I recently picked up a Walther PPQ M2 from Bud's Gun Shop in Kentucky, and took it out this weekend to shoot it. Here's my initial impressions:
INITIAL INSPECTION
The gun comes in a fairly typical hard case with sliding closures on either side of the handle. I liked that it wasn't over-sized like the older M&P cases, or too small to be useful like the Glock cases. The inside is typical as well--foam cutouts, and mine was clearly cut for either the 4" or 5" models. One nice touch that I liked is that the foam on the bottom is less porous, and doesn't look like it would collect moisture as much as the typical foam used, which would make it a little better for storage.
As someone who is dealing with a Glock 20C that shoots almost 2" low at 3 yards, I was really happy to see the test target included. A little extra QC is a nice touch, and gives me a bit more confidence out of the gate.
The pistol itself was pretty dry when I got it, and had a bit of carbon from the test firing. I field stripped it, gave it a full cleaning, and lubed it.
PROS AND CONS OF THE PISTOL ITSELF
Pros
Size: I consider the G19 to the the ultimate pistol, size-wise, and use it as my baseline for comparing all other firearms. The pictures I've seen online make the PPQ look significantly larger than the G19, but in reality it is not. The slide is a touch taller, and the grip is a touch longer, so the extra length is distributed fairly well. With a magazine inserted in the G19, the frame heights are equal. The PPQ is almost exactly between the G17 and G19 in height with mags inserted, and about equal in height to a G17 with no magazine inserted.
Grip comfort: The grip itself is probably the most comfortable of any semi-automatic pistol I've ever held. The finger grooves are subtle, and, unlike Glock, perfectly placed (for me, at least, with my small to average hands). The PPQ comes with 3 choices for backstrap size, and the backstraps fit well and are held solidly in place with a coil roll pin. I was a little disappointed that Walther did not include a tool to remove the backstrap with the gun; I had to dig out a roll pin punch.
Trigger: This is where the PPQ shines. A lot of people have said it is the best trigger on any striker-fired pistol, and beats almost everything that's not a 1911 trigger. All those people are correct. The trigger is amazing. There is some pre-travel, but it is smooth, with almost no take-up, a clean break, and a very short, but positive reset. More on the benefits of the trigger in the shooting section.
Magazine release: I don't really like the paddle-style magazine releases, so I went with the M2 version with the button-style magazine release. The release is large enough to hit intuitively, and the pattern on it is positive enough to push without issue. The release doesn't take as much pressure to depress as a Glock or M&P, but holds the magazine firmly in place.
Slide stop lever: The ambidextrous slide stop levers are quite long--hitting it should intuitive for a shooter who is used to shooting any other popular brand of weapons, from SIG's to 1911's. The levers are slim enough to stay out of the way while shooting, but angled and lined in such a way that engagement is positive and I have no problems depressing them.
Cons
Grip texture: The grip is incredibly slippery, similar to the stippling (as opposed to checkering) on Gen. 2 and 3 Glocks.
Sights: The factory sights suck in almost every way possible. Made of polymer, they appear fragile and I assume they would quickly wear down due to holster wear. The front sight is slanted in such a way that light reflects off of it in an annoying manner to the shooter. The rear sight is drift adjustable, something I consider to be a hindrance on a fighting handgun because they are weaker than fixed sights. The rear sight does not look strong enough to survive racking the weapon on a belt, and has some minor play from finger pressure. The one thing Walther managed to get right with the sights is the size of the front sight and rear notch--it appears to be a .140 front and a .180 rear notch, which makes for a great sight picture.
Much like Glocks, I consider the PPQ sights to be fillers to meet ATF importation requirements that should be replaced with steel tritium options before any serious use.
Front slide serrations: I don't like them--just one more place to keep clean/collect lint/dirt/dust, etc., and I have gotten used to using the rear only to keep my hand away from the muzzle. This is a preference thing more than anything, and they really don't hurt anything, so it doesn't bother me too much. However, I don't like the way Walther put their logo right in the middle of the forward serrations on the left side of the weapon--makes for some fairly sharp edges where the serrations start and stop.
Lack of night sights/aftermarket parts source/holsters: The PPQ is a fairly new design and a bit of a niche gun at the moment, so holsters are not as readily available, there is essentially only two sources for spare parts, and night sight options are fairly weak at the moment, with Trijicon and Meprolight being the only mass-produced options, both of which are drift-adjustable like the factory sights are. Factory night sights are also available, although they are reported to be quite dim, and they, too, are adjustable. The good news is that Dawson has a sold option available with their Charger sights, and Trijicon will be bring HD sights to market soon. There are also rumblings about Ameriglo producing sights as soon as tooling is available some months in the future (fingers crossed!)
Not part of a "family" of guns: A huge benefit to the Glocks, M&P, and H&K's is the ability to have a full-size (or midsize) and compact pistol that share parts, magazines, and holsters. A G17/19/26, M&P full-size and compact, or H&K P2000/P2000 SK is a hard combination to beat, especially for different CCW options or primary/backup weapons for law enforcement. The Walther doesn't have this option, with the closest being the P99C or the PPS, neither of which is a true compact version of the PPQ. It would be nice if Walther would come out with a G26-sized version of the PPQ M2 to fill that gap while keeping magazine and holster compatibility.
SHOOTING
Wow.
Ammo Used
I fired 200 rounds--120 rounds of Speer Lawman 124 gr. FMJ, 50 rounds of Federal RTP9115 115 gr. FMJ, 20 rounds of Speer Gold Dot 147 gr. (which was pretty beat up from years of carry and multiple loadings/unloadings), and 10 rounds of Speer Lawman 115 gr. FMJ. The gun was boringly reliable, and ejection was consistent and strong between 3:00 and 4:00. Most of my spent cases ended up bouncing off the lane divider to my right and landing on the shelf in front of me at the indoor shooting range. I did have one 5:00 ejection and got donked in the head with one case, but it's possible that it bounced off the lane divider first, so I'm not worried about it.
Accuracy
It felt like I was cheating. I fired from 3 yards to 25 yards, and shot at a fairly decent pace (not slow fire, not mag dumps). I tried bulls-eye shooting, failure drills, and just shooting as fast as I accurately could at the A-Zone, and did better than I have with any other semi-automatic pistol. Hitting the quarter-sized 10 ring on bulls-eyes at 7 yards was easy and consistent, as were fast hits in the A-Zone at 25.
I did not shoot groups, but also didn't feel the need--I saw nothing about POA/POI to worry me, and had the test target that came with it.
Recoil
Some have said the PPQ's are "flippier" than the G19's, but I didn't really see it. I would say recoil is on par with a Gen. 3 G19, and a bit flippier than the Gen. 4 G19.
Trigger
The trigger makes it almost impossible to shoot slow--the smooth trigger, clean break, and short reset lend themselves to accurate, fast shooting. I read in another post that one user had a tendency to outrun their sights, and I noticed the same thing, but even on what I called as fliers, they weren't bad--the trigger is much more forgiving than a Glock trigger.
Muzzle Flash
Nothing extraordinary, except with the Federal ammo--this produced a significant flash (probably more the ammo than the gun).
AFTER SHOOTING
There was a slight amount of wear on the barrel hood, but nothing unexpected. Cleaning the weapon was fairly easy, although the frame does have a few nooks and crannies that I don't really see a purpose for that allow carbon to hide in. Fortunately these are on polymer, so it shouldn't be an issue unless you're a little OCD about cleaning like I am.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The PPQ is one of the best polymer pistols on the market today, and probably the best value for the money. It beats the M&P in size, the Glock in comfort, and the H&K in price, and all of them in trigger pull. I just put my G17 RTF and my G19 FDE up for sale to fund another Q, and as soon as I get enough rounds through the guns to vet them, I will be carrying one exclusively with the other as a training weapon. If you're looking at a striker-fired polymer 9mm, the PPQ deserves a hard look.
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Originally Posted by R0CKETMAN
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