On the topic of sights, Walther one-ups its German-speaking rivals by offering an adjustable rear sight - standard. G&A’s evaluation featured a Leupold DP Pro. Gun owners are afforded the choice of one free adapter plate to accept their preferred optic. Removing the coverplate reveals the PDP’s deep sight cut. Without, you can still rack the slide with the factory ledge rear sight, but it is even easier if you opted for having a red dot mounted. However, if you have aging eyes, manual dexterity issues or find yourself needing to perform a one-hand slide manipulations, you might appreciate what an easy task it is to install an optic on the PDP. If you want to keep the factory look, then simply keep the coverplate installed. Of course, new to Walther’s new pistol is the fact that every PDP will be optics ready. Cut on the slide’s angular surfaces, they offer substantial control. Serrations on the PDP are coarse and deep, and similar in spacing as the Picatinny rail slots underneath the dustcover. Manipulating the slide isn’t difficult, but the “super” serrations mean that you don’t have to squeeze it as hard to pull and overcome the recoil spring. Unfortunately, they are also calling these “Superterran Serrations,” which might mean something in German but is lost on me. Walther has made the forward-raking slide serrations deeper, edgier and more pronounced. (Mark Fingar photo)Ĭontrol enhancements on the PDP continue to the slide area. Before arriving, these pistols are subject to pressure tests at the Ulm proofhouse. Though manufactured in Germany, the PDP is imported through Walther Arms in Fort Smith, Arkansas. I’ve shot this style of lever enough that I believe those concerns are not an issue. Being as long as it is, some wonder if it could be operated unintentionally. The lever doesn’t protrude like a wart as stubby levers on some pistols do, and it’s long enough that any hand should be able to reach it from either side. Its design makes it truly a slide stop or a slide release. The ambidextrous slide-lock lever is still ambidextrous, and functions with either hand. It’s intuitive to fill the gap up and under the protective beavertail. The bottom of the grip is still flared, too, which supports the high undercut at the back of the triggerguard to raise your hand position on the frame. On that subject, the frame of the PDP eliminates the finger grooves that were on the PPQ but continues the subtle finger humps on the sides. Walther includes interchangeable backstraps for the grip, which are great to tune how the frame fills the palm your hand and positions your index finger in relation to the trigger. Though the Full Size PDP’s grip frame is longer than the Compact’s to accept 17-round magazines, and the compact PDP’s shorter for 15-rounders, the contours and texturing are identical. It becomes more tactile as it is squeezed. The texture is made of many hexagonal pyramids. Walther’s new Performance Duty Texture wraps from the sides of the grip and around the backstraps. Both have stepped chambers and polygonal rifling, which is known to produce accurate groups. One is a full-size variant featuring a 4½-inch barrel, and the second is a compact model with a 4-inch barrel. I now have two PDP samples that represent Walther’s first introductions. Army Special Forces veteran (now firearm training instructor) Larry Vickers ( ), I suspended all temptations to purchase a new striker-fired pistol until the PDP was launched. After shooting a sample in a pistol class with retired U.S. He added, “Only the PPQ series will go away.”Ĭompact Steel Frame models were introduced just a year ago, but while many were clamoring for a sample of the Q4 Compact SF, Walther was already circulating a few pre-production prototypes of the PDP for jury testing. “The Q4 and Q5 will continue,” said Cody Osborn of Walther Arms. Then life got better with the Steel Frame (SF) series in 2019. However, the best variants didn’t appear until the Q4 was announced in 2017 and the Q5 Match arrived in 2018. In my opinion, the PPQ matured when Walther added the M2 push-button magazine release for the American market in 2013. I suppose that’s why it seems unfortunate, especially given that the PPQ was decidedly a better pistol than the P99 it replaced. Introduced in 2011, it doesn’t seem as though the PPQ was with us that long. When I learned that Walther was going to be discontinuing the PPQ, I asked “Why? It’s a great gun!” Don’t get me wrong, I respect the outgoing PPQ. Sure, there’s still a German accent to the PDP, but I can easily understand what this pistol says for Walther. The new Personal Defense Pistol (PDP) wears Walther branding and has some familiarity with the PPQ, but it’s different. MANY OF MY GUNS seem to speak German, but not this one.
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