Walther PPQ M2

The PPQ has to be my favourite longbarrelled pistol or LBP here in the UK. The look and feel of it really does it for me, not to mention shooting it! Yeah, I’m a big fan of the 1911s that are out there, plus that Sig styled Firefly looks really nice, but as yet, I haven’t yet had a go of one. The PPQ just feels so good in the hand!

Let’s take it from the top then and take a closer look. Firstly, let’s get the coat hanger or wrist brace out of the way. It’s about as minimal as it gets, which, in my opinion, is a good thing! A slim bit a square bar that is bent over at the end to a right angle, that’s it, there is no bulb like weight on the end, like on a GSG 1911, for example. Now, as you can see, this firearm is mostly polymer, hence it being super light. It’s a real feather weight at 1.6-pounds and, for an LBP, that is really good. When it comes to the slide, there is no zinc alloy here. The M2’s slide is hard anodised and is made from CNC machined aluminium. It offers plenty of grip thanks to the serrations on either side in the usual place, plus, the added bonus of some up front, forward of the ejection port. I especially like the shape of the slide on this pistol; everything is just a bit more squared off and looks a bit more industrial, if that makes sense? The six slide ports at the front near the front sight give the gun a custom look, although they have no real function.

The pistol grip is very comfortable in the hands and offers plenty of grip with its stippling; I especially like the PPQ logo that’s on either side of the lower part of the grip. I have average sized hands and I find the grip adequate for my sticky mitts! On the left-hand side of the upper part of the grip is the magazine release and, I have to say, it’s gigantic! Nothing wrong with that, as it makes for quick and easy reloads! The button is not ambidextrous but can be swapped quite quickly from one side to the other for right or left-handed use. So, let me hear a ‘Hell Yeah!’ for us lefties! I have to say that every now and then just to annoy the right-handed Editor!

Glock-like

The trigger screams Glock at you as soon as you see it with its, well, Glock-style safety on the trigger. I have to admit that I’m not a great fan of these types of triggers, but extra safety features are good and, to be fair, these types of trigger safeties are getting very common now and are found on many rifles. Anyway, it broke nicely on my trigger pull scale at 5.3lbs. The trigger guard again is very Glock in its shape and looks and has plenty of room for a gloved finger, if needs be. The frame is the same polymer that you get on the full-bore versions (not in the UK though, well, apart from Jersey and Northern Ireland!) and it has steel inserts for the slide rails, barrel block, and basically all the moving parts; so, durability wise, the PPQ seems to be a tough little cookie. The pistol has an extended slide catch lever, which is easy to get hold of and it is ambidextrous too!

Forward of the trigger guard is a section of rail, so that you can easily throw on a laser or light if you wish. Field stripping is a piece of cake, which is a breath of fresh air. Just forward of the slide release on either side is a button that you have to pull down simultaneously. Once you have done that, then it’s just a case of pulling back the slide and lifting it upward and off it comes. I found that just doing this was enough to give it a good clean, without taking off the barrel, but again, it’s an easy job.

The mags are steel in construction and are 12 rounders, 18 round mags are available! I particularly like the large base plate on them, as it makes things easier and faster for loading them into the PPQ’s grip. They have a load assist on them, which is good, but I found that it could do with a knurled button, rather than the smooth plastic one, as it wasn’t very grippy; if you have wet or sweaty thumbs, you may struggle.

Stealthy approach

Now, this particular model I had on test was the integrally suppressed one. “Oooh!” I hear you say! Well, it definitely took some of the crack out of the shots, that’s for sure! How does this integral mod work then? Well, it’s basically a ported barrel with a barrel shroud; yep, loads of holes drilled into the barrel to help vent those gases and it does work surprisingly well, although when you have put a few hundred rounds through it and you decide to take off the shroud for cleaning, then it’s time to call your local chimney sweep, as it does get a little mucky!

Reliability-wise, I didn’t have any issues with the Walther. I ran around 300 rounds of sub sonic SK standards, as well as CCI Mini-Mags with no choke ups or stovepipes. I even mixed up mags with subsonic ammo and high velocity; the PPQ just ate it all. I also did a couple of mag dumps with, ahem, fairly fast reloads and this thing just did not miss a beat. Even when it got dirty and believe me, in my testing I like to give guns a bit of a hammering, it still did not fail on me, so pretty excellent, as far as reliability goes!

Accuracy-wise, when it came to paper-work and not steel gongs, I was getting around 3-inch groups at 20-yards from a two-handed standing position using the excellent Shield RMS red dot sight. The open sights are pretty good, with the rear being an adjustable notch and the front being a fibre optic. Myself, I would have preferred fibres all round, but it did not matter on this one, what with the red dot.

Conclusion

Shootability wise, this LBP is so much fun! It is easy to operate and handle with nice felt recoil to bring a smile to your face. The mags drop out freely and fast when the mag release button is pressed, so great for fast reloads for when you are up against the clock! Also, with the pistol being so light weight, you can easily shoot it one handed for some serious target work! I think this pistol will really appeal to the 3-Gun competition guys and gals who want a pistol, well, long barrelled pistol that is light weight, easy to operate and reliable too!