S&W made PPK/S

What is experience with S&W manufactured Walther PPK/S? I am interested in one with Crimson Trace LG480 laser sight but have heard they can be picky eaters and some had feed ramp issues and there was a recall. I know the early German made PP and PPK could be picky with modern ammo such as hollow points.

When they had the recall I sent a new one back. It had never been fired. It came back so butchered up I called and complained, they had me return it for inspection. They called and apologized, said in a few months they would send another new one and they did. The one they sent had the recall done already. Aside from the time lost, the customer service was good. I learned not to send a note asking them to be careful with a gun, they will destroy it on purpose.

Although functional, I never liked the aesthetics of the extended beavertail. I will stick with my Interarms pistol.

I have one of the new Walther Arms PPK in stainless. Made in Ft. Smith AR. Love it. Whatever quality control issues they had with the S&W made ones seem resolved. And it eats FMJ and JHP ammo without a hiccup.

Love mine, make sure it's had the recall work done or get one made after the recall dates.

ACEd said:

What is experience with S&W manufactured Walther PPK/S? I am interested in one with Crimson Trace LG480 laser sight but have heard they can be picky eaters and some had feed ramp issues and there was a recall. I know the early German made PP and PPK could be picky with modern ammo such as hollow points.

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I have 3 versions of the Walther. An Interarms, a S&W and a Walther from their new US Facility.

Of the 3, the S&W fits my hand best and fires the best. I sent it back to have the recall work done and turn around was about 4 weeks. It still fires fine. The little punch mark under the hammer had me all PO'd but I got over it. It's a carry gun so it is what it is.

I only use ball ammo in these guns. A 380 is not gonna Thru-n-Thru a clothed human torso unless they are malnurished rail thin scarecrows so I stick with ammo I know will work in the guns.

Tytan01 said:

I have 3 versions of the Walther. An Interarms, a S&W and a Walther from their new US Facility.

Of the 3, the S&W fits my hand best and fires the best. I sent it back to have the recall work done and turn around was about 4 weeks. It still fires fine. The little punch mark under the hammer had me all PO'd but I got over it. It's a carry gun so it is what it is.

I only use ball ammo in these guns. A 380 is not gonna Thru-n-Thru a clothed human torso unless they are malnurished rail thin scarecrows so I stick with ammo I know will work in the guns.

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I don't think I volunteer to get shot with the Silvertip JHP's my PPK cycles every time. And I'm 6-1 205. JMHO

Can someone explain to me why the the PPK/S was manufactured here in the US? Putting the PP slide on a PPK frame was a solution to get around the size restriction importation ban in the 1968 Gun Law. Since the US made Walthers do not fall under the 1968 size importation ban, why not just make PPKs and PPs and just forget about the clug to get around the importation law?

I have several Walther PPK, PPK/S & TPH. I prefer the Interarms PPK.

My dept ordered about a dozen S&W Walthers and nobody could get through a qualification course without malfunctions. The guns went back and forth several times until we were done with them and S&W offered J frame swaps which were gladly accepted.

jsbethel said:

Although functional, I never liked the aesthetics of the extended beavertail. I will stick with my Interarms pistol.

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I feel the same way about all the modern 1911's.
Looks goofy and harder to conceal.

BigBoy99 said:

Can someone explain to me why the the PPK/S was manufactured here in the US? Putting the PP slide on a PPK frame was a solution to get around the size restriction importation ban in the 1968 Gun Law. Since the US made Walthers do not fall under the 1968 size importation ban, why not just make PPKs and PPs and just forget about the clug to get around the importation law?

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It has to do with distribution rights in the US. The PPK has to be made in the US to be sold in the US, and the company making it also has the sole rights to the PPK/S as well. So they get made here.

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Back in the day Manurhin made PP series pistols under license to Walther, as well as the parts that were sent to West Germany for assembly into the Walther branded PP series pistols.

Manurhin directly imported pistols to the US, before Interarms became the sole importer of PP series pistols (still made my Manurhin). They were very high quality pistols, but were limited to the PP and PPK/S due to import restrictions in the GCA of 1968.

That arrangement with Manurhin and thus Interarms ended in 1986 when Walther ended the arrangement and started producing their own PP series pistols. Interarms started having them made under license in the US by Ranger, and those Ranger made PPK and PPK/S series pistols were also very high quality.

After Interarms folded, S&W started making the PPK and PPK/S. If they'd have left the design alone it would have been fine. Unfortunately they made changes. The most noticeable is the use of a longer tang. The intent was to prevent slide bite. It does, for the small percentage of people who had the problem due to large hands or who used an excessively high grip. However, for people who carried them IWB on the hip, it made them a lot less comfortable to carry as in a holster that holds it snug to the hip, the tang digs into your side.

Worse, they changed the grip dimensions which mean regular PP series grips don't fit the S&W pistols. They also made other minor changes with the result that my S&W PPK/S would not reliably feed hollow points. In contrast, my Manurhin and Ranger made pistols feed hollow points like the truncated cone shaped 90 gr XTP and the rounded flat point shaped 102 gr Remington Golden Saber hollow points very well.

S&W also had not one but two recalls on the S&W made PPK and PPK/S. In short, they took a well proven design and screwed it up.

jsbethel said:

Although functional, I never liked the aesthetics of the extended beavertail. I will stick with my Interarms pistol.

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The collectors want the Interarms guns, but I like the extended beavertail. The old ppk and ppk/s give me terrible slide bite.

I have a S&W PPK/S .380 ACP which served as my primary carry gun for 2 years until I decided to replace it with the smaller, lighter, cheaper Ruger LCP.
It was 100% reliable with all ammo I fed it, never malfunctioned once, and is easily my most accurate semiautomatic pistol.

Walther snobs hate the S&W PPKs with a passion for daring to deviate from the perfect original blueprint, and they will never miss an opportunity to denigrate them by bringing up the fact that they were recalled, despite the fact that most of them clearly don't even know what they were recalled for because they seem to believe it had something to do with reliability rather than a potentially defective manual safety.
However, in reality, the Smith & Wesson PPKs were exactly what they were intended to be, an updated take on an iconic pistol intended for concealed carry. They modified the feed ramp to reliably feed JHPs and extended the grip tang to help mitigate slide bite, both changes successfully addressed the issues, but obviously Walther Snobs want to pretend that it's okay that older models can't shoot JHPs because they weren't designed to and that slide bite is a result of gripping the pistol improperly, complete with a lesson on the awkward method of gripping the pistol they've devised to prevent slide bite which has never appeared in any official owners manuals for the pistol yet was allegedly intended from the very beginning.
Meanwhile, the new production Walther PPKs have adopted Smith & Wesson's modifications to the design, so clearly they approve of them, but according to Walther Snobs, Walther Arms USA isn't Walther, it's Umarex and surely the artisan gunsmiths who built the PPKs of decades past are rolling over in their graves over the direction the company has been taken in.

Sorry for the mini rant there, but I was subjected to endless ridicule and grief courtesy of Walther Snobs whenever I mentioned that my PPK/S was manufactured by Smith & Wesson, fed all manner of lies and misinformation in regards to how S&W PPKs were the worst examples ever made complete with their insipid elitist opinions regarding Smith & Wesson's modifications to the design, so I kind of hate them. Plus, assuming any of those fools are here, I just wanted to preemptively cover all of their nonsensical assertions on the subject in advance.

In short, Smith & Wesson made an excellent, modern-day working man's iteration of the classic Walther design which performs excellently in my personal experience, and it seems like just about anyone who can manage to judge them on their own merits without comparing them to the classics and completely misses the point that they were designed to be actual firearms for Self-Defense and not fancy museum pieces or safe queens feels the same.

Forte -
I have a German PP in .32, a German PPK/s in 380, a US Interarms PPK/s in .380. And the new Walther Arms PPK stainless. All are in box with all the extras. I consider them to be all equal as shooters. But holy cow, the difference in price! I always wanted an original German PPK, but SNAP! They are pricey! I'm quite happy with the lovely unoriginal new one LOL.

jsbethel said:

Although functional, I never liked the aesthetics of the extended beavertail. I will stick with my Interarms pistol.

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That extended beavertail hits my thumb joint every round and is no fun to shoot..

I second Interarms imports.

BigBoy99 said:

Can someone explain to me why the the PPK/S was manufactured here in the US? Putting the PP slide on a PPK frame was a solution to get around the size restriction importation ban in the 1968 Gun Law. Since the US made Walthers do not fall under the 1968 size importation ban, why not just make PPKs and PPs and just forget about the clug to get around the importation law?

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PPK and PPKS both made by SW and now in Ar but no PP and no 7.65. As far as i can tell. The PPKS gives you the 7+1 same as older PP 380. vs 6+1 PPK. I would buy a PP but it appears most prefer the PPKS as they are sold out but you can still find PPK in at least 2 retail stores.

Design Flaw

I am not a Walther PPK/PPKS expert by any means, but I did own an Interarms .380 ACP and discovered a trait I did not like. Walther PPK/PPKS's of any vintage or manufacturer are very well made, tight little weapons, but brought into the context of today's locked breach .380's they do not compare well. The blowback action means you have to have a heavier gun with stiffer slide springs, not a show stopper. The flaw I stumbled on is the loaded chamber indicator. More modern designs do this with a protrusion on the extractor or a witness hole in the barrel breach. Walther over-engineers (IMHO) a spring loaded rod that pokes through the breach face to detect the presence of a cartridge head. The rod protrudes into the hammer slot to supposedly give the user an indication, perhaps in the dark, that a round is chambered. What can go wrong? A broken spring. If the rod is free to flop back and forth it can periodically jam in the forward position, screwing up feeding by blocking the cartridge head from sliding up the slide breach face. Mine did and it took me a bit of fiddling and a tear down to figure out why, no fun on this Swiss watch compact mechanism. I fixed it and sold it. Beautiful little handguns, but seriously outdated, hot stuff when that's all we had.

quikdraw67 said:

Forte -
I have a German PP in .32, a German PPK/s in 380, a US Interarms PPK/s in .380. And the new Walther Arms PPK stainless. All are in box with all the extras. I consider them to be all equal as shooters. But holy cow, the difference in price! I always wanted an original German PPK, but SNAP! They are pricey! I'm quite happy with the lovely unoriginal new one LOL.

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Oh, don't even get me started on the prices of older Walthers...

The Walther Snobs are really defensive about the prices on vintage models, either claiming that they're worth every penny, (Usually when they themselves are either selling one or bought one for a lot of money) or that they can totally be had for $300 if you shop around.
I honestly can't tell whether they bought one for $300 decades ago and are unaware that prices have changed, if they're referring to models sold at a pawn shop in horrible condition, or if they're speaking of some hypothetical, once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence in which somebody desperate with no idea what it's worth and just wants to make a quick $300 puts one up for sale.
Regardless, I couldn't even find a used Interarms model for under $700 let alone $300, I don't own a time machine, don't want a rusted out junker, and my conscience wouldn't allow me to essentially shark somebody who doesn't know any better either, so even if I were to find someone offering to sell a pristine European PPK for $300, I couldn't just buy it and run without at least mentioning it's worth more first.

Oh, and just so there's no confusion here, they most certainly weren't referring to the new production (2013 - Present) Walther PPK/S-22 that can be readily had for $300 either, because if there's any iteration of the PPK Walther Snobs hate more than those made by Smith & Wesson, it's that one.
Let's not even go down that rabbit hole either, because I own one of those as well, and man could I ramble on about their elitist rhetoric and vitrolic misinformed denigration of that pistol.

Forte Smitten Wesson said:

Oh, don't even get me started on the prices of older Walthers...

The Walther Snobs are really defensive about the prices on vintage models, either claiming that they're worth every penny, (Usually when they themselves are either selling one or bought one for a lot of money) or that they can totally be had for $300 if you shop around.
I honestly can't tell whether they bought one for $300 decades ago and are unaware that prices have changed, if they're referring to models sold at a pawn shop in horrible condition, or if they're speaking of some hypothetical, once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence in which somebody desperate with no idea what it's worth and just wants to make a quick $300 puts one up for sale.
Regardless, I couldn't even find a used Interarms model for under $700 let alone $300, I don't own a time machine, don't want a rusted out junker, and my conscience wouldn't allow me to essentially shark somebody who doesn't know any better either, so even if I were to find someone offering to sell a pristine European PPK for $300, I couldn't just buy it and run without at least mentioning it's worth more first.

Oh, and just so there's no confusion here, they most certainly weren't referring to the new production (2013 - Present) Walther PPK/S-22 that can be readily had for $300 either, because if there's any iteration of the PPK Walther Snobs hate more than those made by Smith & Wesson, it's that one.
Let's not even go down that rabbit hole either, because I own one of those as well, and man could I ramble on about their elitist rhetoric and vitrolic misinformed denigration of that pistol.

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I forgot, I have one of those too! The nickel/stainless/whatever they call it.

Shoots fine, didn't cost a lot to buy, doesn't cost a lot to shoot. Certainly not a carry gun but a fun gun to plink with.

JMHO