In the early 1930s, Walther began to experiment with changes to its Olympia target pistol in hopes of beating the Colt Woodsman out of its place as the most popular pistol of the type. The most distinctive difference between the Woodsman and the Olympia was in their grip angles; quite straight for the Olympia and sharply angled for the Woodsman. In an effort to answer the question of which was better, Walther built this prototype Olympia with a Woodsman-style grip angle.

They clearly decided that they preferred their existing grip design, because the new 1936 pattern Olympia would continue to use it, leaving this gun as a dead end of an experimental hybrid.