Little .380 Walther is something else!

[brucev]

Earlier this year at the local den of temptation I saw and bought a as new Interarms marked Walther PPK/S in (you know!!!) .380 ACP. Got a box of Winchester ball w/ it. One unmarked magazine. Now have two Walther nickle plated magazines ... one with the pinky rest and one flat bottom.
I intend the flat bottom for reload if needed when CC.

I've fired a little over 500 rounds of Remington, Fiocchi and Sellier and Bellot through it. No bobbles except a time or two when I let my thumb get on the side of the slide. If I keep my thumb off the slide, it does its thing with no runs, drips or errors. POA = POI with all ball loads at 12 yds.

Have never fired anything like this pistol. If you mess up your grip it will bite you a little bit. W/ a proper hold, the thing shoots like a laser. No problem with hits at 5, 7, 10, 12 and 15 yds. Can usually keep all my shots on a plate.

Today ... fired a box of the Sellier and Bellot. POA = POI at 12 and 15 yds. Groups are nice and round... maybe 3 inches. Shooting plates and not allowed to go down range to measure, etc. Also ... fired some Remington JHPs... nickle plated cases w/ a 102 gr. bronze sort of bullet with a twisted HP. Church member gifted me a box. Recoil was noticably less sharp. At 10 yds., group was no more than 2 inches nicely centered. Guess these will go in the magazines for carry. Going to look into some of the Federal .380 ACP loaded with the 99 grain HST JHP bullet. That got a very good review on Lucky Gunner.

Never really had a little CC pistol long term. The ones I had were all short term, borrowed but never owned. When I've needed a pistol, I'd slip my Sig 226 in my briefcase. Now that I've got this little PPK/S, I've gotten used to having it in my pocket. Glad I bought it. Later may look at a Glock 42. Who knows.

What do you all think about the ammo part? Any ideas? What about the Lehigh Extreme Defender and Penetrator? Sincerely. bruce.

 

[ColbyBruce]

Personally I prefer to carry hardball cartridges in pocket handguns.

 

[Puller]

I had a Interarms imported Walther PPK/S in .380 ACP for many years. It was very accurate and very reliable and a good concealed carry piece, but I absolutely hated shooting it. Wearing shooting gloves made shooting it only a little less unpleasant. Too many sharp edges and the PPK/S with it's blowback operation in a .380 was tough on my hand.

Since this was the only .380 I had I just assumed that's how all .380's handled. Then a few years ago I tried a Glock 42 and loved it. Sold off the PPK/S and bought a 42 and have been the better for it.

 

[Geeorge]

Didn't like mine , two much recoil from a 380. Only 380 I have now is a colt mustang plusII

 

[jsbethel]

For several years I carried an Interarms PPK/S loaded with 90gr Federal Hydra Shok - never a problem.

 

[Rpg]

I think you're fooling yourself fussing over theoretical expansion from a 380.

I doubt the expansion you hope for will occur in flesh, bone and clothing. I'm never impressed with ballistic gel performance: it is a good medium to test performance on ballistic gel, but only casually related to performance in a living target.

In a 380, I'm more concerned with penetration than what little expansion can be achieved. Ultimately, hitting the target is more important than expansion.

 

[Bajadoc]

I have an Interarms PPK I bought over 30 years ago. I shot it a lot for a few years with all kinds of hardball. It has never jammed or given me any trouble. The recoil is quite snappy but with a good hold its not too bad. It still looks brand new and continues to be cool.

 

[coltle6920]

I have two Walther's... one stainless and one blued (?)

Fun to shoot but they've taken a backseat to my Sig P365 380. Have only used PMC FMJ so far for all of them.

If I used a benchrest I'd talk about shot groups. For me hitting a 5" target out to 10yds or 12" at 15yds makes them a keeper. They certainly aren't a gun for people with big paws.

I don't know that I'd call Walther's little but they are thinner because they're single stack. I don't carry so I defer that opinion to others.

 

[metrotps]

Personally I prefer to carry hardball cartridges in pocket handguns.

Penetration is paramount in smaller/less powerful cartridges.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

For a second or two I thought you meant Little Walter.

Little Walter - My Babe - YouTube

 

[rockquarry]

I've had three of the Interarms guns. Surprisingly accurate, even at 25 yards, and even with cast bullets. I don't care for the cartridge, but these pistols are interesting to work with. I don't know anything about the US-made guns.

 

[Echo40]

I carried a S&W PPK/S from 2015 to 2019 and my experiences were much the same as your own, the only issue was the weight of it as well as the stout recoil from the straight blowback action, so I ultimately replaced it with a Ruger LCP.
Still, the PPK/S was far more accurate than the LCP and if Walther would bring back the PPK/L chambered in .380 ACP, then I'd gladly retire the LCP for it.

Nowadays, my primary carry is an M&P40 Shield, which is roughly the same size as the PPK/S, but it's substantially lighter and chambered in a substantially more powerful cartridge, yet has less sharp recoil, oddly enough.

 

[mckenney99]

I bought one of the SS Interarms Walther PPK/s' for an off duty gun early in the mid 80's. The gun was very well made and looked really nice. Early on, mine had some feeding issues that eventually tracked down to followers in the magazines being too tight inside the tube. Extra mags were VERY pricey. The mags finally worked themselves in after a pretty good amount of firing. I carried Winchester Silvertips in it, which it fed well after the extended break-in and it was pretty accurate. The gun had 2 HUGE issues. First, I suffered tremendously from hammer bite and the bottom outer edges of the slide were extremely sharp which left every practice session ending in he web of my hands with bloody tracks and pinch marks. Second, it suffered from the nastiest, snappiest recoil that I have even yet encountered. The recoil from my old Kel-tec P3AT is not as bad as the recoil of that PPK/s. I eventually sold the PPK/s to a young troop who insisted that he wanted it and he very quickly passed it on to the local Chief Deputy who has now passed.

 

[surfgun]

.380 Colt Mustang, smaller less recoil.
Want to carry something like the size of a PPK, go G43 or P365.
Have a soft spot for the TPH though.

 

[Golddollar]

I have some of the same guns mentioned here, some of which have been safe queens. I think it is time to declare a ".380 day" and take them all out to the range.

 

[sophie]

Fun to shoot but they've taken a backseat to my Sig P365 380. Have only used PMC FMJ so far for all of them.
.[/QUOTE]
My sentiments exactly. My Sig P365 became my favorite to carry over any of the others. The Sig P365 is not as hard on the hands as some. Works for me.

 

[robertrwalsh]

I got bit a lot by mine, and the DA trigger is horrid.

 

[STCM(SW)]

My PPKs Walther 380 SS Interarms is rather good with any ammo I have shot in it.
Better than nothing.....
My big 44 Spl is tough to CC in the summer.....

 

[STORMINORMAN]

As far as the OP's original question is concerned...

Yes, the Lehigh products are effective IMHO. I reload the 65gr in 380 acp, 9mm (and even 357 SIG upon occasion) with no problems.

Cheers!

P.S. If it was good enough for "Bond: James Bond..." it should be good enough!

 

[brucev]

Re: Lehigh products. Must admit, have given a lot of thought to the Extreme Defender. For stopping tanks and other assorted stuff, the Penetrator looks real good. Also good for multiple assailants. Just line them up and fire for effect! Seriously, will have to give the Defender and Penetrator a go. We'll see. Sincerely. bruce.