Walther PPK/S 22 LR

[CajunBass]

I don't know if I mentioned getting one of these or not, but I did and this little thing is more fun than I could shake a stick at. It's a short range gun, I call it a 3-5-7...that's the yards I shoot it from from. Pretty good at that range, even with my old eyes and general shaky's.

It works with any ammo I've tried. Oh it will jam from time to time with some old Wally-World Federal bulk pack I've had for years, but that's no big deal to me. Clear it and keep shooting.

However, with CCI Mini-Mags, or Stingers, it comes to life. It's never malfunctioned with either of those.

I guess I've put 500 rounds (300 of which were the CCI stuff) through it and it is about the most fun gun I've had in a long time. I had been telling myself (and everyone else) I didn't like shooting 22's at the indoor range but this little thing has changed my mind. It's going to be a regular in my range bag from now on. If I find any other ammo, I'll probably give that a try too.

 

[OLDSTER]

Is there a more classic handgun design than the Walther. ? She's a beauty to enjoy. I own a PP ca.1956 in .32acp.

 

[M29since14]

When I was a teenager a friend’s father owned a PPK/s in .22 that he let us shoot as often as we liked, the only provision being we had to stay on his property, which happened to be along a minor river, so that was no hardship at all. I can’t say how accurate it was but we had a lot of fun with it. I guess if you give two boys a .22 pistol and they can scrape up enough money for a couple boxes of ammo, the girls will be safe for a while and the boys are bound to have fun. Anyway, I happened to see one of those Walthers not too long ago. Fond memories being what they are, I was tempted to buy it. The price seemed reasonable enough, but the matte finish kind of turned me off. I may have to reconsider and go back for a second look. Thanks for showing us that.

 

[Golddollar]

When I was a teenager a friend’s father owned a PPK/s in .22 that he let us shoot as often as we liked, the only provision being we had to stay on his property, which happened to be along a minor river, so that was no hardship at all. I can’t say how accurate it was but we had a lot of fun with it. I guess if you give two boys a .22 pistol and they can scrape up enough money for a couple boxes of ammo, the girls will be safe for a while and the boys are bound to have fun. Anyway, I happened to see one of those Walthers not too long ago. Fond memories being what they are, I was tempted to buy it. The price seemed reasonable enough, but the matte finish kind of turned me off. I may have to reconsider and go back for a second look. Thanks for showing us that.

Go for it. Relive the memories. You'll kick yourself if you let it get away.

 

[Echo40]

Congratulations!

I've owned one since 2015 and I love it.

It has never given me any trouble, aside from one instance of a stuck case which I blame on the dirty Remington Golden Bullet ammo I was shooting through it that day.
My only complaint is the heavy 17.5lb double action trigger, but fortunately the single action is only a mere 5lbs, so it's a non-issue.

 

[mauser9]

Like the knife and the gun! Kinda miss my Interarms Walther in .380 I had and swapped for the CS-9 but I found the Smith more accurate plus it's a 9MM

 

[CajunBass]

When I was a teenager a friend’s father owned a PPK/s in .22 that he let us shoot as often as we liked, the only provision being we had to stay on his property, which happened to be along a minor river, so that was no hardship at all. I can’t say how accurate it was but we had a lot of fun with it. I guess if you give two boys a .22 pistol and they can scrape up enough money for a couple boxes of ammo, the girls will be safe for a while and the boys are bound to have fun. Anyway, I happened to see one of those Walthers not too long ago. Fond memories being what they are, I was tempted to buy it. The price seemed reasonable enough, but the matte finish kind of turned me off. I may have to reconsider and go back for a second look. Thanks for showing us that.

Go for it. It's not the same all steel PPK from years ago. These are made by Uramex, the parent company of Walther, and the slide/frame are made of an aluminun/zinc alloy (Zamak) which is fine for a 22 I suppose. Of course that keeps the price down. I paid about $300 for this one new in the box. An all steel PPK/S in 380 is over $800 around here. I wouldn't have paid that for a 22 version I'm sure.

I forgot to mention, but the barrel is threaded for a suppressor if that's something that might interest you.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Mine is also a good shooter.
I have shot several Brands of ammo, don’t recall any Hang ups.

 

[Boudiepitbull]

Yes! I add a Sparrow suppressor to my .22 LR PPK/S and it's insanely fun to shoot. Just put on a tux and say "Bond. James Bond".

 

[NY-1]

I wanted to love the Interarms 380ACP PPK/s I purchased a few years back, but shooting it for more than two magazines at a time was a miserable experience. No slide bite, but my hand would physically ache after a moderate range session and it just wasn't fun to shoot. Loved everything else about it though.

I picked up one of the new 22LR models to replace it and have been quite happy with it. I've only ever run CCi MiniMags through mine and its never had a hang up. I hope that Walther introduces a 22LR model similarly finished to the standard of the 380ACP models sometime - I wouldn't mind paying more for one like that. (Or if we could convince Beretta to start bringing over the Model 87 in larger numbers!)

 

[boykinlp]

I have one of these Walther PPK/S in .22LR. This pistol was made by Manurhin and imported by Interarms, with permission to use the Walther Banner obtained by Interarms from Walther. The Manurhin logo and "Made in France" are stamped on the butt. The crest and St. Etienne are definite proof that the gun, not just the parts, were made at Manurhin in France and proofed there at the St. Etienne proofhouse. It was probably proofed in 1978-80.

A previous owner of this pistol replaced the original fixed rear sight with an aftermarket adjustable one. From researching, I think it is a MMC (Miniature Machine Company) sight. They were popular back in the 1970's and '80's. It looks like it would take some decent gunsmithing to install them, and it probably wasn't cheap. I don't know what the MMC installation cost. I found this out about MMC. "Back about 40 years ago, Skeeter Skelton convinced a company called MMC out of Arizona to make up an adjustable sight for his then new PPK/s in .22. In the 72 time frame and they were selling as many as they could make." I have yet to shoot this pistol.
Larry

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

A great design and fun pistol.

 

[BB57]

I bought one not long after they came out. I was pleasantly surprised and d found it shot every bit as well as my PP in .22 LR, a British issued L66A1.

The new magazine design is vastly superior and is very well done in terms of both the improved feed angle and the greater stagger in the rear of the magazine the both reduces the potential for rim lock and keeps the stack straighter.

I posted a review on here several years ago showing a picture by picture comparison. It is indeed a Walther PP series pistol in terms of parts and function, adapted for .22 LR with a couple differences. The first is a two piece barrel/shroud arrangement apparently borrowed from the P22 using a barrel nut that tensions the barrel liner in the shroud. But the shroud is pressed into the frame in PP fashion. The second is the frame and slide are made from Zamak alloy, which is a high purity zinc alloy.

The use of zinc has its critics, mostly by folks who view it as pot metal. However the dimensional instability and cracking common to pot metal is an artifact of impurities and the Zamak alloys are made to very high degrees of purities to prevent those issues. When people respond to that with a “yah, but it’s still pot metal” I point out the Henry .22 LR receivers are made from Zamak with a receiver cover over the top, and that usually shuts them up.

Like the OP noted with his, mine is accurate for the type and very reliable with most .22 LR ammo. With decent ammo it’s near perfect and even with Remington Thunder **** bucket ammo it’s been very reliable.

 

[Grayfox]

I'm a long time fan of the Walther PP Series pistols. I picked up one of these .22s a few years ago. I really like it. Yeah, the DA trigger is heavy as Hell. But the SA is quite good. They run best on high velocity ammo. Mine absolutely loves cheap old Remington Thunderbolts. Who'd a thunk it?

 

[inspcalahan]

Owned two. Every time I started to like them, someone offered me almost twice what I paid for them. Now I own none but, always looking for a third.

 

[Old_Cop]

My Walther .22 is in silver finish. It is great fun with a suppressor and very reliable. Highly recommended as a plinker.

 

[KSDeputy]

I want one of these in a nickel finish and cannot find one anywhere. There are tons of black ones, but I don't want a black one. Does anyone know when they will be available?

 

[BB57]

I'm a long time fan of the Walther PP Series pistols. I picked up one of these .22s a few years ago. I really like it. Yeah, the DA trigger is heavy as Hell…./

/…. Mine absolutely loves cheap old Remington Thunderbolts. Who'd a thunk it?

The reliability with Remington Thunderbolts was the biggest surprise for me with mine. I had a couple buckets and a few boxes of the stuff purchased over the years that was unreliable in every semi auto I owned, and not accurate enough to make it enjoyable in a rifle, so it was used almost exclusively in my Ruger Single Sixes and my Model 17.

However, it proved to be near perfect in my PPK/S .22 LR. The only failures I have had have been ammunition related failures to fire due to defective priming.

People complain about the heavy DA trigger, and it is a bit heavier than my other (5) Walther PP series pistols), but it’s an artifact of the PP series geometry. The PP dates to 1929 and was the first DA/SA semi-auto pistol ever marketed.

On the plus side, if you practice with a PP series pistol and get good with the DA trigger, you’ll shoot any other DA/SA or DAO pistol really well.

 

[BB57]

I want one of these in a nickel finish and cannot find one anywhere. There are tons of black ones, but I don't want a black one. Does anyone know when they will be available?

They’ve never been real common. I bought the first one I came across several years ago, and I’ve only seen a couple of others since.

 

[Echo40]

I want one of these in a nickel finish and cannot find one anywhere. There are tons of black ones, but I don't want a black one. Does anyone know when they will be available?

They're not as common as those with a matte black finish, most likely because the nickel plating is more labor intensive.
It doesn't help matters that obviously the nickel finish is far more attractive than the matte black finish.

To this day, I regret my decision to order the matte black model over the nickel model, but it was cheaper and at the time they had it listed as a "blued" finish everywhere, so I was expecting something much more lustrous.