Walther PPK Questions.

[Timothy]

Help...

My brother in law bought a NIB PPK as one of his first auto loaders and though I've shot and handled several, it's been nearly 25 years since then.

Problems...

1)  He was sold some MFS .380 ammo, Hungarian made and we had several (at least ten) light primer hits and failure to fire.
2)  We had several FTF with this ammo and eventually stopped shooting it until I could get home and dissasemble the gun and investigate.
3)  The safety/decocker was pretty stiff and needed some persuading to actuate.

When I got home and stripped the gun I found it to be bone dry, no lubrication whatsoever.  This probably caused the failure to feed.  My bad for not checking it before we went but I did function test it and it didn't seem that dry before we went.  We were shooting indoors in a heated shoothouse so temp wasn't an issue.  When we got back, I stripped and cleaned the gun, checked the mechanism and magazines and found them satisfactory and liberally applied "Slide Gllide" and found a noticable difference in function.

Questions

1)  I've never heard of this cheep ammo, does/has anyone else had similar issues with FT fire?
2)  Does this little gun need an extensive break in period?
3)  Where did S&W mark the guns that had the decocker replaced during the last recall?  I need to determine if this gun has been back for the repair?

Thanks in advance....

[garand4life]

I don't know about the ammo, I hadn't heard of it. An answer to your question about the recall markings, here is the link below with ful details.

http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CustomContentDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&content=62303&sectionId=10506

[Timothy]

Thanks G4...

[garand4life]

Once you put some time and rounds into it, let me know what you think of the S&W Walther PPKs. I keep telling myself it would be worth having one just for it's history. Both Military history and Bond'ed history. But I say that about most everything that looks fun! Congratulations to him on his new toy and I hope he can get enough .380 to enjoy it.

[twyacht]

I posted extensively here in the archives about my S&W PPK/S. Before, during, and after the recall. There should be a dimple on top of the tang behind the hammer, as you look down at the top of the pistol, hammer down, tiny little machine mark should be present.

I do not know if the one's made since the recall have the mark, as they should be correct coming out of the Houlton, Maine facility.

Easily checked at the S&W website. via serial number.

They love lube!!!!, A moderate break-in is recommended at the Walther forums, and from personal exp., as the gun is made to very tight tolerances.

The de-cocker needs to be lubed and flipped back and forth about 27,987 times,...(just kidding), but they do loosen up.

Never had a FTFire, but I have never shot that type of ammo. Usually, the "cheapest" I'll go is Aguila .380... and it shoots it fine.

Magtech, Georgia Arms, CCI, all work fine, for target ammo, and I carry Speer Gold Dot, or Cor-Bon DPX for carry, (also in my Kel-Tec),

Really get in there and lube everything, pull the grips off and get in there too, also the factory mags are probably bone dry and a TINY bit of lube really helps as well.

After I got mine back from the recall it was sent back dirty, (I sent it clean), and it had NO Lube at all. But they test fired it at the plant, (which is good), . Let me know how it works out, it should be top notch with another brand of ammo.

Even after breaking in, it might even fire that other stuff, but I'm not familiar with it..

tw

[Sponsor]

[Timothy]

Thanks TW, I was hoping to hear from you.  If you don't mind, I'd like to forward your response to Steve...

[twyacht]

Thanks TW, I was hoping to hear from you.  If you don't mind, I'd like to forward your response to Steve...

I also forgot to mention, Flitz on a cleaning pad; field strip, and using your thumb and a pea sized or smaller amount, make vertical up and down swipes on the feed ramp. No tools, just your thumb and a pad or three,,,,take a good few minutes to "hit" it good.

really makes the feed ramp look like a mirror, and is a nice little "fluff & buff", the equivalent of 1000-1500 grit, really helped with big fat JHP ammo. 

Feel free to fwd. to Steve, let me(us) know how it turns out, I'm sure it will be just fine.

tw

[Timothy]

Thanks TW, will do...

[CJS3]

I had some 9x18 Mak MFS ammo. It worked OK in my CZ82. In fact, it seemed a little hotter than the "standard" makarov ammo you normally see.

[Timothy]

Based on the fact that the gun was so dry, I'm gonna assume that the light primer hits were a result of a dry firing pin and spring assembly.  I can't really fault the ammo until I shoot it in another .380 auto pistol.  I don't have one but my daughter has a buddy with a PPK or one of the knockoffs of the PPK.

We stopped about halfway through the box.