NGD: Walther PPS

[Irelander]

New Gun Day

Last night I picked up a Walther PPS. I had been searching for a thin 9mm for covert carry and read some great reviews here on PF and elsewhere that swayed me toward the PPS in lieu of the Sig P290RS. So far I have only handled it a lot and did some dry firing but I really like the size and feel of this gun. I think it will work great for me in the Dark Star Gear AIWB holster I have on order. It came with a 7-rd mag and an 8-rd mag. I will probably convert the 8-rd to a 7-rd as I am not a fan of the large 8-rd base plate. The trigger and some of the internals seem very Glock-like to me which is great since my main carry gun is a G19. I hope to put a few hundred rounds through it this weekend. I will report back then.



I'm all ears for any info, tips, tricks, whatnot for the PPS. Best place to get mags, night sights?

[JHC]

I sure don't recall seeing many (any?) lemons reported among PPS. More than a few regrets at parting with one though.

[ssb]

Southnarc recommended the talon grips, and I've found they work well for me. I chose the rubber ones, rather than the sandpaper-y ones.

In my experience, the large backstrap is more better. Fills out the hand more, feels like a larger gun.

I bought Trijicon HDs off of Amazon, IIRC.

Pick up a 6-rd mag or two. Mine came from eBay. It does wonders for deep concealment. I use the 8-rd mag as a spare, and I have a couple of 7-rd mags as well. For straight up belt carry, I'll use a 7-rd mag.

The Barnes TAC-XPD stuff shoots great out of this, and is my current carry load. Very low recoil, and supposedly it works well. Federal HST 147gr is a bit more stout, but by no means unmanagable. Haven't shot any of the 124gr +P stuff through it, but I do have that as well.

For reholstering, you can stick your thumb over the striker indicator. I've tried to make the trigger break while applying pressure there and haven't been able to make that happen; however, at minimum you'll get an indication that something's not right when reholstering.

I'm at 1700 rounds without a gun-related malfunction. Have had two problems with steel-cased stuff (1x squib, 1x stuck case). There was no break-in period or anything like that.

Overall, this is probably the last handgun I'd part with. It's too damn useful, even if it's not what I prefer to carry (full-sized pistol).

[vaglocker]

Had one for a while and like it a lot. No problems at all. As I've gotten older for one reason or another I've lost my nerve for carrying striker fired guns AIWB without a safety so I got rid of it.

[EricM]

Good stuff from sboers, saved me some typing, I don't have much to add. For carry ammo I've run several boxes of Gold Dot 124gr +P through mine with no problems. You're probably already aware of this but it can be field stripped like a Glock by pulling the trigger to drop the striker, rather than removing the backstrap to decock. Virtually the only negative thing I've ever heard about the PPS is hate for the way removal of the backstrap disables the gun, some people have had them pop off unexpectedly. In many cases it was suspected this was linked to frequent removal of the backstrap, but in at least one case that wasn't a factor (was it JodyH on here?). The Talon grips mentioned above address this concern.

Edit: As far as sights, if you want something beyond the standard Trijicons and such that are available for the PPS, my understanding is Glock front sights can work (sometimes requiring minor modification) and PPQ rear sights can also be made to fit. It's been my plan to put a 10-8 rear on mine with probably a Dawson front, just haven't gotten around to it yet.

[LockedBreech]

I just got mine and I am very, very fond of it. I also like that the right side of the slide now says Walther and not Smith & Wesson since Walther is their own importer now.

My advice is to enjoy a sweet trigger and proper sights on a compact carry gun! It's possible to be shockingly good with this gun, for its size.

[SAWBONES]

Anyone with knowledge of good plain black (not tritium or fiberoptic) sights for the PPS?
I've had no luck finding any.

[Rich]

New Gun Day

Last night I picked up a Walther PPS. I had been searching for a thin 9mm for covert carry and read some great reviews here on PF and elsewhere that swayed me toward the PPS in lieu of the Sig P290RS. So far I have only handled it a lot and did some dry firing but I really like the size and feel of this gun. I think it will work great for me in the Dark Star Gear AIWB holster I have on order. It came with a 7-rd mag and an 8-rd mag. I will probably convert the 8-rd to a 7-rd as I am not a fan of the large 8-rd base plate. The trigger and some of the internals seem very Glock-like to me which is great since my main carry gun is a G19. I hope to put a few hundred rounds through it this weekend. I will report back then.



I'm all ears for any info, tips, tricks, whatnot for the PPS. Best place to get mags, night sights?

Bug use or for primary carry?

[LostDuke]

Have had one for years, and even after the stiff competition of the last couple of years in that segment I think the PPS is still way up there in terms of quality, reliability, ease of concealment. Not to mention that is actually fun to shoot with it. Cannot think of parting from it.

Have never seen black sights for it, I use a big dot and I think it works well but is a world apart from what you are seeking.

[TheNewbie]

So you can thumb the striker indicator when holstering to prevent it from firing?