A Reason to buy a gun....

W

win-lose

New member
Turns out, I only had one auto-loader in my collection, a large 5" 45acp 1911. This obviously would not do.... Today I rectified the situation. I now own a brand spanking new small 380 PPK.

I cleaned it up, then went straight to the the range. It had 1 failure to feed, the very first round in the second mag, which I attribute the mag being brand spanking new. I went through about 150 rounds without further incident.

The gun is very accurate, and very fast. A natural pointer. In the negative column, it beat the crap out of my hand. It seems S&W have solved the slide/hammer bite issue by replacing it with a tang pounding issue. The tang banged me up real good.

I'm still a bit undecided about what ammo to carry with it...

VAH38002.jpg
 
Skans - because there is shipping/preservative grease and other residue on the gun, in the barrel, etc. that must be cleaned up before shooting. It's something I always do with every new gun I get.
 
Last edited:
skans - because there is shipping/preservative grease and other residue on the gun, in the barrel, etc. that must be cleaned up before shooting. It's something I always do with every new gun I get; and, I dare say; so do others here.
Click to expand...

As most of the guns I've purchased are used, I may have overlooked this...but I don't require doing any special cleaning to the few guns I purchased new before shooting them. That includes a Glock, Desert Eagle, Ruger Mark II and perhaps a few others. Either way, I wasn't criticizing the OP, just honestly couldn't figure this out.
 
win-lose,
congrat's on the PPK, I think they are fantastic pistols.
I have been ccw'ing a stainless Interarms PPK for 15 years or so
and it is absolutely my most comfortable CCW handgun.
Yes, it definitely has a lot of "snap" to it when you pull the trigger,
but not so much as to be unmanageable. I originally carried mine
loaded with Winchester Silvertips, but switched later on to Federal
Hydra-Shoks. Both function flawlessly in my gun.
And good luck on finding ANY ammo, these days.:rolleyes:

Walter
 
This really surprised me the first time I fired one. It certainly makes your 1911 seem gentle doesn't it?
Click to expand...

So true... I have nice black and blue mark from the tang... I need to get that thing rounded!

Just currious, why would you have to clean up a brand new gun before shooting it?
Click to expand...

Like Big_Bill, I clean my new guns because:
1) It gives me a chance to thoroughly inspect it before shooting it.
2) New guns typically still have manufacturing residue in them (metal shavings and such).
3) New guns typically have thick preservative oils designed for long term storage, not shooting.

Anyway, that's why I do it...

Cute little gun. Where do you find ammo without mortgaging the house and selling your first born?
Click to expand...

Compared to my 44mag/spec, 380 is dirt cheap :) It costs me the same to feed my 38 as the 380, so I'm not too upset.


Beautiful! I love the Walther PPK. It's a timeless design that will always look good.
Click to expand...

Thanks... it is a looker. :D

congrat's on the PPK, I think they are fantastic pistols.
I have been ccw'ing a stainless Interarms PPK for 15 years or so
and it is absolutely my most comfortable CCW handgun.
Yes, it definitely has a lot of "snap" to it when you pull the trigger,
but not so much as to be unmanageable. I originally carried mine
loaded with Winchester Silvertips, but switched later on to Federal
Hydra-Shoks. Both function flawlessly in my gun.
And good luck on finding ANY ammo, these days.
Click to expand...

Thanks Walter. It isn't the snap that is the problem, it is that dang tang that pounds the bone on my thumb. The tang has an edge to it that WILL BE REMOVED. I have some Remington GS's that I've read good stuff on. Not sure if I should just carry Flat nosed jacketed solids??????
 
because there is shipping/preservative grease and other residue on the gun, in the barrel, etc. that must be cleaned up before shooting
Click to expand...

I'm a little ashamed to admit this, but the only failure I ever had with my makarov was when I first got it. I didn't know the cosmoline should be removed before firing. And this thing was CAKED in cosmoline. So I loaded it up and fired away.

I'm lucky I didn't wreck the gun or myself.
 
It had 1 failure to feed, the very first round in the second mag...
Click to expand...
Not uncommon for a new PPK. The stiff recoil spring can make chambering the first round from a mag a bit tricky. I've never had my PPK malfunction once I get the first round chambered, but when it was new I had more than one misfeed while manually chambering the first round out of the mag.
And this thing was CAKED in cosmoline. So I loaded it up and fired away.

I'm lucky I didn't wreck the gun or myself.
Click to expand...
As long as there isn't a bunch in the bore it's usually not a safety issue. It can cause malfunctions and is messy though. If there's a significant amount in the bore that can be dangerous.
 
i usually fire around 100 rounds through a new gun, then take it apart and clean it. i also stone it (u can usually c the wear marks after 100 rounds).
 
Not uncommon for a new PPK. The stiff recoil spring can make chambering the first round from a mag a bit tricky. I've never had my PPK malfunction once I get the first round chambered, but when it was new I had more than one misfeed while manually chambering the first round out of the mag.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info! Since it was the first round ever chambered from that magazine, I wrote it off to the mag being new with a bit of "grab" that worked its way out. Going forward, I will definitely focus on ensuring the slide is racked fully and released cleanly!
 
New or otherwise, you always clean your weapon before you use it and afterward as well. This is pretty much what was drummed into me during my USMC days.
 
Well... I don't think I will be carrying my ppk till I put a lot more rounds down range with it. When I bought it, I had put about 150 rounds through it and had 1 failure to feed which presented as a failure to fire, then failed to eject. This was on the first round of the second magazine ever run through the gun. Since this was the first time that mag had been used and did not repeat again, I thought all was good. So... I had been carrying my ppk for a couple of days, when yesterday, I go to unload it so I can take the dremel to it. I try to extract the chambered round and I had the exact same issue as on the range. The extractor was not grabbing the round and it did not look properly chambered. When I loaded it, I thought a gave it a good sling shot... but I guess not. I'm back to carrying my sp101... 5 for sure.

So... How long of a break in period do you folks recommend before you feel comfortable with your ppk's function?
 
Until you settle on a specific load and a specific cleaning regimen, I don't think you can consider a semi-auto reliable. I found that my PPK/s (about 1,000 rounds so far) would fail to go into battery because of accumulated shooting residue when it was new, often having problems before I finished a box of 50 rounds. As time went on, it seemed to run longer between cleanings, but I also used up my initial stash of Blazer Brass ammo, and started shooting WWB - maybe it loosened up, maybe the ammo was cleaner. The last 500 rounds were all handloads. At one point I verified that, when clean, my PPK/S would reliably shoot factory Speer and Federal SD ammo, as well as a specific handload using Gold Dots and W231. I never shot SD ammo with a dirty gun, so I don't know how that would work and I wouldn't consider it reliable when dirty.

At some point, you should be able to say: I've shot this gun with this ammo with the gun in this condition and it's worked reliably, so I'm reasonably sure it will work now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top