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Dragoon 45
07-05-2010, 11:54 PM
I had been looking for a smaller carry/backup pistol for a couple of months and finally decided on getting a Walther PK380. Bought it Sat ($329) and finally got to take it to the range today. I must say I was more than pleasantly surprised by how well it shot. At 10 yards, firing with only one hand, I was able to hold a fist size (2 1/2 -3") group right in the X ring. Using a two hand grip the group tightened up to a little over 1 3/4". I have not yet tried it a longer distance, but I expect it will shoot very well.

In 150 rounds, I had one failure to extract and that I blame on the ammo. I was shooting Monarch (Privi Partisan) 94 grn FMJ's and on the round in question I got a much weaker report and recoil. The slide barely moved and did not eject the round. After checking for a squib and seeing that the bore was clear proceeded to fire the rest of the mag. I also shot a box of Fiochi (sp) ammo and had no problems.

One note of caution, after striping down the pistol to clean it, getting the spring guide and recoil spring back into the slide will cause more than a few four letter words. There is probably a trick for that, but I haven't figured that out yet. That is the only drawback I can find with the pistol.

Although the pistol has a S&W stamp on the slide, it is marked made in Germany and has German proof marks on the slide. I could not find any "made in the USA" markings anywhere on the gun.

Does anyone make a formed holster for this pistol? The only one I could find was one Walther USA had for sale on its site, but I did not care for that style. I checked Midway USA, Brownells, Cabella's, and a few other sites and did not find anything.

DubiousDan
07-26-2010, 03:51 AM
One note of caution, after striping down the pistol to clean it, getting the spring guide and recoil spring back into the slide will cause more than a few four letter words. There is probably a trick for that, but I haven't figured that out yet. That is the only drawback I can find with the pistol.


They are a great shooting pistol but putting the recoil spring and guide rod back is a pain. I use a section of cleaning rod or a screw driver inserted in the front of the slide where the guide rod goes. I hold a lot of tension on the screw driver as I compress the spring and push in the guide rod and it keeps the spring fron flopping around. The guide rod is pushed against the screw driver. There should be a hole or something at the front of the of the guide rod to put a pin in to hold the spring in while reassembling it. I don't know if my description makes sense so if you need a picture just ask.

DubiousDan
07-26-2010, 04:01 AM
So any way, after my first reply I started thinking about what I said about there needing to be a hole so you could use a pin to hold the spring back. Well, there's no hole but there's a pair of needle nose pliers sitting next to me, so I slid the spring on the guide rod far enough so that I could grasp the guide rod about 1/2 inch from the end. Used the pliers to place the rod in it's proper spot and let go. It only took a second and worked like a charm.

MGySgt
07-26-2010, 09:33 PM
For a 380 they sure are not small. I bought one for my wife as she doesn't even like the recoil of a 38 special.

Fits her hands good and I don't have a problem bouncing a 6X6 steel plate at 20 yards. I did try the Hornady Critial Defense through it - good shooting round.

Problem is to find brass to and a decent mould of about 90 grains.

DanWalker
07-28-2010, 10:24 AM
For a 380 they sure are not small. I bought one for my wife as she doesn't even like the recoil of a 38 special.

Fits her hands good and I don't have a problem bouncing a 6X6 steel plate at 20 yards. I did try the Hornady Critial Defense through it - good shooting round.

Problem is to find brass to and a decent mould of about 90 grains.

Hey MasterGuns,
I've got a brass 2 Cav custom mold I'll let you borrow if you want to cast up a bunch of boolits.
It casts a 90 grain HP.

scrapcan
07-28-2010, 12:51 PM
As for the origiginal question of formed holster, one of my coworkers just bought one of these handguns and could not find what he likes fo ra holster so I brought a fewemaples for other handguns for him to look at. He ended up making two or three for it and he had very little leather working experience. So all of us could do what he did, make what you want.

MGySgt
07-28-2010, 03:56 PM
DanWalker - thanks for the offer - but with it over 100 degrees out side my casting shed is just a little bit to warm to cast in right now - maybe in the fall when it cools down some I will take you up on the offer.

Calling me Master Guns - Must be a Marine!

Semper Fi

dogbert41
08-01-2010, 02:01 AM
If it weren't for Lee, I wouldn't have been able to afford to shoot my .380 LCP a whole lot. I shoot the 102 round nose, the 105 swc for 38s, and the 124 tc tl bullet out of mine, pictured below. All worked flawlessly and are shotgun shell at 7 yards accurate.

I load them light so they don't sting my hand. With today's modern defense rounds, the .380 is no slouch. Thanks to cast bullets, you can afford to get good with it as well.

Cell phone doesn't take good close ups, sorry.