Walther PPK Stainless .380 S&W ???

[Van]

A friend is selling his, needs money. I have wanted a German made PPK for decades. But I am considering getting this one. Concerns...

1- I heard about a s&w PPK recall, is this a real concern?
2- I have owned S&W auto's in the past (1980's) and was not very impressed with them. Is the walther well made?
3- I tend to like heavy bullets in my pistols. What is the biggest bullet (mold?) I can shoot in a PPK? Or what would you recomend? I like Lyman molds, that's all I have ever owned.

[KCSO]

I have used a 124 grain Lee bullet with good sucess. I don't know if I would go any higher in the 380. The S and W Walther is just as well made as any S and W gun. Remember the late 70's to mid eighties was a real low point for Smith. I don't have any information on the recall so I can't help you there.

If the price is right I would go for it.

[9.3X62AL]

Walther PP-series 380s tend to be a little ammo-sensitive with any bullet design other than RN or FMJ. Tweaking the cartridge's overall loaded length a tiny bit usually resolves this problem with the JHPs or truncated-cone castings. FWIW, Walthers in 32 ACP seem to feed reliably with any reasonable bullet design. Like a lot of 32 ACP pocket blowbacks, their platforms did not always make the upgrade to 380 ACP seamlessly.

The several Walthers I've seen made by S&W were very well-made and ran flawlessly with factory FMJ ammo. The S&W autopistols and the Walther system share a LOT of systemic commonality, so it was kind of natural that the two would collaborate on building and marketing the PP-series in this country. I like Walther pistols very much, but like all systems they have their glitches and personality traits you need to work around.

Most USA-made 380 ACP ammo is loaded rather weakly. The "classic" 95 grain FMJ in factory form barely makes 800 FPS in most pistols, and I suspect in the shorter PPK tube the bullet is more likely around 750 FPS. In a couple 380s belonging to friends, we ran handloads and European factory loads that gave the 95 grainers 900 FPS--like Browning designed it to do. A couple of these pistols that were balky with American-loaded FMJs and JHPs ran like fine machinery when fed real ammo loaded to the cartridge's potential.

[Dframe]

Can't help you on the S&W product. Mine is an interarms gun and runs flawlessly.

[S.R.Custom]

I've had a number of both American made and German made Walther PPKs and PPKs' over the years, and the difference is night and day.

The S&W PPK guns I would put on par with the American made guns made by Ranger (and others) when Interarms distributed them here in U.S. They could best be described as "adequate." Fit & finish on the American guns is spotty, they never shot to point of aim, and they frequently needed serious tuning to get working reliably. Groove diameters ran fat at .358 (!!!) or so. And what's with that ugly, huge laser-etched billboard on the side of the S&Ws?

In contrast, all my German made guns --including the mid-80s cold war trophy gun-- were assembled with a much better degree of finish, were much more accurate, and reliably ate anything I fed them.

And to echo what Al said about ammo-- I load all my .380 to the same level that Sellier & Bellot loads their commercial .380 ammo, which is to say, exceeds just about all American published data out there. I chrono'ed the 90 gr S&B stuff shot from a (German) PPK once, and got a velocity in the neighborhood of 930 fps.

[Char-Gar]

I am a fan of the little PPK in 380. I bought a new one in 1964 and carried it and shot it frequently until 1994 when I lost it in a divorce. As soon as the ink was dry on the Divorce Decree I ordered out a new American made PPK in stainles.

I consider my newer American made PPK fully equal to the German product in any way you choose to make the comparison.

[kingstrider]

A friend is selling his, needs money. I have wanted a German made PPK for decades. But I am considering getting this one. Concerns...

1- I heard about a s&w PPK recall, is this a real concern?
2- I have owned S&W auto's in the past (1980's) and was not very impressed with them. Is the walther well made?
3- I tend to like heavy bullets in my pistols. What is the biggest bullet (mold?) I can shoot in a PPK? Or what would you recomend? I like Lyman molds, that's all I have ever owned.

I picked up a S&W PPK/S a few years ago at a pawn shop and have had zero problems with it. Mine digests factory and reloaded ammo with ease and is quite accurate. I even used it when I took my CCDW and carry it quite a bit considering I own more expensive pistols. I bought a Lyman 356242 mold from another member here and it is a good combo. If you can get it cheap you can always get your money back if you don't like it.

[Van]

Thanks for the info guys. I looked into this recall, and it is a very serious thing. S&W states...

Smith & Wesson has identified a condition that may exist in certain PPK and PPK/S pistols which may permit a round to be discharged without the trigger being pulled. When the manual safety is disengaged, Smith & Wesson’s Product Engineering Group has determined that the possibility exists in certain firearms that lowering the hammer may cause a chambered round to fire.

This recall applies to all Walther PPK and PPK/S pistols manufactured by Smith & Wesson from March 21, 2002, until February 3, 2009. The Serial Numbers of the pistol subject to this recall are as follows:

0010BAB - 9999BAB
0000BAC - 9999BAC
0000BAD - 9999BAD
0000BAE - 9999BAE
0000BAF - 9999BAF
0000BAH - 9999BAH
0000BAJ - 9999BAJ
0000BAK - 9999BAK
0000BAL - 5313BAL
0000BAM - 1320BAM
0000LTD - 0499LTD
0001PPK - 1500PPK
0026REP - 0219REP
0001WLE - 0459WLE