Anyone here own a walther P5?

[skyugo]

Another ridiculous metal framed german gun has caught my eye. how are they? :confused:

[GermanSynergy]

Very nice guns. I shot one a few years ago. Until very recently they were standard issue for the Dutch national police.

As with other Walther products (P88), mags are hard to find, as are holsters.

Still, if it's available at a reasonable price, I'd scoop it up.

[varoadking]

Meh...I had one...sold it. I guess they're OK...just not anything special.

[skyugo]

Meh...I had one...sold it. I guess they're OK...just not anything special.

ah just was thinking it might go nice with my HK p7. i should stay out of the collector mindset though. shit gets expensive :o

[motoduck]

I think I have a P5 compact in the back of my safe that I have never fired. 10+ years, a dealer friend had one. He was telling how rare it was and how few were imported. I purchased it and never got around to shooting it (bad habit). Maybe I will have to dig it out?

[JonInWA]

I've had several over the years. They're very well made, but part of the safety process is that the trigger pull mechanically lifts the firing pin into position to be struck by the hammer during the firing process, which results in a perceptible hitch/difference in the last portion of the triggerpull, which is an acquired taste, and requires significant hammer time to become experienced with and fully master.

The plastic grips are far too susceptible to cracking, especialy around the retaining screw. They are subject to softening by many solvents; Kleenbore's Formula Three was the solvent recommended to me by Earl Sheehan of Earl's Repair Service (he's the US Walther expert/parts source)-see www.carlwalther.com. Alternatively, simply replace the OEM factory grips with a set of Hogue rubber cobblestone grips-they're still available (I suspect that Hogue made them under contract for the Dutch police).

Magazines are typical Walther-very well made, quite durable, and ridiculously expensive-and sometime's hard to find.

The heel magazine release is again an acquired taste, requiring practice to master fast reloads.

Later model P5s have the trigger overtravel/adjustment screw mounted in the receiver (as opposed to the earlier simple metal protrusion stud on the back of the trigger), and Walther went through several iterations of magazine releases and take-down levers as well (although from an operational standpoint, I found little difference in use).

They're very interesting guns, but like a HK P7, almost require exclusive use to truly master. Out of my 1970s German Police pistol collection (P5, P6/P225, and P7 PSP), I ended up keeping only my SIG-Sauer P225.

Holsters are easily available from Blade-Tech or Kramer, to name just two sources-the Kramer horsehide will be easier on the P5 finish.

Best, Jon