Opinions on Walther PPS?

[newTexan]

What are your opinions on the Walther PPS. I've heard they're great guns, but I've also heard they had a recall and have been prone to breaking down. Anyone have any experience with them? What's the general consensus?

Thanks!

[RECIT]

Had one bought and sold. It was a great gun but just not for me. Very slim but the single stack mag really limits capacity. Mine was chambered in 9mm and was a little on the snappy side as far as recoil. Not a gun I wanted to practice with but certainly a great CCW. Mags are expensive if you can find them. If it fits your hand I would not hesitate buying one.

[couzin]

Had one in 9mm early - really liked the weapon, great conceal, low recoil, good target recovery. However - I could not make my arthritic hands easily work the mag release one handed. I sold it because of that - but did regret it after.

[webb3201]

I can't recommend the PPS highly enough. Extremely accurate pistols with very high build quality. The form factor is amazing and it disappears into an IWB, making it an ideal carry piece. Recoil management is very nice on these pistols, comparable to other pistols in that form factor.

[A-R]

Great pistol. Love mine. It is my go to gun for tucked IWB carry while dressing "professionally". So slim and light, you can forget it's there. With Crossbreed Supertuck or similar holster it disappears, even under dress shirts. And the PPS offers significantly more firepower and better terminal ballistics from 9mm +P (yes it will shoot them, just don't practice excessively with them) out of it's 3.2-inch barrel than .38 out of a snubnose revolver or .380 out of an LCP-size gun.

It is also the second most accurate pistol of it's size I've ever fired. The only gun of this size more accurate is an HK P7. And the P7 is larger and weighs significantly more. It's noticeably more accurate than a subcompact Glock or similar gun out to about 15 yards (I don't often shoot handguns beyond that range).

Recoil isn't bad at all. About the same as a similar-size Glock in 9mm. Certainly less felt recoil than my snubnose .38 or LCP and less than my .40-cal Glock 27.

It points very well for me. Much like a Glock (which it emulates in many ways - the slide and striker-fired action are almost direct ripoffs). But others say it points like an XD (another good comparison). High sight line adds to its pointability. The sights themselves are basic and work. Really wishing Trijicon or someone would put out some night sights for it. XS Big Dot sights are apparently now available, but haven't tried them.

The standard magazine loadout of 7+1 is a trade-off - single stack mag is how they keep the gun so thin. Three choices of mags in 9mm - 6-round flush fit for pocket carry (pinky hangs off bottom) 7-round adds a pinky rest. 8-round is even deeper (a bit too much grip length, IMO). The spare mags are a bit tricky to carry because of the excess plastic bottom plate/finger rest. But I've found a Ripoffs.com pouch that holds a 6-round and 7-round mag inverted fairly well and completely concealed. Keep it on my belt right next to my cell phone pouch and no one has ever mentioned it.

Don't know of any recall they've had for this gun. Many people confuse the PPK recall from last year thinking it was for the PPS. I did however have to send mine back to S&W for a cracked striker guide. S&W screwed up the repair, but after some pushing up the ladder finally got someone to just send me the new part so I could fix it myself - easy fix, slide disassembly exactly like Glock. Interesting note is that even with the broken part, the gun still fired numerous trouble-free rounds before I even realized there was a problem during a random inspection at the range. Details here: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=31200&hilit=+pps+striker+guide" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There have also been reports of people having problems with the slide release lever spring popping out and binding up the gun. Check this forum for details http://ppstalk.com/forum/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The PPS does require some break-in, mainly to smooth the trigger which is gritty at first. A few hundred rounds plus about twice that many trigger squeezes while dry firing works out the grittiness. Also a bit of graphite powder (like what you use for door locks) where trigger bar meets connector can help a bit too).

Anyway, I'm very fond of my PPS. I highly recommend it.

[FL450]

http://www.waltherforums.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is another good resource