Originally Posted By: Astro14
Originally Posted By: Al
Originally Posted By: Astro14
I am not a fan of the trigger. It's long, spongy, and with an ambiguous reset. I've polished all the components, and it's only marginally better. It's just a long pull, with so many moving/rotating parts, that it's never going to be crisp.
Realizing that the reset is very important for an accomplished SD person. Its really not a problem with even a "decent " SD shooter (including me)-IMHO As such I am guessing it won't affect your wife's SD shooting. A longer trigger pull (relatively speaking) is actually a good thing for the individual I am describing.
Actually sounds like a good gun for a women. Not being sexist but women have a difficult time racking a pistol without muzzliong themselves. I confess, I can not rack the G42 wihout covering the breech with my pinky, ring finger and middle finger.
Just curious..can she rack it with her thumb and index finger?
I would try the thing, but it would take an act of Congress for me to carry anything but a Glock..agaion..that's just me. Not downing other firearms.
Al - In response to your question above (modified by the edit) - she has no trouble racking it without muzzling anything. It's really easy to rack. Far easier than the G42/43. I'll have to try racking it as you suggest, but it's so easy, I suspect I could rack it with pinky and thumb.
And while I think that this is a great gun for a person of limited hand strength because of the ease of racking it and the low perceived recoil, my wife is not a good example to apply to the "typical" woman/small-handed shooter.
She is a 27 year military veteran who has been assigned as the intel officer to a SEAL Team and deploying expeditionary units. She has qualified expert with the M9, M4, and M16 on dozens of occasions. She used to keep her battle rattle in a "go bag". Any woman in continuous possession of camouflage, helmet, armor plate and holsters isn't exactly "typical"...and the first gun that she bought was a Beretta 92, because that's what she was comfortable with. In fact, when I'm away, that's what sits loaded at home - with a 17 round magazine full of Federal 124gr HST.
Back OT.
The Walther is a great gun for someone with limited hand strength. It's ease of use, good ergonomics, and soft recoil make a 9mm accessible to folks who would otherwise be looking at a .380 or even .32ACP. I really like it, I just don't like the trigger. She really likes it, period.
The sights on the pistol are average - plain black. Not great, not terrible.
One final point on the pistol: it can be picky about ammo. I've put about 400 rounds of Federal HST 124gr ammo (not +P) through it. Not one issue. But some other ammo doesn't work as well. Winchester White box made the pistol unhappy. Of course, WWB made my Glock 19 unhappy, so...I don't buy it anymore... The CCP runs great on Speer Lawman 124gr 9mm, too.
Some writers have reported that +P ammo makes the CCP unhappy. I believe that the gas piston recoil mechanism could potentially be unbalanced by weak or +P ammo. If someone were to get a CCP, I would be certain that they shoot a LOT of their intended carry ammo through the pistol to be certain that ammo functions properly in their pistol. Always my recommendation, but particularly important with this pistol.
Again, I'm a fan of this pistol. An 8+1 single stack that is easy to conceal and very easy to shoot. I was going to buy her a G43, but this has some real advantages (and a few drawbacks: trigger and ammo preference) compared with the Glock. For the record, I like Glocks. I own 7 of them, but the little Walther is good gun with some great features.
Thanks very much. This information is exactly what I was looking for. Plus a great story!