Walther PK380

nchunt101

nchunt101

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Anybody carry one? Getting the wife a pistol for her birthday and the Walther seems like a nice little gun. I am looking for something that would be a little more fun to shoot than a LCP. Also looking at the G42 but I like the fact the Walther has eight round capacity.
 
Crazy Carl said:
My wife has small hands & is NOT a recoil junkie & loves her PK380.

It ain't tacticool, but if you want yer missus to shoot n carry, get her something she likes, regardless of "cool factor".
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Thanks. Also is it small enough to conceal fairly easily? I have not laid eyes on one yet.
 
Oh yeah. The softest shooting .380 I've ever fired. It's about the same size/weight as a Glock 19. Not a pocket gun, but not huge & my missus has had it in her purse every day for the last few years.

In the same size range, Walther's CCP 9mm is also a nice piece. The CCP, in fact, is actually a hair smaller, at the same weight. Amazingly light recoil. Wife absolutely loves hers & it has replaced the PK380 as her carry gun.

Walther doesn't necessarily blow my skirt up, personally, but they seem to have figured out how to make reliable pistols that fit women & that the womenfolk enjoy shooting. Seriously, if you want your wife to enjoy shooting & actually carry, get her something she likes. Doesn't matter how much more sense pistol XYZ makes, if she don't like it, she'll neither shoot it, nor carry it.

ETA- the G42 is essentially the same size as my LC9s, but a little lighter. Wife thought it was too snappy & didn't care much for it.
 
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We sold a lot of PK380s to people who couldn't rack most small autos. The recoil spring is very forgiving for small or weaker hands or compromised ability to.grip. Good shooting little guns too.
 
My wife has had one for several years, and loves it. It has a wonderful grip, and has a low felt recoil. It's a pleasure to shoot. My only reservation about her PK380 (I don't know if all PK380s share the same trait) is that it will not shoot cheap ammo. One magazine, maybe two, of cheap ammo, and it will begin to malfunction. Even something like Fiocchi will not cycle reliably; the main issue will be failure to extract, though we have also had the firing pin fail to detonate the round, due to even a small amount of residue building up on the rear of the chamber area. If you put top of the line ammo in it, it will shoot all day.

She has now relegated her PK380 to a position on the night stand, and has gone to a striker fired Walther CCP 9mm for her carry pistol, due to matter (hay and such) getting in around the hammer, while doing chores around the farm. She stopped by to see what I was typing just now, and added a resounding YES vote for the PK380. I agree, with the caveat that it has to be cleaned well after any range time, and it needs good quality ammo to function reliably.
 
I'm kind of a Walther nut and have a PPS and a P22, used to have the PK380. The Walthers are made at two factories. The PPQ/PPS/P99 are made at the Ulm, Germany plant, and they are the finest in German engineering -- Sig like.

The guns that are made at the other Umarex plant have had more QC problems. The CCP has had some real issues with returns, and the workmanship is a step down from the Ulm guns (based on the posts about CCP on the Walther Forum). Some are great, but some have issues. My P22 is made there, and it had to be returned to get a new slide after early feeding issues. Works great now. Walther makes .22s for other companies (Beretta, Sig Mosquito, used to make the Smith & Wesson .22) The PK380 is made at the plant and seems to have had a better service record in the last ten years than the other Umarex guns. The one I had never had a problem from Day 1, a smooth shooter, but I moved on from .380.
 
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tulianr said:
My wife has had one for several years, and loves it. It has a wonderful grip, and has a low felt recoil. It's a pleasure to shoot. My only reservation about her PK380 (I don't know if all PK380s share the same trait) is that it will not shoot cheap ammo. One magazine, maybe two, of cheap ammo, and it will begin to malfunction. Even something like Fiocchi will not cycle reliably; the main issue will be failure to extract, though we have also had the firing pin fail to detonate the round, due to even a small amount of residue building up on the rear of the chamber area. If you put top of the line ammo in it, it will shoot all day.

She has now relegated her PK380 to a position on the night stand, and has gone to a striker fired Walther CCP 9mm for her carry pistol, due to matter (hay and such) getting in around the hammer, while doing chores around the farm. She stopped by to see what I was typing just now, and added a resounding YES vote for the PK380. I agree, with the caveat that it has to be cleaned well after any range time, and it needs good quality ammo to function reliably.
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We sold quite a lot of them and never had a report of that issue, but they generally did not end up in the hands of volume shooters.
 
NCLivingBrit said:
We sold quite a lot of them and never had a report of that issue, but they generally did not end up in the hands of volume shooters.
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Her CCP does exactly the same thing. The time before last that we had it out, I pulled out a box of Fiocchi 9mm to poke holes in a target and, after one magazine, her CCP began to fail to extract. It was almost every other round. I was firing the same ammo in both of my Rugers, and it performed perfectly. I brought it back to the house and cleaned it well, took it back out the following week and fired a box of Hornaday through it with no problems. The CCP is fairly new though, and that may be part of its problem. I doubt we've put a hundred rounds through it. It may settle down after a decent breaking-in period. (I have a Ruger SR9 that took about five hundred rounds before I began to feel absolutely confident that every time I pulled the trigger, I would hear a bang.) Her PK380 and CCP are the only Walthers that we've owned, and with both of them presenting similar problems with cheap ammo; I've just assumed that Walthers are a little picky compared to some other brands.
 
CCP has a decent frame mounted safety. Much better than the PK380 slide mounted safety.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
 
NCLivingBrit said:
We sold a lot of PK380s to people who couldn't rack most small autos. The recoil spring is very forgiving for small or weaker hands or compromised ability to.grip. Good shooting little guns too.
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This^^^. My wife has nerve damage in her hands and has real trouble racking the slides on other semi auto pistols, but she loves her PK380. It really is one of the lowest recoiling pistols I have fired other than a .22, plus lightweight and reasonably accurate. Hers hasn't had any trouble with various kinds of ammo, pretty much eats whatever we fed it. The gun is also a bit larger than most .380s, definitely not a pocket pistol. Personally I don't like the trigger, and the plastic take down tool and safety disconnect is a major turn off. And, definitely give the gun and especially the feed ramp a good cleaning after every range trip. But, it ain't about what I like. It's the first gun I found that she will practice with and carry, so, end of discussion.
 
IMG_0932.JPG This was my wifes 1st pistol. It is a piece of shit. It was a Jam-o-matic for quite some time. Went back to Walther for warranty twice before it got sorted out. Walther customer service completely sucked. It is fixed now and works great, but luckily she has graduated to 9mm & recently to .45.
Anyway about the pistol. Fits a small hand well. The euro type mag release is ambi but the frame has a little nub beneath it that digs into your hand.(you can see it in the pic. its on both sides) Low recoil and pretty accurate. DA/SA, Trigger is good even in DA before the SA. Needs a special key tool to field strip. I do not trust it well enough to let her use it as a carry gun. For awhile she went with a G42 that I installed a Tungsten RSA into so she could easily rack the slide. It worked much better that the PK. Now she carries an XD Mod2 9MM.
 
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Stick said:
This^^^. My wife has nerve damage in her hands and has real trouble racking the slides on other semi auto pistols, but she loves her PK380. It really is one of the lowest recoiling pistols I have fired other than a .22, plus lightweight and reasonably accurate. Hers hasn't had any trouble with various kinds of ammo, pretty much eats whatever we fed it. The gun is also a bit larger than most .380s, definitely not a pocket pistol. Personally I don't like the trigger, and the plastic take down tool and safety disconnect is a major turn off. And, definitely give the gun and especially the feed ramp a good cleaning after every range trip. But, it ain't about what I like. It's the first gun I found that she will practice with and carry, so, end of discussion.
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Take down tool seems to be a Walter fetsh, the thing I like least about their guns.
 
NCLivingBrit said:
Take down tool seems to be a Walter fetsh, the thing I like least about their guns.
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Agreed. It makes no sense to have something so easy to lose. Hers stays in the original plastic box the gun came with and only comes out for cleaning.
 
NCLivingBrit said:
Take down tool seems to be a Walter fetsh, the thing I like least about their guns.
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How many Walthers do you own that require a take down tool?
I have six total (4 different models) and the PK380 is the only one I have that requires the tool.
FWIW, I did order a cheap 4 pack of valve stem removers (~$3.50) to have a backup in every range bag. They work great.
 
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Only issue we had with her P22 was that it didn't like American Eagle 40pk ammo. Runs fine on Federal bulk pack or CCI MiniMags.

Her PK380 didn't like Wolf Gold 94gr JHP. I blame hard primers in that case, but ran just fine on Magtech & Fiocchi. Stays loaded with Fiocchi 90gr XTPs.

Had a couple failures to extract with her CCP at first. She has hand & neuropathy issues & hadn't shot in quite a while, so was likely limp wristing a brand new gun. Since coming back from AR for the recall work (gun could fire if dropped, with safety engaged), she's been shooting much more frequently & it's run perfectly on anything we've fed it.

Again, not what I would choose for myself, but they're pretty solid little guns & seem to work well for the ladies.
 
Like CZ pistols, I prefer the older series. Owned many PP, PPK, PPKs, P38, P1 and a P4. Speaking of CZ still have my CZ83 in .380/9mm Kurz that I got in Germany in 90' when ATF wouldn't allow me to import a CZ82 at the time (not on the C&R list then). Have never had an issue with the 83 during this time. Did have some Walther P99s in Iraq that functioned fine. Prefer a all steel gun and with a hammer.


CD
 
Thanks for all the info. I went another route and ended up trading a surplus Sig229 DAK for a Colt Agent (85%). Sadly I have fallen in love with it and will likely get her something more practical (ie not my new baby).
 
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