Tag Archives: Walther

December 9, 2011 · 4:00 am

New in Collection—Yeah . . . It’s Another Walther

But this is a fairly rare one. First, it’s a true West German-made version of Walther’s iconic PP-series—in this case the PPK/S. Second, it’s chambered in .22 LR (5.6mm). The only thing rarer would be one chambered in .25 ACP (6.35mm ). And finally, this one comes with the original Interarms case, factory target, owner’s manual, and tools. You won’t find that combination very often.

We’ve discussed the PPK/S and PPK before, but those pistols were chambered for the .380 ACP and .32 ACP. And as you’ll recall from that blog article, the PP-series was originally designed for the .32 ACP. All other subsequent chamberings were afterthoughts to the original intent of the design.

Being a used gun, this one has seen a bit of wear and shows traces of neglect. I’ve pointed out some of the flaws in the photographs below. But don’t fear. There’s a rebluing in this gun’s future. After that it should regain much of its lost luster.

Just for fun, I also included a comparison photograph next to a Walther P99c AS—the compact version of Walther’s incomparable P99 with it’s revolutionary AS (Anti-Stress) double-action/single-action trigger set in a polymer-framed, striker-fired pistol. These two weapon designs are separated by sixty-four years of progress (the P99 was designed beginning in 1993 came out around 1997 or so).

The original Walther PP came out in 1929, followed by the smaller PPK version in 1931. The PPK/S variation dates back to 1968, and is basically a PPK barrel and slide mounted atop the larger PP frame.

I’m so far very happy with this addition to my collection. I’ll be even happier, I’m sure, when I get to actually fire it and after I’ve had it reblued.

And here are the obligatory photographs:

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Filed under Firearms

Tagged as .22, handguns, historic firearms, PPK/S, Walther

November 14, 2011 · 4:00 am

Ruger versus Walther—Battle of the .22 Target Pistols

Every handgun owner should have one—a .22 caliber target pistol. The ammunition is cheap, making gun practice affordable. The recoil is considerably less than defensive calibers. Less recoil means you can better see if you’re flinching as you pull the trigger, and that makes for better control and greater accuracy later on when you shoot the big stuff.

I’ve owned a Walther P22 target pistol for several years now, and it makes a really great training weapon. It has a single-action/double-action trigger, an ambidextrous external safety that operates in the same direction as older Walther models, and a grip similar to more modern Walther products such as the P99 and the newer PPQ. The ambidextrous magazine release built into the trigger guard further emulates current Walther designs, although the levers are much smaller and therefore more difficult to manipulate than on Walther’s full-size weapons.

The Walther P22 also offers adjustable sights for long-distance target practice and replaceable grip back straps to customize how the butt of the weapon fits in your hand. The P22 is currently in its second iteration, now more closely resembling Walther’s PPQ. The version I own is much closer in appearance to the P99.

Many years ago I owned a Ruger Mark II target pistol and had fond memories of it. So, when I recently drooled over a newer Ruger Mark III 22/45 Hunter with polymer frame, fluted stainless barrel, fiber-optic front sight, adjustable rear sight, and a grip modeled after the famous Colt Model 1911, Ursula whipped out her credit card and insisted I acquire it. The Ruger’s value as a training weapon is a bit more limited; while the Mark III has an external safety, it looks and feels differently than on most similarly equipped weapons. The Ruger also has a straight single-action trigger—great for target practice, less so for defensive gun training, especially if you own a more traditional double-action/single-action weapon.

But being first and foremost a true target pistol, the Ruger 22/45 Hunter is outstanding in this application. The longer sight-radius and high-visibility fiber-optic front sight makes it a dream to aim. The more massive barrel gives the shooter a steadier hand and better controls what little recoil the .22 LR cartridge imparts.

I put these two weapons to a head-to-head test at an indoor range this past Saturday. My good friend Keith McKay brought along his Browning Buck Mark target pistol as well.

I set the target at my normal practice distance of 21 feet (6.4 meters) and tried the P22 first. Having much more experience with the Walther, I expected to out-shoot the Ruger at least initially, and the grouping of my first twenty shots was not bad—a ragged, more or less circular pattern approximately six inches across.

Next up was the 22/45. If I had any thoughts about being better with the Walther, they were quickly dispelled when I retrieved the target. With no adjustment of the sights and absolutely no experience at firing the weapon, I achieved a much tighter grouping (less than four inches across), better accuracy, and I experienced better recoil control and faster times reacquiring the target. There simply was no comparison on this test. The Ruger 22/45 was much better as a target weapon.

Keith gave both weapons a try and his results mirrored my own. This was especially instructive in that Keith had much less experience with the P22, having only fired it once before, and that was many months ago. Thus, Keith was for all practical purposes firing two unfamiliar weapons while still scoring better with the Ruger.

Interestingly, the Browning Buck Mark bested both of the weapons I was testing, but it did not beat out the Ruger by much and I found the hair-trigger of the Buck Mark a bit disquieting. Indeed, the first time I fired the Buck Mark, after having just fired both the 22/45 and the P22, the trigger broke well before I was expecting.

As a target pistol, the Ruger has it all over the Walther. It’s more accurate, easier to aim, displays less recoil, and is faster getting back on target for followup shots. Alas, all is not peaches and cream with Ruger’s Mark III design, however. I remembered that my older Mark II was a bit of a pain to reassemble. Well, Ruger took a bad reassembly procedure and managed to somehow make it infinitely worse. Part of this I attribute to the magazine safety, which requires a magazine to be inserted into the weapon in order to manipulate the trigger and thus the internal hammer. As the hammer has to be uncocked for some portions of the disassembly/reassembly and cocked for other portions, this means you’re frequently inserting and removing the magazine as you struggle to get the weapon back together.

Compounding this idiocy is one of the worst owners manuals I’ve ever encountered. The instructions for disassembly and reassembly are overly complex, counter-intuitive, apparently contradictory, and difficult to perform. How bad is it? This bad—Ruger states in the owners manual that you can watch a video on how to take the 22/45 apart and put it back together by going to their website at www.ruger.com. Go to that web address and see if you can locate it. Ruger couldn’t even make finding the video easy, and that’s just colossally stupid after you’ve just sent a frustrated customer there.

So, it was off to the internet to see other videos put together by YouTubers who kept telling me how simple it really is. Here’s a clue, guys—if it was really that simple, you wouldn’t be producing a video on how to do it and those videos wouldn’t be getting the hits they’re getting. Don’t insult your potential audience by making claims everybody knows to be false just by the mere fact you’re making a video on how to do it.

As you can tell, those smug and self-serving videos telling me how easy reassembly of the Mark III is were of little help, so I started searching for written instructions. That’s when I stumbled upon this simple, eight-step disassembly/22-step reassembly procedure. Now, come on, Ruger, was that so hard? If it was, hire this guy to write your manuals for you. It’ll be money well spent.

Note: One quick point about the Browning Buck Mark—according to the owners manual for that weapon, there is no authorized procedure for taking it apart for cleaning and lubrication. That alone puts the Buck Mark on my do-not-purchase list no matter how good it is. Sorry, Buck Mark fans.

A word about functionality—The Walther P22 can be converted from a five-inch target pistol to a standard configuration model with a 3.42-inch barrel by removing the compensator and installing a separately purchased shorter barrel. Can’t do that with the Ruger.

And the Winner is:

Walther P22 for handgun training
Ruger 22/45 Hunter for target shooting in every regard (aiming, accuracy, recoil management, followup shots, etc.)
Walther P22 for ease of maintenance
Walther P22 for functionality (with optional barrel conversion kit)

If you’re looking for a straight target pistol, however, don’t underestimate the frustration level when attempting to reassemble the 22/45. Spending an hour struggling to get your pistol back together after cleaning and lubrication will totally negate any sense of satisfaction you may have had a short while earlier on the range. Trust me on this.

Now for the pictures:

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Filed under Firearms

Tagged as .22, Mark III 22/45 Hunter, P22, review, Ruger, target pistol, Walther

September 26, 2011 · 12:05 am

When Fashion Goes Macho—Walther P99c AS in 9mm

Well, I must say that I had a pleasant surprise a few weeks ago. I tried something a bit different. I reviewed the classic, compact, iconic Walther PPK chambered in .32 ACP—the cartridge for which that gun was originally designed—and compared it against the slightly larger Walther PPK/S chambered for the more powerful .380 ACP cartridge. The result was The Perfect Fashion Accessory—Walther PPK in .32 ACP.

The response went way beyond expectations. And, as we all know, if you reward bad behavior you only wind up reinforcing it. So, today we’ll take a look at my favorite concealed carry weapon, the Walther P99c AS, and compare it once again to my former favorite, the Walther PPK/S.

The great thing about these pistols is that they are small, yet not so small that you can’t get a good grip on them. They are also extremely accurate out to a considerable distance. Indeed, my diminutive PPK/S remains the pistol with which I’m most accurate—far more accurate than even my old Springfield Armory XD-45 Tactical. That XD-45 is now history. I sold it some time ago in part because of my inability to shoot it well, as well as for other reasons.

Now for the basics:

The P99 series is available in two calibers—9mm or .40 S&W. The weapon depicted here is a 9mm, which is considerably more powerful than the .380 ACP round that is the most powerful round for which the PPK/S is designed.

The “c” in P99c stands for “compact,” as this is the compact version of the P99. The compact versions of this pistol are about half an inch shorter and a full inch less in height. But you give up capacity for concealment. In the case of the 9mm, you lose five rounds (10 rounds in the magazine plus 1 in the chamber vs 15+1 on the full size) and four rounds on the .40S&W (8+1 vs 12+1).

“AS” means it has Walther’s “Anti-Stress” trigger configuration—in addition to double-action and single-action, this third configuration has the light feel of a single-action pull, but the long trigger travel of a double-action pull. Anti-stress is the default trigger configuration immediately following the chambering of a round. If the de-cock button is pressed, the weapon reverts to double-action, the recommended position for concealed carry because the heavier trigger pull affords a greater margin of safety. The weapon goes into single-action following a shot, and remains that way until the magazine is depleted or the de-cock button is pressed.

So, how does this weapon compare in size to the PPK/S? After all, size is very important to concealment, with some dimensions more important than others. In my own opinion height is much more important than length, and width is slightly more important than height. On this score the P99c compares quite favorably to the PPK/S, but the PPK/S still wins during those times when I need something thinner. Weight can also be important, and here the polymer construction of the P99c tops the smaller PPK/S.

The PPK/S measures 6.1” (155mm) long, 4.3” (109mm) high, .98” (25mm) wide, and weighs in at 24 ounces (680.4 grams) with an empty magazine.

The P99c comes in at half an inch longer at 6.6” (168mm), is almost exactly the same height at 4.3” (110mm vs 109mm for the PPK/S), loses to the PPK/S in width at 1.26” (32mm), and weighs less with an empty magazine at 20.8 ounces (589.7 grams).

Because of these very slight dimensional differences, I find myself carrying the P99c far more often than the PPK/S, especially under the bulkier clothing of winter. The two extra rounds and the higher powered cartridge are also a plus in its favor. But in the summer, under a light-weight shirt, I still find myself switching to the PPK/S when clothing dictates something slightly thinner. The smaller holster of the PPK/S also helps under these conditions.

At the range the P99c has proven itself extremely reliable, eating with ease every type and brand of ammunition I’ve ever fed it. It doesn’t matter if the diet is full metal jacket or jacketed hollow points—it’ll eat anything. And being of European origin, the P99 was designed around the slightly heavier 124-grain NATO round, although this weapon has had no problems feeding on the 115-grain rounds more commonplace here in the U.S. The P99 is also rated for +P ammunition, although Walther does warn of increased wear when using this significantly more powerful round. I tend to stick to 124-grain hollow points in standard-pressure rounds for defense and 115-grain full metal jacket for practice. To me +P is more hype than of any actual benefit, so I don’t use it.

As for accuracy, the P99c is very good but I’m still better with the PPK/S for some reason. It’s just nearly impossible to not hit what you’re aiming at with that classic little charmer, and others I know who’ve fired both weapons concur with that assessment. Nevertheless, the P99c is more than up to the task when it comes to hitting your target.

But, hey, a picture is worth a thousand words, right? So here’re 12,000 words worth of images for you: