Back in the day when the Colt Detective Special defined compact police arms in the United States, over in Europe things were taking a more semi-automatic turn. While John Moses Browning only succeeded on the big bore military front in his home country his pistols, and the calibers that went with them, set a whole new trend in his adopted part of the world. He was not the only innovator of his day but he likely was the best; his competition took notice on what worked and how they could improve on it.
One such competitor, Carl Walther of Germany, found himself in a conundrum of following Browning's success by adopting his calibers and making arms for the market he initially concentrated on and would find the most success (before the Nazis presented new opportunities): small defensive pistols. The early Walther models were mostly of the pocket type (in .25 ACP) but there were also some compact service-sized attempts in .32 ACP plus a notable failure in 9x19mm Parabellum. Then came 1929 and Walther introduced their first breakout success that continues to define the company today: the Polizeipistole.
The .32 & .380 ACP
As already elaborated before .32 ACP was Browning's first pistol caliber and was intended to cover the breadth of roles from personal defense to official service, the same as the various .32 caliber revolver rounds were doing at the time. While received well enough in Europe (where it was first introduced) its reception in America was somewhat more lukewarm, so after introducing his first fully-rimless round (.45 ACP) Browning developed a small rimless round for the compact pistol realm that, over time, displaced .32 ACP almost completely. The new .380 ACP, autoloading alternative to the wildly-popular .38 caliber revolver rounds, succeeded wherever .32 did not even though both were kindred and never intended to override one another. Soon enough it became commonplace for pistols chambered in one of these two rounds to have a variant built to chamber the other.
This proved no different with Walther's new police models, the original PP designed for .32 ACP but as soon as 1933 was also available in 9x17mm Kurz. There are those who have said the Walthers are better in their original .32 form because that is their design, but the timing of new model introductions suggest .380 support was intended from the beginning and the idea that malfunctions are more common among .380 models seems anecdotal at best since 1) .380 has been the most popular chambering for this pistol line the last several decades and 2) the old-style engineering (that admittedly has not been improved upon that much) has its quirks but that has little if anything to do with the caliber. The real issue would instead appear to be a matter of personal preference.
Indeed for much of its life, again particularly in Europe, the .32 ACP Walthers were more abundant and preferred even though its .380 ACP brethren were always there as well. In both the compact service PP and subcompact PPK .32 offered softer recoil and an additional round in the magazine. In the first half of the 20th century (when full metal jacket was all that was available) the power between the two rounds differed so little that the somewhat better handling of .32 could have been the superior defensive asset. The adoption of both models in both calibers by all manner of police and government agencies, plus a few chambered in .22 for some "special" work, is a success story of the model line itself rather than the calibers it chambered. That so many imitators sprung up (among them Nazi Germany's Mauser HSc and Sauer 38H) keeping two different models for each round also showed acceptance of the philosophy that it is better to have open options rather than a narrow focus.
Today .32 is still alive and kicking as an alternative for those whom .38 caliber is too much (sometimes caused by attempting to use such a full-size round in a pistol much smaller than it was made for). Due to waning popularity .32 ACP has not benefitted from advances in ammunition technology to the extent of its bigger brethren thus is generally only best used in ball form. Some persist in claiming .380 ACP to be a mouse gun caliber that should only be used in ball form (sometimes preceding their next claim which is to ditch .380 altogether in favor of 9mm Parabellum); such a point may have been valid back in the 1980s but modern cartridge technology has made .380 ACP potent enough that options exist to render this caliber no longer a binary choice between adequate penetration and consistent expansion.
The classic Type I as a senior officer's personal defense sidearm; image borrowed from phasers.net
Coming to America
Silly gun control laws passed in the waning days of a lame duck Democrat administration (by a Democrat Congress) nearly succeeded in killing demand for European-made subcompacts by closing the door on many imports with onerous stipulations. Given time the market would adapt, some by manufacturing in the United States, while others only needed to slightly-adjust a popular model to get it compliant. The Walther PPK/S may be an Americanized German but that is a blessing in disguise because it really is the best of both worlds.
For this author the choice of the PPK/S was not strictly a matter of class; despite being a big 007 fan that does not cloud judgment of the fact that there are many more modern options out there. It was about ergonomics: from the first opportunity to handle one it was a clear winner for this hand size. True, that it is as classy as it can get for a gentlemen's concealed carry did not hurt at all, nor the fact that according to Ballistics By the Inch it appears the 3 1/3" barrel is absolutely ideal for modern .380 factory loadings. The original PPK is also available but between the PPK/S having the better hand fitting plus one added round in the magazine likewise made that a clear-cut decision.
That American builds of European designs too often fall short in quality and reliability is a fair point even if not worth making a sweeping generalization (despite the claims of those who scoff at American-made SIGs while clutching their expensive Swiss and German models). Walther has not been immune to this over the years, but at least the latest Arkansas-based subsidiary seems determined to right past wrongs committed by previous license holders Smith & Wesson. One possible issue is they offer only .380 and .22 but not .32, leaving those who prefer the latter to seek an older import or one of the American-built .32s secondhand which were last made by Interarms decades ago.
This is not the author's first PPK/S, the first being a Smith & Wesson model made in Maine. It exhibited a malfunction rate of about 15%, all failure to return to battery which is a known issue with some builds. Even accounting for tight tolerances and sensitivity to limp-wristing this was too unreliable, so that was replaced with the Arkansas-made one pictured above. That the benefit of the doubt was given twice is testament to how much a better alternative for this author's particular set of needs could not be found, though the SIG P232 looked promising but unfortunately proved inaccessible due to only being made in Germany. Second time was the charm as this shoots much more within tolerance at a malfunction rate holding at 2% (and only occurs after some time shooting so it could be attributed to fouling).
Versus Alternatives
Lucky Gunner's Chris Baker came down harsh on the PPK, though he evaluated an actual PPK instead of an /S model and that makes a real difference in grip size. The gist of his point is that it has not improved with the times. Strictly-speaking that is not true: minute adjustments have been made to the feed ramps and sight design to improve feed reliability with modern ammo and defensive shootability. In general though the point is conceded...and that is one reason this author likes his PPK/S so much. In regard to classic designs what matters more is that it still works, hence endless demand for the 1911 platform and reintroduction of the Browning Hi-Power despite time and technology having long passed them all by. The Walther PPK is no different and that is a good thing, not to mention it has been subject to flattery via imitation from the aforementioned German alternatives of the 1940s, to the prolific Makarov in the Second World, to more modern redesigns such as the SIG P230 and Bersa Thunder.
Unlike other superseded originals over the years the Walther PPK remains available and desirable. The .380 has stout kick in its blowback action but not more than can be tolerated if number of rounds fired in a single session is limited to a reasonable number. It is not just a great .380 platform, but its size and all-steel heft lets it mark the low limit for use of .380 in a blowback: any smaller should go .32 or else pay for it in recoil, but that is this author's opinion and not a judgment against macho types who think it better to use 9x19mm Parabellum in a subcompact.
One source the author read years ago but has since lost described the PPK as the 1911 of subcompacts. That claim may have folded once the "micro" 1911 trend was started by the Colt Mustang but that fact is beside the point. The Walthers have less in common with the 1911 than Browning's earlier successes at FN and Colt that also fit the compact category chambered in .32 and .380. As of World War Two both these calibers found home in similar roles on both sides with the already-mentioned models for German officers while the Colt Hammerless models were standard issue for American general officers. While on the technical front the double-action/single-action Walther outdoes any single-action or "hammerless" (actually internal hammer) Colt both served well in their roles in and out of the military.
The Walther PPK is as classic as it gets. This is not even considering the 007 angle, though it was one of several choice weapons for intelligence and special operations. This, and the newer designs it inspired, are the autoloading equivalent of the hard-boiled detective's snub-nose revolver. James Bond made it a gentleman's piece, but it can be argued it would have become so regardless. Like the 1911 or Hi-Power it is a product of its time, a classier time in not-so-distant history. And as a nice bonus, with modern .380 loads it is still as useful as ever for self-defense.
The author's smaller-than-average-male hands have no issues wrapping all fingers around the grip of the PPK/S even with a flush magazine; doubtless an extended finger rest magazine would be necessary if this were the original, shorter PPK model. While carrying with a flush magazine for concealability, the author keeps the finger rest types as his reloads due to their longer length being easier to grab. Both types have identical capacity and price is generally the same so which is a matter of preference. Factory pistols come with one of each included.
Walther's US branch: https://waltherarms.com/
Archive of Walther pistols through WWII: https://www.germandaggers.com/Gallery/GW.php
For fair rebuttal, Chris Baker's cited criticism of the PPK (he also performed the Lucky Gunner Labs tests): https://www.luckygunner.com/lounge/the-walther-ppk-is-not-very-good/
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