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Meatball's Featured Reviews |
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Airsoft Core |
By Infrared
Published: December 6, 2003
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The Walther PPK is an enduring design, having been created in the 1930s as a smaller, more concealable version of the world's first successful double-action semi-auto pistol, the Walther PP. PP stands for Polizei Pistole (police pistol) and the K is for Kurz (short) or Kriminal (abbreviation of KriminalAmt, sort of a detective bureau), depending on who you ask. The PPK gained worldwide recognition when it became the standard-issue handgun for James Bond. James Bond used a Walther PPK in most of his novels and movies, which provided excellent advertising for Walther's small pistol. The original PPK was chambered for 7.65mm (.32 ACP), but later .22 long rifle and .25 ACP were added, and finally .380 ACP (9mm Kurz). The .380 version is still made today, and recently Walther re-released the PPK in its original .32 chambering. The Marushin PPK is modeled after the 7.65mm pistol, not that there are a lot of differences between pistols of different calibers.
Appearance:
I've long been a fan of the Walther PPK. After growing up with James Bond as a household name, one of our members picked up a non-firing PPK replica, which could be field-stripped, and it fed and ejected brass dummy cartridges when you pulled the trigger. After handling the replica for a while, I knew I had to own the real thing, so when I became of legal age to own a handgun, I saved up my pennies and bought a well-worn WWII production PPK. This thing looked like it had been rotting in the jungle for the past fifty years - there was no finish left on it, the grips were almost nonexistent, and the metal finish was heavily pitted. After checking it over thoroughly and taking it for some tentative test-firing, I soon came to realize that all the gun's flaws were cosmetic. Mechanically, it worked like a charm. Also, it was the most accurate compact pistol I'd ever fired - I was always able to score expert or better on law enforcement handgun qualification courses. It may seem like I've digressed a bit, but the whole point is that Walther's reputation for quality is well-deserved. With that in mind, on to the review:
Marushin's PPK is from their "Secret Agent" series, which means it has a threaded barrel and a fake sound suppressor. These features appeal to me, and I've been trying to collect every airsoft pistol that comes with a fake suppressor. Of the Secret Agent series, I apparently have four of seven models available; at the time of this writing, I'm missing the Colt .25, the Mauser HSc, and the Detonics .45. If you have any of these models and wish to sell them, please email me. In the meantime, Marushin's PPK exhibits typical quality - excellent detailing and proportioning, but the looks are a bit plasticky. The grips look good and have the Walther banner logo on them, but instead of that company's name it says "Marushin." The gun has some simulated proof marks and all the controls, though largely non-functional, are in place. The suppressor is a standard Marushin model which screws into the outer barrel of the pistol. The magazine is a Marushin-typical skinny single BB stack, but there's a full-size finger rest at the bottom of it to add to the gun's looks and handling.
Function
Since this gun is non-blowback, it doesn't use a lot of air to fire a BB. Instead, it relies on the trigger action of the gun to chamber a BB before firing it, which leads to a relatively heavy trigger pull. The trigger pull on the Browning 1910 from this series is out of line since the real gun has a single action trigger, but the Marushin PPK's trigger is lighter than the double-action trigger pull of a real PPK. The main difference in trigger pull between the real one and the airsoft is that the real one has a standard pivoting trigger, whereas the airsoft has a trigger that pulls straight back. The finger rest on the magazine might be helpful to people with smaller hands than mine, but I'm used to a flat-bottom PPK where my little finger curls around the bottom of the gun's grip. The finger rest prevents that, and it's not quite big enough to make the grip comfortable for me. By feel and by looks, the Marushin gun is modeled after a .380 ACP PPK since it's a touch wider than the 7.65mm model, though the markings are those of a 7.65mm.
Like the Browning, the Walther's magazine is removed by simply pulling it. To load it, you have to pull the magazine follower down until it locks at the bottom, and then drop in nine BBs. Yep, only nine. Due to the low capacity of the smaller Marushin guns, they mostly lend themselves to emergency backups or for use in "professional" tournaments where each player only gets four or five rounds. At any rate, you've got to fill the gun's gas reservoir while the magazine is removed - the finger rest at the bottom of the mag covers up the filler valve. Once you've got the gas charged up and the mag loaded, pop the mag into the gun and you're ready to go - just pull the trigger. The safety on the left side of the slide is true to the original apart from the fact that it does not act as a hammer-drop safety, since the hammer on this model doesn't even move. The suppressor unit, like on the Browning, was very difficult to install. It seems like the barrel on the gun is slightly smaller than the threading on the suppressor, which makes attachment difficult at best. On the full-size Marushin pistols, I've had no such trouble and can attach/detach the suppressors at will. But for the smaller guns, once they're on, they're on for good. The PPK functioned reliably with Marui .2 and .25g ammo, and it has an adjustable Hop-up mechanism, which I only toyed with briefly. As far as power goes, it seems to have a little less power than the Browning 1910 but it's still enough to punch through cereal box cardboard at seven yards.
Accuracy:
This little airsoft performs adequately in the accuracy department. It shoots a little low and to the left at seven yards, and the group size with .2g ammo is nothing to brag about. With .25g ammo, the group size gets cut in half, and the center of the group isn't as far off, though it is still a little low and to the left. Changing the Hop-up settings might correct this and tighten up the groups a bit but I didn't have a lot of time to experiment before posting this review. Both of my accuracy tests were with the suppressor attached, which does tend to obstruct the sights, but not as much as it does on the Browning.
UPDATE: After testing the PPK and its three Marushin kin at ranges between 15 and 25 yards, I found the PPK to be the least powerful of the four, but it still had just enough power to go through a paper target at 25 yards. As far as accuracy goes, it wasn't as accurate as the 1911A1 or the 1910, but it was about on par with the larger P88, giving approximately a 50% hit average on a human silhouette target at 25 yards. In short, this is an up-close gun, which should serve well indoors, but is of dubious use outdoors due to its lack of power.
8.5x11 inch target fired at seven yards, 20 rounds .2g
8.5x11 inch target fired at seven yards, 20 rounds .25g
Overall Impressions:
I'm pretty sure I'm switching from the Browning to the PPK as my choice for professional-style tournaments. It's got decent accuracy and power, it points naturally for me, the trigger pull is easier than the Browning, and besides, it's a Walther PPK.
- Infrared
Team SASOT |
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