[banddr2]

My P5 from SOG came today. Pretty good price of $429. I paid an extra 15 for a hand picked one.

I was not very impressed with the initial appearance. I have seen worse I suppose, but mine has alot of holster wear. The blueing isn't competely gone, just rubbed pretty good and the edges are worn off. Couple scraches on the barrel hood. The blueing isn't at all dark like a german ppk, more of a blue tint. I say this because I am not sure Walthers quality of blueing when this gun was made ,in '82, was as good of quality, or it would of held up better.

Function wise it is top notch, good trigger and reliability. Accuracy was good, at 10 yds I could put them in sub 1" groups. When I got out to 25' I spread out to 4" and shot to the right, but I need to learn the trigger better, and it was COLD outside. I am very impressed with the design and function, and would rate it better than a SIG 9mm, really probably one of the best DA/SA sull size all metal guns I have shot. Never shot a P88 yet though, so now I have a new acquisition goal

.

I was also surprised by the size, almost smaller that a P99, I expected it to be wider, but really it was almost identical to the P99.

 

[banddr2]

My 2nd day range report, 100 rds, no malfunctions.

Hand Held 15' - 1" 3/4 five shot group
20' - 2" 1/4 five shot group
25' - 3" five shot group
(I shot 6 on each and dropped the worst one for shooter error)

Also did some 10' double taps starting with double action first and had nice 3" clusters.

This pistol is a joy to shoot

Would make a great carry peice.

 

[jgilbertson]

If you're really concerned about its appearance, you could always have it re-blued. Cylinder & Slide does great work on Walthers. Not sure of the price for that though.

One thing you most definitely should change out are the dual recoil springs, since they are most likely worn out. You can get new ones from Earl's Repair Service. If you send in the frame to him, he'll replace them for you at no additional charge, and the price for them if I recall is very reasonable. Cheap insurance for your new baby, espcially with any full power or +p loads.

Regards,
Jeff

 

[ikiddp5]

Congratulations! You have bought one of the finest handgun ever made. I have a P-5C and It shoots like a dream, around 2000 rounds, no malfuntions, no broken parts. The Walther blueing is famous for their quality but if it has too much wear think about what Jeff said.

 

[jehzsa]

Perhaps you might like to chrome it. Here's mine, which I no longer have, http://www.gothammarketing.com/bb....;t=1769

Pics at the last two pages, iirc.

 

[banddr2]

Thanks for the ideas, I did change out to new recoil springs.

Jeff, do you have any idea what a reblue may cost?

 

[walrus]

Congrats. I love my p5. Such a nice gun.

 

[banddr2]

Thanks, I shot again today, and it is just a joy to shoot. What I notice the most is it's light weight, but yet has such a low recoil. Muzzle flip is much less than other 9's and double taps are easy.

 

[Fenrir Wulff]

Congrats on the new pistol. I wish these trade ins were around a couple of years ago when I bought my P5. I paid $650 and while mechanically in great shape the finish isn't the best. I did get 3 mags, though.

 

[jgilbertson]

Price should be around $150-$250 to refinish a pistol. I normally use Arizona Response Systems for all of my refinish work, but since they don't offer a traditional re-blue, the only other company I can think of would be Cylinder & Slide, located at www.cylinder-slide.com Nice folks and great work. Not sure what they would charge to re-blue a P5 though, and make sure you get an estimate of how long it will take. It's not at all uncommon to wait 4-6 months for this type of work to be done by the better smiths out there, but it's worth the wait IMHO.

Also, and not to beat Smarty Jones here (I'm from the Philly area), seriously consider replacing those recoil springs even if they look okay. That is very cheap insurance, and might save you a cracked frame down the line.

Regards,
Jeff

 

[Mike in VA]

I recently sent my P5C off to Robar for refinishing. I had them do the slide, controls, & internals in NP-3, the frame in Roguard ( silver over black), and polish the feed ramp. It was about $200 (actually, a bit more, as I had to deal with night sights and an extra mag, but the basic refinish was <$200), and the results were stunning, esp. after I added some Nills grips. I highly recommend Robar, very nice folks to deal with, and their work is outstanding. The NP-3 really smoothed out the trigger - sweet!

 

[ikiddp5]

Some pics would be appreciated!!!

 

[JonInWAP1P5]

Regarding recoil springs, I'd personally recommend going with Wolff's-they specialize in springs, and their quality and reputation is superb. I'm guessing that Earl's is either 1)selling a vendor produced "factory" spring, 2) selling a Walther produced factory spring (and guess who picks up the tab for shipping from Germany) or 3) selling the same Wolff spring at a higher price. Nothing against Earl-he's a great guy and knows Walthers inside and out, but for recoil springs, I'd at least take a look at Wolffs at www.gunsprings.com-and while you're at it, as a matter of course I'd just go ahead and automatically (every pun intended!) replace all the magazine springs, too-Replacing the recoil and magazine springs tend to eliminate virtually any and all P5 functionality issues, in my experience!

Best, Jon

 

[jgilbertson]

I tend to agree with Wolff springs as well for use in surplus firearms to bring them back to spec, except that Earl said he's really against the extra power springs based on Walther Germany's statements. Not sure how much is true and how much BS, but the prices Earl charged for the springs were (surprisingly I know) very reasonable.

Plus, changing recoil springs on the P38/P1/P4/P5 series can be trickey, and Earl includes that with the price of the springs. The cost was $36 for both springs installed. I believe that's a fair price for OEM springs installed, by YMMV.

Regards,
Jeff