New S&W PPK/s Question...

[PDX01]

After turning over the pro's and con's of a S&W or Interarms PPK/s for way to long, I finally made up my mind and got a new Stainless S&W PPK/s in .380. Cleaned it up really well to get the factory gunk out of the barrel, did a little polishing & deburring here and there just for form's sake, and kept my fingers crossed until I took it to the range.

Being my first time out with this gun (and my first Walther) I have to admit that after reading some of the horror stories about S&W lemons I was a little nervous... Well, happy to report that after shooting 50 rounds of 100gr LRN and 50 Hornady 90 grn HPs, I had zero FTF's and zero FTE's and I couldn't be happier with the gun. Off to a great start with flawless operation and VERY accurate, was able to pattern 4 - 6 inches at 25 yards on it's maiden voyage! Guess my only gripe is that the 100 grn LRN's kicks like something a lot bigger, but I was expecting that because of the fixed barrel

But anyway, I did run across something that puzzled me a bit... ejecting a live round (e.g. unloading). So, while I'm mostly a wheel gun guy I've got an automatic or two kicking around (including a blow back Deutsche Werke .25ACP from the teens which I figure is my closest analogue to the Walther design wise) and when I rack a live round from any of the other Autos (including the DW) it flips out of the ejection port with authority. So, you can imagine my surprise when I racked the Walther and the cartridge just sort of dropped out of the chamber and feel through the empty mag well. Huh... figured it was operator error on my part so tried it again just to check, but got the same results. Was able to get the cartridge to throw clear exactly once after MANY tries, seemed to take exactly the "right" kind of motion, as opposed to a generic slide operation.

So, is that normal? It's ejecting flawlessly when fired so I'm guessing it is, but still seems a bit odd to me. Mostly because not throwing clear of the ejector port is a double feed just waiting to happen if you got a Failure to Fire (and without a slide lock no less) from a bad primer, etc... So is there something wrong with my gun? Just a quirk of the design? Or is this a simple case of operator error somehow?

Thanks in advance!
Mike

[UniversalExports]

It's normal. Nothing to worry about. Has to do with the signal indicator pin pushing down on the cartridge, causing it to slip below the extractor. During firing, the velocity of the slide keeps this from happening during normal operation.

[rifleshooter474]

I would quickly get out of the habit of ejecting live rounds,from your PPK/s. Never do it with a fully loaded Mag.
This Walther works not like many other handguns, if you happen to get live round jammed with the half ejected round it's a real bear to get the Mag out and make the PPK/s safe. Trust me you do not want it to happen.

[LimeDeer]

Originally Posted by rifleshooter474

if you happen to get live round jammed with the half ejected round it's a real bear to get the Mag out and make the PPK/s safe. Trust me you do not want it to happen.

Now that you mentioned it, that has happened to me before and I don't remember the exact circumstances or how I resolved it but it was a little unnerving -- mag wouldn't remove, slide wouldn't slide, jammed with live round. Any advice on what to do if it happens again?

[rifleshooter474]

Originally Posted by LimeDeer

Now that you mentioned it, that has happened to me before and I don't remember the exact circumstances or how I resolved it but it was a little unnerving -- mag wouldn't remove, slide wouldn't slide, jammed with live round. Any advice on what to do if it happens again?

You need the help of more hands, you pushing on Mag release button then someone pulling on the Mag
You must make sure the PPK is pointed in a safe direction.

[PDX01]

Thanks for all the info, amazing what's not included in the manual! Might force a double feed with some snap caps just to wrap my head around how to clear one.

[Stan11]

Originally Posted by UniversalExports

It's normal.

'Normal' is probably very personal suggestion here.
My S&W .32 throws a shell ~10 inches away and up when I rack it, nothing like with extra force/efforts, just regular rack.
And it does it _always_.
Again, I am not concluding is this normal or not normal, but this is what I'd _expect_ from the gun.

And, BTW, blowback will most probably 'eject flawlessly when fired' even without extractor.

PDX01, I would recommend to verify extractor and ejector conditions an springs. With snap cap in the chamber, with no mag, just pull the slide back _slowly_ and make sure the rim is well under extractor claw and stays there until the slide is nearly completely back. By no means indicator pin should _push_ the shell down so hard that make it 'slip below extractor'. When the slide is half way back, and the shell is completely out of chamber, I can shake the gun as much as I can and cartridge still sits tight under extractor claw. Only when it meets ejector, it is pushed away from extractor grip, and if you pull back slowly it will fall into mag well, otherwise it will be thrown into ejection port and away.

[Milspec]

I've found that loaded .32 rounds with their semi-rimmed cases often eject more easily than .380's do. I've also found that my .380 PPK/S ejects Corbon Powerball 70 grain ammo better than it does with heavier JHP loads.

[Roboslug]

PDX01,
It's good to hear about any reliable purchase. My Ranger .380 manually ejects the same way - the cartridge does not clear the gun.

Has anyone gone to the trouble of removing the chamber loaded pin and spring to compare how their PP series weapon manually ejects w/o it?

Maybe next time I disassemble the slide...

Roboslug

[AoxoMoxoA]

Originally Posted by Milspec

I've found that loaded .32 rounds with their semi-rimmed cases often eject more easily than .380's do.

I believe UniversalExports was onto something with his response, but might I suggest that another reason for the "wimpy" ejection via hand racking is due to the very heavy duty recoil spring used in the .380 version of the pistol?

The PP-series pistols were originally designed for the much lighter .32 (and .22) cartridges, so when compared to springs found on the lighter caliber PPs, the .380's recoil spring is quite robust - as it needed to be - for the much more powerful .380 round to function with this frame. It can't be compared to your .25 cal. pistol because the recoil springs on the lighter .25 allows you to rack the slide much quicker, thus ejecting the round further. The stiffness of the .380 spring makes it difficult to "hand-rack" it back fast enough to eject the round forcefully.

As long as the OP's pistol ejects properly when firing a round, it's operating correctly, so don't worry about it.