PMCI - May 2016

Opening the case you find an extremely attractive handgun. It
has an ergonomic, contoured and non-slip cross-directional grip.
The next two things I noticed was the large magazine release that
can be switched for either right or left hand and the extended
slide stop on both sides of the gun, which is made to operate with
ease even with gloves on. Picking the handgun up I released one
of the two 15 round magazines it comes with from the handgun. I
grabbed the slide noticing the aggressive front and rear serrations
and locked the slide back with ease.
Looking at the top of the slide I found 6 vent ports giving the
slide a hot rod look. The gun being safe, I pulled and released the
slide and felt the smooth crisp 5.6 lb. trigger. It did not feel like
it even took 5 lbs. I held the trigger, cycled the slide and felt the
reset. Wow, that was awesome right out of the box. They claim
a short .4” travel, .1” reset and I can tell you this was pleasantly
pleasing as I repeated the process several more times. It was hard
to believe this was a factory trigger.
When I finally got through playing with the trigger, I went
on to the sights that are three dot polymer sights with an
adjustable windage on the rear sight. These are low profile sights
cut to prevent snagging on clothing. The Walther PPQ M2 also
has a picatinny rail under the barrel for lights and accessories.
This model has a Tenifer coating on the slide and the barrel;
it is a striker fired pistol and has two-drop safeties and a firing
pin block trigger safety. There are two addition back straps that
are interchangeable for small, medium and large on the grip. The
large has a beaver tail, but I found the medium was a perfect fit
for me. The PPQ M2 also came with a lock, a speed loader, the
usual paper work and book you normally find with most new
handguns. The only negative first impression that I had was the
slide had a slight rattle when shaken, but as we will soon discuss
this did not affect the performance at all.
To get a full list of features and specifications on this Walther
PPQ M2 go to http://www.waltherarms.com/handguns/
ppq/ppq-m2/. The Walther PPQ M2 comes in five different
configuration and barrel lengths. They also come in either 9mm
or .40mm. The 9mm I am testing has a 5” barrel and has an
overall length of 8.1”, which gave me an excellent sight radius.
The extended slide for this barrel was esthetically pleasing to the
design of the firearm. If you normally carry a 4” or less handgun
at first this 5” seemed to reach out and touch someone, but I
grew to love the performance that little extra length gave me
on the range. I was able to get a quicker sight acquisition and
shooting the small steel at 25 plus yards was effortless.
A little history you may or may not know but I found
interesting about Walther. Carl Walther and his son Fritz created
their first semiautomatic pistol in 1908. Smith & Wesson had
held the responsibility of distribution of Walther Firearms in the
United States up until January 1, 2013 when the responsibility for
Walther in the US transferred to Walther Arms, Inc. Walther and
Smith & Wesson will still continue to have a working relationship
as they share manufacturing duties for different lines of firearms.
Be sure to look them up online to find out many more interesting
facts about the Walthers and their company’s history.
Back to the PPQ M2, I just can’t hold it back; I truly believe
this handgun improved my shooting, not only in accuracy, but
also in my follow up shots. You may say how could that be? Well
I want to explain. First off to recap the trigger, it could be in the
top five best triggers out of the box from the factory. This was
a definite on improving first shot and follow up shots. The first
shot was crisp and the reset impressive and with a little practice
every shot was smooth and on target. I was getting a real kick
out of hitting the small steel at distance. I also attribute that to
not only the sights, but also the long radius between the sights.
Another factor I am sure is probably not an accident knowing
the German engineering behind the PPQ M2, is the lines that
run down the middle of the slide in between the front and rear
sight. Those lines seemed to give me just a little more reference
on aligning the sights on the follow up shots especially during
double tap drills. Something so simple, to appear as a decorative
feature, lines running between sights. Yet, functional increasing
my speed during rapid fire drills. My hot rod handgun just became
a dragster.
FIREARMS: Walther PPQ
pmcimagazine.