Career
Not to be confused with the American Lutheran evangelist, C. F. West. Walther. Carl Walther"s father, August Theodor Albert Walther, was a brass and iron caster. His mother, Rosalie Wilhelmine Amalie Pistor, came from the gunsmith family of Pistor, and was the daughter of William Pistor.
Carl Walther studied under gunsmith Willibald Barthelmes, and later under Albin Schneider.
He worked making Mauser rifles for the Jopp company in Zella-Mehlis. In the Fall of 1886 he opened his own gunshop in Zella-Mehlis and soon hired additional workmen to meet the demand for the sports rifles he made.
In 1908 Carl Walther together with Fritz Walther, his the eldest son, designed and produced the first usable German self-loading pistol. Fritz Walther took over the management of the firm after his father"s death in 1915.