The Black Campbell

My new acquisition made me check the blog to see if I had covered this before, a lo! I had not. So without further ado…

Walther PPQ 9mm

Introduced in 2011 as a follow on to the P99, the new PolizeiPistole Quick Defence, or Police Pistol, Quick in English is a 9mm striker-fired semiautomatic pistol with a 15 round capacity. Unlike the P99, there is no “single action” mode, rather the pistol functions similarly to most striker fired pistols. The trigger safety is modeled on the Glock, with a small trigger lock that is depressed when the trigger is pulled, but which should not catch on clothing and cause an accidental discharge. This trigger is exceptional for a striker pistol — the weight is about four pounds, with an incredibly short reset that makes it is very fast to string follow up shots. The polymer frame is topped by a heavy slide which mitigates much of the felt recoil, and the grips have palm swells with slight finger grooving to improve handling. The backstrap is interchangeable with three different sizes to adjust for the shooter’s hand size. The magazine release was originally a German styled paddle on the trigger guard (now the M1 version), and a later M2 release swapped this for the American-style magazine release…because learning a very easy manual arms was too hard. Extended ambidextrous slide releases and large gripping grooves on the slide make this easy to use with gloves and along with the paddle-style magazine release make it easy to use with either hand.

The accuracy of the pistol, out of the box, is hard to beat, and the speed and ease of follow up fire makes this an excellent combat handgun. The grip shape and thin width of the weapon make it easy to conceal. Magazines with longer buttplates allow for a 17 round capacity.

PM: +1   S/R: 3   AMMO: 15   DC: F    CLOS: 0-3   LONG: 8-18   CON: +1   JAM: 99+   RL: 1   COST: $550

GM Information: With the extended magazines, the AMMO is 17 and CON: 0.

In .40S&W the PPQ stats are as follows:

PM: 0   S/R: 2   AMMO: 12   DC: G   CLOS: 0-3   LONG 8-19   CON: +1   JAM: 99+   RL: 1

Black Campbell comments: This is, hands-down, the single best handgun I’ve ever used in 30ish years of shooting. The trigger is on par with the 1911 for crispness and reset, the accuracy is top-notch out to about 30 yards. (Free standing, I did a sub 3″ group last week!) The ergonomics can’t be beat, and the size and shape of the pistol, being on par with the Glock 19, but more rounded and thinner hides well and comfortably in an IWB holster. I cannot recommend this Walther enough. If you don’t like the German-style magazine release on the trigger guard (and I’m a leftie, so it worked much better for me), there’s the M2 version that has the usual American-style “bullet button”.