lagerratrobe
Member
Picked up a NIB Walther PPK/S in .22 lr yesterday at my local shop. The curves were appealing to me and it's small enough that I figured I could throw it in my coat pocket when I walk the dog. Won't stop a PCP-addled fool, but would likely be better than using bad language and a stick when the neighbor's pit-bull goes after me. (Then again, I'd probably be better off with a .454 if that beast ever got loose.) The gun is well made and put together and I don't feel any concern about the alloy material used for the slide. The machining is crisp and precise and overall the gun looks and feels good.
Took it to the range this morning and fired 100 rounds through it. Out of the box, it shot a couple inches high from 30 feet but after installing one of the higher front posts that came with the gun, I was able to consistently hit within a 2" - 3" area around my point of aim. Recoil is mild, but stronger than I expected. My guess is that this is due to the blowback design of the gun and its small size. It fits well in the hand and I appreciated having the magazine extension that lengthens the grip a bit. When it went bang, it was pleasant and controllable, as you'd expect from a .22. The key is "when it fired".
I'd read that 22 autos are finicky about what ammo they like and that stove-pipes and other hangups are not unusual and "Boy howdy", as Walt Longmire would say, I was not disappointed in that regard. Out of the 100 rounds I fired, 50 or 60 were fired from full, 10 round magazines. All of them failed-to-feed the second round from the magazine. I assume this is because the magazine feed tension is too high and maybe this will improve over time, maybe not. I fired the remaining rounds from 9 round mags and that problem went away. In addition to the feed problem, I also had several stovepipes and failures to fully eject. In fact, the last round I fired is actually stuck in the breech and will need to be rammed out when I get home. For some reason the ejector isn't catching and hopefully I didn't break something. I'll fire another 400 rounds through it before I decide if I'm going to get rid of it, or not, but so far my impression of it is "meh". And I definitely won't be carrying it with me on walks.
I have a Browning Buck Mark that should be arriving later this week that I hope to use in Bullseye competitions later this year. I'm curious to see whether I have the same sort of feed problems that I had with the PPK. I suspect I won't, since it has a longer barrel and should generate more pressure to actuate the slide, but we'll see. So far, I have about a 10% failure rate with the rounds fired through the PPK, which is astoundingly high to me. Oh yeah, and the ammo I was firing was 40 grain Winchester Super-X Power-Point. I also tried firing 10 rounds of Winchester Super-X Plated Round Nose and those jammed every other round. Since I have 200 more of the latter, I'm hopeful the Buck Mark likes them better.
So my overall impressions right now are:
- Get a .380 or .32 ACP center-fire pistol if you want a small, concealable auto.
- Get a revolver if you want to shoot .22 from a pistol reliably.
- The PPK/S is beautiful and well made, but is not reliable in .22 caliber.
These opinions may change over time, but reflect the way I'm feeling at the moment. I'll give the PPK a good cleaning and will cycle the slide a few hundred times while watching TV, or something. Hopefully it'll get more reliable as it ages. Will update this post after I've fired a brick through it.
Took it to the range this morning and fired 100 rounds through it. Out of the box, it shot a couple inches high from 30 feet but after installing one of the higher front posts that came with the gun, I was able to consistently hit within a 2" - 3" area around my point of aim. Recoil is mild, but stronger than I expected. My guess is that this is due to the blowback design of the gun and its small size. It fits well in the hand and I appreciated having the magazine extension that lengthens the grip a bit. When it went bang, it was pleasant and controllable, as you'd expect from a .22. The key is "when it fired".
I'd read that 22 autos are finicky about what ammo they like and that stove-pipes and other hangups are not unusual and "Boy howdy", as Walt Longmire would say, I was not disappointed in that regard. Out of the 100 rounds I fired, 50 or 60 were fired from full, 10 round magazines. All of them failed-to-feed the second round from the magazine. I assume this is because the magazine feed tension is too high and maybe this will improve over time, maybe not. I fired the remaining rounds from 9 round mags and that problem went away. In addition to the feed problem, I also had several stovepipes and failures to fully eject. In fact, the last round I fired is actually stuck in the breech and will need to be rammed out when I get home. For some reason the ejector isn't catching and hopefully I didn't break something. I'll fire another 400 rounds through it before I decide if I'm going to get rid of it, or not, but so far my impression of it is "meh". And I definitely won't be carrying it with me on walks.
I have a Browning Buck Mark that should be arriving later this week that I hope to use in Bullseye competitions later this year. I'm curious to see whether I have the same sort of feed problems that I had with the PPK. I suspect I won't, since it has a longer barrel and should generate more pressure to actuate the slide, but we'll see. So far, I have about a 10% failure rate with the rounds fired through the PPK, which is astoundingly high to me. Oh yeah, and the ammo I was firing was 40 grain Winchester Super-X Power-Point. I also tried firing 10 rounds of Winchester Super-X Plated Round Nose and those jammed every other round. Since I have 200 more of the latter, I'm hopeful the Buck Mark likes them better.
So my overall impressions right now are:
- Get a .380 or .32 ACP center-fire pistol if you want a small, concealable auto.
- Get a revolver if you want to shoot .22 from a pistol reliably.
- The PPK/S is beautiful and well made, but is not reliable in .22 caliber.
These opinions may change over time, but reflect the way I'm feeling at the moment. I'll give the PPK a good cleaning and will cycle the slide a few hundred times while watching TV, or something. Hopefully it'll get more reliable as it ages. Will update this post after I've fired a brick through it.
