Initial thoughts on the Walther PPS

[zacbol]

Based on some posts here on M4Carbine and having read mostly positive stuff about the Walther PPS elsewhere, I decided to pick one up this past week.

I only carry concealed occasionally. It is against my company's policy to have firearms at work and to me the cost/benefit is not there to risk being fired. I'm confident enough in the knife and OC I carry along with what little fighting skills and situational awareness I have to not feel 'naked' without a gun.

Nevertheless, I do try to carry on the weekend and my normal choice is a G19. It disappears quite easily in a Kramer #3 IWB in horsehide (At 5'11'' and 240lbs I can even conceal a full-size HK45 in a tshirt pretty well) but I never forget it's there. It's fairly heavy and bulky IMO and when driving for long period it causes me some back discomfort. I've looked at a few other options, but most of them were too small/awkward to shoot effectively and additionally anything less than a 9mm is also too much of a compromise.

In any event, the Walther seemed to address all of the downsides of the G19 without any of the compromises of other options. I rented one at my local range and found myself shooting *better* with it that the G19. In fact, I'm not much of a shot period, but the Glock has never felt 'natural' in my hands. Perhaps I have 'dainty' hands but the grip is a bit too thick. The Walther, on the other hand, felt *perfect*. It allowed a full grip and felt neither too small or too large. I had 0 issues and other than the idiosyncratic magazine release it seemed perfect. So I bought one right then and there.

A few days later I took the gun to shoot it for the first time. I cleaned it and put a small amount of lubrication per the manual. Using Federal 115grain FMJ, I immediately started getting FTFs with almost every round. Basically I had to manually rack after each shot to chamber the next round. The gun also failed to go to slide lock on the final round.

Soon this progressed to a frequent combination of double-feeds, FTF and FTEs. In addition, the trigger was so gritty at some times the friction seemed to prevent it from resetting. I was needless to say not real happy, but continued on and burned through about 100 rounds. By the end, the issues seemed to be infrequent. The trigger started to smooth out and most magazines were trouble free. I figure I'll put another few hundred rounds through it to break it in and it should be fine. Provided I have 500 trouble free rounds in a a row, I'll make it my EDC. I still think it's a great little pistol, even if I was surprised by these teething issues.

To be fair, I bought a Gen4 G19 (which I ended up returning for the Gen3) which had a lot of issues too. In that case, I had bought it specifically for a class so I didn't have the luxury of waiting to resolve stuff. If I find myself continuing to have issues, I will contact Walther, but I'm pretty confident with a few hundred more rounds things will smooth out. My only complaint now is that due to the magazine release, it's impossible to do administrative reloads while the gun is holstered. I'm hoping to use the gun in a class or two and I already know that will suck in a class. C'est la vie.

Few pics of my G19 next to the PPS:

[opmike]

Thank you for taking the time to share with us your impressions.

[ChicagoTex]

While I absolutely hate the forum it resides in, this post's lubrication guide permanently solved the "failure to reset" problem for me and the occaisonal failure to go into battery when hand-racking the slide.
Fortunately I've never experienced any actual failures like you have, but hopefully this will help anyway.

The PPS is a wonderful weapon system, please don't give up hope just yet.

[JimmyB62]

FYI if you were shooting the Federal Champion line of 9mm 115 fmj, it is THE weakest factory load I have ever shot. That may account for part of your issues.

[jh9]

FYI if you were shooting the Federal Champion line of 9mm 115 fmj, it is THE weakest factory load I have ever shot. That may account for part of your issues.

I've heard this before, and it does feel light. But it also chronos in the 1170s out my g17. About the same as WWB AFAIK.

[oldtexan]

While I absolutely hate the forum it resides in, this post's lubrication guide permanently solved the "failure to reset" problem for me and the occaisonal failure to go into battery when hand-racking the slide.
Fortunately I've never experienced any actual failures like you have, but hopefully this will help anyway.

The PPS is a wonderful weapon system, please don't give up hope just yet.

I have two 9mm PPS that my wife and I bought in the last year. They are her home defense/carry guns. We've put about 1100 rd through each of them. My experience parallels those of the poster (Dmars) in the linked post above.

IMO: The PPS is a tight gun that definitely needs a break-in period, at least 200 but maybe more depending on the particular PPS.

The PPS likes to be run very wet, much wetter than a Glock, especially when new.

Weak 115 gr. ammo is not the best choice to break in the PPS. Most 115 gr standard pressure ammo is weaker than most 124 gr and 147 gr std pressure ammo in terms of recoil impulse IMO. I recommend some good 124 or 147 gr. ammo instead because it provides a heavier recoil impulse than 115 gr. that assists reliability especially when the gun is not yet fully broken in. If you can find it, the Win White box 124 gr NATO FMJ is good stuff and affordable. If not, good alternates would be 124 gr or 147 gr ammo in various lines, including Win USA, Fed American Eagle, Fiocchi, Speer Lawman, etc.

[rburris]

Congrats on your positive experience. I can't recommend the PPS because of the stupid backstrap safety, which disables the gun when it fails. I had a PPS and loved it until the backstrap safety failed completely. S&W fixed it, but their lame excuse/explanation didn't pass the smell test. I hope yours never fails.

[Hmac]

My wife bought a 9mm PPS. I liked it a lot but she wouldn't let me use it, so I bought my own. In both pistols, the trigger tended toward the gritty/mushy side and cleared up, but in over 2000 rounds between them, neither has had a single malfunction.

I agree the backstrap safety is a dumb idea, but it hasn't caused either of us any problem. OTOH, we never remove them...see no need.

[Cagemonkey]

Some time when I have the money, I plan on getting one these for the wife.

[Powder_Burn]

I would agree that light loads in an already tight gun could be part of the issue. Also, the PPS ships dry and has a thin coat of waxy preservative on the internals. It needs a light cleaning out of the box and as you stated the latest iteration of the manual adds a page identifying six points where the PPS needs quality lube applied (i.e. no Rem Oil or WD-40!). I used this guide along with some Miltec and have never encountered any FTF's/FTE's. Across the first few hundred rounds, mine had a draggy trigger and three failures to reset before I followed the maintenance instructions. Since then, I treat it like any other service gun and it has been trouble free.

Also, it is probably a good idea to avoid the early production models. If you want to know how fresh a specimen is, here are the Walther date codes:

A B C D E F G H I K
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

The letter corresponds to the numbers so 'AK' is a 2009 build for example. This is the identifier is found between the "N" proof mark and the stag horn (Ulm) on the slide. I personally would not want a PPS built prior to this date as I have seen too many issues reported with older vintages. If you bought this PPS secondhand and it is a 2007-2008 build, I would be tempted to get a newer one from later production run. Easier than spending time and money to chase gremlins.