by a cop that had died and the gun shop I did a lot of business with was commissioned to sell his guns. NY has some wacky/strict laws and that is the reason the weapons tuned up at the gun shop.

To put it mildly I have put a lot of rounds through this little gun and it digested everything quite well. That includes lead hand loads, jacketed hand loads and factory stuff. I normally carry a 1911.45 but for many occasions it was prudent to conceal something smaller so the Indian went with me.

I have belt, inside pants and an ankle holster and done right the little gun is totally out of sight. It will fit any holster that a PPK will fit even with that low rib the gun has.

It came with one mag, (the finger grip one as a posters picture shows) I found a couple more mags at a gun show and ground off the plastic at the bottom to make it a bit shorter. Gun is quite accurate for a gun of this class and as stated I found it very dependable.

They made two models of this gun that I’m aware of, the one I have and as shown pictured in other posts and a model that had a key lock on the let (safety) side of the slide. They are much rarer than the standard one with no lock.
 
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