Any opinions on the Walther .380? Today my wife saw one she liked.

old design, heavy for what it is, known biter of the web between thumb and forefinger.... a Kahr PM9 is a better choice or the new Kahr 380.

I love the PPK/s. However, I have to agree that you could find a better option for defense (more powerful cartridge in same size/weight, or more compact/lighter .380)
As always, IMHO.

Agreed and they are ammo fussy and have been known to jam with no particular reason. I would have to pass, in fact if given one I would sell or trade it ASAP.

My wifes little pink P22 has the backaswards safety which is confusing because it opposite her Beretta. FWIW

I like my stainless PPK.....they take a while to break in and loosen up, and have a lot of sharp edges, but it will go in the pocket of my shorts easily, and it's easy to hit with for a pocket pistol.

it is a little old fashioned and retro....you can get a plastic nine that's no bigger.

Owned a PP for many years. Never jammed, very accurate, good ergonomics. Double action trigger pull too heavy.

Dan

I've had a stainless Interarms Walther PPK in .380 for about 25years. The little gun has worked like a champ and would be one of the last guns to go if I had to sell out.

Carried it for many years in an ankle holster while on duty and iwb off duty at times and killed quite a few ground hogs, copperheads, skunks etc with it as it is suprisingly accurate.

Now with that being said I've heard of many not being totally reliable and there are probably better options out there today.
The Sig 239 in 9mm is just slightly larger, holds two more rounds in a better caliber and won't bite your hand and have sharp edges.

For all the downsides to the PPK, its still a PPK and is worth buying for that alone! Got to be a real German one though and not a "clone"....

The Walther PK?

Love it!
Bought one for my wife for her birthday
Several reasons I chose it, over others.
Weight, poly frame makes it light
sights, real adjustable sights ( not deep conceal friendly but not bad and she will pack it in a custom handbag )

cocking ease, several 380s she could hardly rack the slide.

shooting! It hits everything.
Never been ammo critical. We've shot it weekly ( at least ) since April. And it digests anything. And hits with it

I can hold 2 " groups at 25' all day
she at 18-20 and getting better

Cons:
safety. It has a non -decocking , real safety
Not a bad thing as long as you train to sweep it off!

to lock back the side when empty, one must drop the mag before it will stay open.
It stays after the last ( of eight ) shots.

Barrel wear, the outside of the tube is wearing. But we are shootin the thing a LOT!

Maybe Santa will bring her a new pipe.

The PPK series is a bit heavy due to all steel construction. They tend to point well and are comfortable in a smaller hand. As stated above, they are notorious for hammer bite. When I had one, I shed more blood when shooting it than anything I hit with it ever did. As a blowback design, the recoil spring is heavy and it takes some muscle to rack the slide fully. Also, the DA trigger pull is very heavy and the recoil is rather snappy (again due to the blowback design)..

Our department issued the PPK/S to investigators for awhile back in the late 80's and about 10% of our guns had functioning problems. This was before S&W was involved in their manufacture, so I don't know how the latest guns are. Ours worked better, on average, with hardball than the HP's available at the time (we issued Win Silvertip 85 gr. HP's as I recall).

My opinion is that your wife will like it less after she shoots it than she does looking at it in the gun store.

She will like it less when she tries to rack the slide. Most woman can't do it at all. As stated by others, there are lots of immensly better options out there these days. Too big and heavy for the minimal power offered and the two I have had would only feed FMJ round nosed bullets.

I think the Mauser Hsc is very similar in design to the PPK. I had one many years ago, and it ran fine, but I had no real use for it. The German guns, the Hsc and PP variants are cool, but generally not trouble free.

The Kahrs have pretty good buzz going for them. There are plastic framed .380's, also compact 9mm's in both stainless and plastic frame.

Don't forget the 1911 platform. Colt now has a 9mm in the Defender, if a .45 is too intimidating for her.

Lots of places have guns to rent, and a test run is wise with something intended for serious social purposes.

On autos where women have trouble racking the slides, teach them to keep both arms straight and turn their shoulders to pull the slide back. This trick has proven helpful, with the 3 women I have taught to shoot.

+1

If she or ANYONE either fairly weak or who has arthiritus in their hands tries to rack the slide on a Walther .380 (mine was a PPK/S)......well, it likely just won't happen.

Sold mine many years ago as I had jammin' problems as well. One of the very few sales that I've never regretted and perhaps at the top of that short list.

Try a new PK,
problem solved.

Thanks for the nudge, but I won't go there again.....

Whether 100% reliable and smooth as butter, I've moved on and I don't often look back. Perhaps my loss, but the "old dog, new tricks" thing applies here...with me anyway.

Enjoy yours, however. So many choices and for our own reasons is indeed a privilege.

Best to you.............

Read that as - you can get a plastic .380 that is smaller, lighter, doesn't kick as much, and is far more reliable (K-T P3AT).

If you like .380s, try finding a Remington 51.

Had 10-15 women try my PPK/S I think one actually managed to rack the slide! The rest are too weak in the hands.

Mike

You boys are not being nice. I will check to see if Sue can work it.

You can get a Kel-Tec PF9 9mm for less money in the same size package.

I've owned a PPK. Don't like them. Now that new .380 PPS looks a little more promising.

Funny that most of the negative posts about the PP or PPK were from folks that have never owned one. IMHBAO the PP is the finest 9mm kurz in the world. It is my favorite "Sunday go to meeting" piece in the safe. Nevertheless it is not a "lady's" gun due to the heavy trigger pull and stiff slide spring. Mine is a 1974 made in West Germany model I've had for 25 years. Someone has already said it would be the last handgun to go . . . ditto!

Sorry, I bought my first one in 1970 and have had a couple since, and they all got traded when I was reminded why I got rid of the first on.

I had two PPK's, the first a PPK/S that I broke in and carried a lot for about 5 years, the second a used German PPK which I picked up to see if it was better than the Interarms PPK/S (it wasn't). Despite being heavy for its size, the .380 ACP PPK kicks harder (90 gr ammo) than a Kahr PM9 loaded with 124 gr JHP. Both of my PPK's (and every other PPK I've had occasion to meet & shoot, perhaps half a dozen in total) were fussy with ammo.

There's no denying the PP and PPK are beautiful guns. If you've got a serious jones to own one, and you find it fits your hand and your chosen defensive ammo, you may well keep it. But there are a lot of better subcompact autoloaders available for the same price (or lower).

James Bond can't be wrong

OrangeOkie,

The one we saw is much blockier than what is in your photo.

It's a PP not a PPK(blocky)

Must be the PK380

Hmmmmm, I don't think Bond would have carried one of those.

It just aint sexy like a PPK and image is everything in the spy business or so I hear.

The latest Bond has been carrying the P99.

I just went back and read your OP . . . I assumed when you wrote "Walther .380" you were referring to the "The" Walter .380 . . . PP/PPK. All steel . . . traditional German precison engineering and function. You were probably talking about the various new plastic guns Walther has produced to compete with Glock. I'm a traditionalist when it comes to handguns . . . I like steel, though I do own a S&W Mod 39 (alloy frame) just because it is a classic.

Steelhead,

That's the one.

OrangeOkie,

The only thing I know I am traditional in is marriage. The reason Sue and I were out on the town yesterday was to celebrate our forty-sixth wedding anniversary. We stopped at Sportsmans to pick up some 100 grain .257 TTSXes and some more winter soxs.

Congratulations on the anniversary!

That's a milestone to be very proud of.

My PPK/s was finicky til I treated it with Mil-Tec. Shoots reloads with nary a hitch. Bob ymmv

Enough reason for me to avoid it like AIDS. Latest wannabe 007 is a weanie.

Well....we should all be very embarrassed!

I didn't even know Walther had a new .380. Looks interesting.

That's my wife's new .380, thanks Steelhead
( one day I'll learn to post photos here...)
Her's is the all black ( but not the First Edition )

We both Love it!
It hits and shoots 'soft'
AND she can cock it, strip it and clean it easily

Next time you in the gun shop, check it out

Sue tried the slide. It was easy for her to work it. Should we buy one and put some Magsafe ammo in it?

you won't be disappointed with it
but please, like any auto-loader,
run about 500 rounds through it to break it in

I was issued a PPK/s for a backup/offduty weapon for about 5 years. It was absolutely the most ridiculous piece of garbage ever forced upon me. It had more sharp edges than a Mach3 razor, less reliable than a French Chauchat (sp?) machine gun, and when it malfunctioned, it required disassembly to remedy the little piece of junk. Other than those issues, it was mediocre.

Hopefully, they have come up with something a little more user friendly this time...

For a .380, I opted for a Ruger LCP. A true pocket pistol. No regrets.

If I want to cary as much iron as a PPK I use my Kahr MK40 which is an incredible gun with far more knock-down power, and amazingly easy to shoot.

Might check out the Sig 230/232.

I, too, have a PPK. While they're beautiful guns, they're relatively heavy (all steel), they kick like a son-of-a-gun, their hammer bite is pronounced, and their double-action trigger pull is murderous. Other than that, PPKs are fine.

Long and short of it is that the PPK is rather long in the tooth and, as other posters have observed, there are many better options nowadays.

Flyfast,

I like the Sig 232 for myself. May get one, but after Sue gets what she wants.

Good name...but much better options from all the major names...

That's a wise statement, from a wise man. FYI...My 230 is accurate, more so than the operator.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

I guess I didn't make it clear enough. Maybe I should spel it fonetikly.

You want to buy a PPK? No problem. It's your money.

But since you ASKED on this forum for opinions from informed and experienced persons, I will make ONE more attempt at reason here.

Go to a gun store that has a range, and has guns you can rent & shoot. Rent & shoot a PPK. Then rent & shoot a Glock 26, or better still, if they have one for rent, a Kahr 9mm. ANY Kahr 9mm. If, after you've shot the PPK and at least one other subcompact 9mm/380 ACP, you want to buy the PPK, more power to you.

Ringman: Speer GoldDot JHPs, Remington GoldenSabres. In .380, they are about the best you're going to get. Yes, I know BuffaloBore and Corbon load stuff hotter, but it's also not as feed reliable (at least in my experience, and I've shot a LOT of .380 ammo).

I use to own one. Wish I had it back. It was wonderful. A PPK/S American Stainless Steel .380 ACP. It was a little heavy for a .380 and the bottom edges of the slide serrations were like a buzz saw. This would be easy to correct with a file. The trigger, both double and single action on my gun was OK. It was accurate enough. I shot five inch groups with it at twenty yards. I don't recall the recoil being anything worth commenting on. It was 100 percent reliable. I never had a failure to feed, fire or eject. I traded it for a Colt .380 Government Model, thinking the Colt was a better gun. Big mistake. The Colt was Crap. The only thing I didn't like about the Walther was the magazine release button. If you carry the gun in your rear pocket, it can eject the magazine when you sit. A mag latch on the butt would be a better idea for a pocket pistol.

Years ago my kid thought the James Bond gun was cool and I bought a stainless model in .32. It didn't like hardball, and it didn't last long.

Dad!!!!

No.........mine was in .380.

My bad.......same result.......