walther ppk/s - used prices?

[F-Trooper05]

Sorry if I hurt your feelings, but I stand by my statement.

[jbeintherockies]

Not sure if you have seen this excellent article on F2S website. This is pretty much the route I went by blind luck starting out and if I did it over again I'd go the same route even though I'm not shooting Glocks now due to carrying AIWB. 9mm Glocks are almost a second form of currency so unless you do something crazy to it you'll get your money back when you sell it.

I did thank you. It was a good article and going with a G19 seems to be the consensus.

[jbeintherockies]

Everyone's posts have been very helpful. Sorry for singling out only a few to thank.

I signed up for the class for next Friday; but the 20 year veteran is no longer teaching it. I still think I will still learn something, however. This week I am planning on shooting some of the guns that I have been considering. I'll report on how it goes when I do.

Jon

[David Armstrong]

No doubt the Administrator of Yugos.com still drives his and will tell anyone who will listen what an awesome and unfairly maligned car it is, too.

Yes, but has the Yugo stood the test of time and served as the basis for multiple clones from various manufacturers while serving as one of the most commonly selected and used examples of its kind in open competition? No. That is what many seem to forget. Yes, something better may come down the road, but "better" does not automatically mean everything else is suddenly "not good". Not singling you out in particular, Tamara, but this seems a regular problem in the gun world, something new and exciting comes along and it seems many folks suddenly want to completely ignore history and argue that something is a bad choice instead of it is not as good a choice as an alternative but it will still work OK. And even that seems rather selective. We rarely hear, for example, that the 1911 is a bad choice for a shooter, only that other choices are better.

[TGS]

We rarely hear, for example, that the 1911 is a bad choice for a shooter, only that other choices are better.

I hear the 1911 is a bad choice for a shooter all the time. Even LAV says it's a bad choice for most people.

[Tamara]

Yes, but has the Yugo stood the test of time and served as the basis for multiple clones from various manufacturers while serving as one of the most commonly selected and used examples of its kind in open competition?

So has the Colt Peacemaker.

Firstly, my Yugo comment was directed specifically to Interarms-manufactured PPKs, which tend to differ from paperweights in the fact that paperweights were designed and intended to be inert lumps that hold down paper, while the folks at Interarms appear to have held vague hopes that their razor-edged pocket bricks might actually see use as pistols.

But you are also resolutely missing my overarching point: That the PPK was as successful as it was, not because it was the best pocket-sized double-action auto, but because it was pretty much the only pocket-sized double-action auto, outside of esoterica like the HSc, for many years. People were willing to overlook its obvious shortcomings because it did something that no other pistol could do, and as soon as something better came along, sensible folks moved on, leaving only misty-eyed nostalgics to pine over the glories of a pistol that, face it, would probably have ceased production when Interarms folded if it weren't for the lingering influence of Ian Fleming and Eon Productions.

Even twenty years ago, everybody knew that if you wanted a sleek-looking DA pocket auto that actually ran and had a good trigger and was light enough to go in a pocket, you could get a P-230. If you didn't mind a heavy brick with a wretched trigger, but wanted a gun that was actually reliable (a feature not notably found among postwar PPKs, either Manurhin- or Interarms-built) you could get a surplus Mak. And if you didn't mind carrying a jammomatic like the Walther in your pocket, you could get your malfunctions with less weight and half the price by buying a Bersa or Astra Constable.

Th 1911 retains its popularity largely out of misty-eyed nostalgia, too, although there are some people that like it for the same reason that the P-210 has a cult following: If you're willing to shell out an obscene amount of shekels, you can have target-pistol accuracy in a service pistol caliber in a slim gun that's easy to carry tucked in your drawers. A sober-sided assessment would question just how important it was to have target-pistol accuracy in a CCW gun tucked in your drawers, especially when you had to give up light weight, capacity, and a fat stack of hundreds to get it.

[JAD]

I hear the 1911 is a bad choice for a shooter all the time. Even LAV says it's a bad choice for most people.

Haters gonna hate. All due respect to Mr. Vickers, but I can find an equal number of SMEs who consider it the easiest gun to learn to shoot well.

I think the trigger (maybe /in addition/ to misty eyed nostalgia (srsly? Herr G rolled out his ND machines when I was an incredibly impressionable 17 years old -- it took me twenty years to figure out how cool that rampant pony is)) is what ultimately draws people to the 1911. It's really, really easy to learn to shoot well. I don't think it's necessarily that the gun is accurate (I think very few people not on this forum shoot to the limits of their firearm) as that the shooter is more accurate (and often faster, all else equal) with the gun.

[SteveK]

I wouldn't consider LAV's stance on the 1911 "hate". Guys like he and Hackathorn evolve with the times and accept new and better things for what they are and the advantages they offer. That's why they are the great ones. These guys have extensive experience and realize the effort and maintenance required to keep them uber-reliable. The logistics of the 1911 just doesn't make it the wisest choice for units/departments nowadays. Does it make it an obsolete platform? In my opinion no, but even from a single enduser perspective there are probably better choices. Just as the PPK series is obsolete, it can still be a viable carry option. After all, guys like Skeeter Skelton and Bill Jordon didn't have issues with relying on it as a back up or U/C gun and I dare say they traveled a rougher trail than most.

[David Armstrong]

I hear the 1911 is a bad choice for a shooter all the time. Even LAV says it's a bad choice for most people.

Knocking the 1911 as a defensive handgun is a rarely new event and done in a fairly small circle, and I would suggest that given the history of success if one knocks it as being unsuitable for defense one is clearly contradicted by the facts.

[Nephrology]

I just don't get why you would pick the lesser of 2 possible options when you are deciding on something designed to save your life. It seems pretty illogical to me.

the 5 shot J frame is probably more useful than the PPK in 2011.