Rarely do I or my wife jump on the newest thing these days. The gun glossies and net bloggers have been giving pretty good press the the new Walther PPK/s .22 LR pistol. American Handgunner had an article with great photos of a nickel plated version.
Saturday, we made a trip to a gun, sporting goods and clothing outfitter shop we visit about four times a year. Lo and behold they had a new nickel plated PPK/s .22 in the case. Looked as good in person as it did in the magazines. Felt good in the hand. Workmanship was nearly flawless. Price was manufacturers list, as expected for a new to market gun. The wife examined it, and loved it so we bought the little Walther.
At home, I did a quick take-down (EASY!) and clean/lube with Weapons Shield. Sunday we went to the local range and set up at seven yards. I had CCI Mini-Mag 40 grain and Winchester bulk 235 36 grain HP ammo with me. The Walther ran flawlessly with the Mini-Mags and was dead-on elevation wise. Ten shot standing groups were pretty good for a pistol with such a short sight radius. The Winchester 235 ammo also grouped well, however the light bullet caused numerous stovepipe jams (easily cleared by racking the slide) due to lake of inertia making the slide short-cycle. Controlled rapid fire was easy. I'm sure just about any 40 grain 1240 to 1280 fps load should work well in the PPK/s .22.
The good and bad. Good -fit finish and function. It is a darn nice, good looking .22 version of 'James Bond's Gun'. The beavertail grip eliminates any chance of hammer bite. Magazine is very easy to load with a full 10 rounds. Windage adjustable back sight and three different height front sights make sighting-in easy. The single action trigger is very crisp and breaks around 6lbs. After 325 rounds, clean-up was easy. The slide and frame mated very nicely. Appears to be durable. Barrel is threaded for the same adapter as the P-22 so you NFA types can add a suppressor can with ease.
The bad- Don't try and shoot the PPK/s .22 double action! Man sakes alive, that trigger must be close to thirty pounds!
As is normal custom in these times it comes with only a single mag and additional magazines are tough to find at the moment. I resorted to paying $3 above list price (list is $32) for two on flea-bay. Price $399 with the much better looking nickel plated version I bought listed at $429, which is about $70 more than some of the 1911 .22LRs.
Conclusion- if you like the looks and feel of the PPK and have always wanted a cheaper to shoot than .32 ACP/380 ACP version, the New PPK/s .22 has a lot to love. Mine will see a lot of trips to the range for can plinking duty!
Saturday, we made a trip to a gun, sporting goods and clothing outfitter shop we visit about four times a year. Lo and behold they had a new nickel plated PPK/s .22 in the case. Looked as good in person as it did in the magazines. Felt good in the hand. Workmanship was nearly flawless. Price was manufacturers list, as expected for a new to market gun. The wife examined it, and loved it so we bought the little Walther.
At home, I did a quick take-down (EASY!) and clean/lube with Weapons Shield. Sunday we went to the local range and set up at seven yards. I had CCI Mini-Mag 40 grain and Winchester bulk 235 36 grain HP ammo with me. The Walther ran flawlessly with the Mini-Mags and was dead-on elevation wise. Ten shot standing groups were pretty good for a pistol with such a short sight radius. The Winchester 235 ammo also grouped well, however the light bullet caused numerous stovepipe jams (easily cleared by racking the slide) due to lake of inertia making the slide short-cycle. Controlled rapid fire was easy. I'm sure just about any 40 grain 1240 to 1280 fps load should work well in the PPK/s .22.
The good and bad. Good -fit finish and function. It is a darn nice, good looking .22 version of 'James Bond's Gun'. The beavertail grip eliminates any chance of hammer bite. Magazine is very easy to load with a full 10 rounds. Windage adjustable back sight and three different height front sights make sighting-in easy. The single action trigger is very crisp and breaks around 6lbs. After 325 rounds, clean-up was easy. The slide and frame mated very nicely. Appears to be durable. Barrel is threaded for the same adapter as the P-22 so you NFA types can add a suppressor can with ease.
The bad- Don't try and shoot the PPK/s .22 double action! Man sakes alive, that trigger must be close to thirty pounds!
As is normal custom in these times it comes with only a single mag and additional magazines are tough to find at the moment. I resorted to paying $3 above list price (list is $32) for two on flea-bay. Price $399 with the much better looking nickel plated version I bought listed at $429, which is about $70 more than some of the 1911 .22LRs.
Conclusion- if you like the looks and feel of the PPK and have always wanted a cheaper to shoot than .32 ACP/380 ACP version, the New PPK/s .22 has a lot to love. Mine will see a lot of trips to the range for can plinking duty!
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I was thinking of getting it but after trying the pull on two different guns said NO WAY!
