[OM44]

I took the PPK/S that I've been having trouble with to the range today.

I discovered that it will work fine as long as it is well lubricated. After 3 and 1/2 magazines it failed to go fully into battery. I tapped the rear of the slide with my left hand. The slide closed fully and the round fired. However, the next round also failed to go fully into battery. So I sprayed the gun with the "Rem-lube" and it fired normally for several more rounds.

Then I lost the capability of firing the gun using the double action trigger. I now can fire the gun single
action, but I don't have a double action trigger.

That about does it. I'll call the factory tomorrow and find out what I have to do to ship it back to them so they can make it right.

I really don't like having to do this, but I have no choice. This is really a BUMMER!    

Has anyone had to send a gun back to Walther America or Smith & Wesson? How long do they take to turn one around?

 

[BennyMA]

I sent my PPK back for a sight adjustment. S&W paid for shipping, it only took two weeks, and they did a great job, A+. The only thing I didn't like was that it was really dirty from test firing. But then again, after thinking about it, I'd rather clean it myself. Good luck, I have to believe they will treat you right.

 

[uncut]

I have yet to hear a bad word about S&W customer service and warranty/repair work......

Everybody that ever had a problem on the Walther boards reported good things......

 

[stunksinatl]

Walther/S&W customer service = "fantastic"

Nothing but good experiences from them.

-stunks

 

[denfoote]

Call 'em up, get a shipping label, send it off, they'll make it right!!!

 

[kankujoe]

Hi all, new to forum...

 

[bondjames628]

I've had the same problem as you. I never had an experience where the gun misfired from not being lubed properly; but as for the weapon not firing in double-action, WOW have I had a time with that. All in all, my gun has been sent back 4 times for double-action repair. HOPEFULLY it's taken care of now, but this seems to be a reoccuring problem with the Walther PPK/S as far as I can tell. Good luck!

 

[OM44]

The gun seems to be working better now. I believe I have found the reason for the jamming other than the Failures to go into battery. It appears that the hammer pin is moving out of place which causes it to get out of index, which allows it to rotate, which causes the gun to jam. The problem now is how to keep the hammer pin from backing out. If it doesn't stop on its own with more firing, I really will have to send it back to the factory!

As far as the failures to go into battery, I also believe this will cure itself as the gun is fired more. I have only put 350 rounds through the gun so far.

Things are looking UP!  

 

[black campbell]

Yeah, I had some crappy experiences with my new PPK/S, OM44: jamming constantly, then the ejector/slide stop bar snapped in half. I was ready to get rid of it, after I got the parts from S&W, but it's operating well, now. They seem to need about 200-300 rounds through them before the ideosyncracies work themselves out.

 

[OM44]

Well, I now have over 600 rounds through the little gun. I have installed an extra strength recoil spring which seems to have stopped the problem of not going fully into battery.

However, I still occasionally experience the problem of not being able to fire the gun in double action mode. I have determined that when the problem happens, the trigger has not returned to its full forward position.

I believe it is either a burr somewhere inside the action, or a defective or broken spring, or a bit of dirt in the wrong place.

So, I'm going to reload a bunch of ammo and keep firing the gun. I really like how the little thing feels in my hand!

L8'er, THP.

 

[battlecry]

OM: My PPK/S hammer pin liked to work itself loose because the left side grip had a little bit of a gap in the part over the hammer pin cover. YMMV, but in my case I mixed some Devcom 5 minute epoxy with some powdered graphite for color, applied some mold release to the frame and placed a drop of the adhesive mixture in the top rear part of the left grip. Assembled the firearm and five minutes or so later the grip and hammer cover fit properly and everything was fine. If you decide to do this, be careful no adhesive interferes with the sear operation.

 

[Seattle Vic]

Hi All. I just joined, as I was looking for some help on this topic. Bought a new PPK (not the /s) and took it to the range last weekend and fired 100 rounds through it. I probably had 6 or 7 failures to feed; the bullets were jamed sort of at an angle and the slide not closed all the way.

I think twice it happend as I was manually closing the slide for the first round, but 4 or 5 times while shooting.

I lubed the gun with Prolix before the range time, and I've had good luck with that stuff, but figure I'll just go back and shoot a couple hundred more rounds, then call S&W if it persists.

Is this common with these guns? Otherwise, I do like the way it feels and shoots.

Thanks,

Vic

 

[battlecry]

Vic: Have no direct experience with the ppk, but I have seen posts where some ppk/s left the factory with incorrect recoil springs. The giveaway simptom was that the owners had a difficult time disassembling the slide because the recoil spring was too long. If you can take it apart and put it back together, this is probably not the problem.

You may want to fire a few more boxes and see if the reliability stabilizes. When mine was new, I used very fine lapping compound on the rails and cycled the slide with the recoil spring and hammer removed to loosen the slide. Firing a few more boxes may do the same thing.

Sometimes it helps to hold the firearm firmly when firing. If you allow your wrist to twist it may use up some of the recoil that would otherwise be availabe to cycle the slide and you end up with a jam. This would not apply to the two times it did not go into battery as you were releasing the slide. I'd be curious why that happened.

Regards,

R.

 

[Seattle Vic]

Quote[/b] (battlecry @ Oct. 11 2006,4:40)]Vic: Have no direct experience with the ppk, but I have seen posts where some ppk/s left the factory with incorrect recoil springs. The giveaway simptom was that the owners had a difficult time disassembling the slide because the recoil spring was too long. If you can take it apart and put it back together, this is probably not the problem.

You may want to fire a few more boxes and see if the reliability stabilizes. When mine was new, I used very fine lapping compound on the rails and cycled the slide with the recoil spring and hammer removed to loosen the slide. Firing a few more boxes may do the same thing.

Sometimes it helps to hold the firearm firmly when firing. If you allow your wrist to twist it may use up some of the recoil that would otherwise be availabe to cycle the slide and you end up with a jam. This would not apply to the two times it did not go into battery as you were releasing the slide. I'd be curious why that happened.

Regards,

R.

Battlecry, thanks for the response. Actually, the slide is really hard to move back and take off, so maybe the spring is a factor. I emailed S&W and they suggested trying different ammo, though at the range I used two FMJ brands. So I'll lube it real good and go fire a couple hundred more rounds. If that doesn't do it, I'll send it back.

S&W said to take it to a FedEx for overnight shipping, and they pay for the freight. Does anybody know if there's any transfer paperwork involved in that?

 

[OM44]

Update: I have over 780 rounds through the PPK/S now and
some of the problems have eliminated themselves.

For instance, the problem of the hammer pin backing out has
disappeared. I cured some of the failure to chamber
problems by installing a 24 pound recoil spring from Wolff
Springs, replacing the factory 20 lbs. spring.

I too get an occasional ftf when the cast bullet sicks part way
into the chamber with the base of the cartridge still in the
magazine. I believe this is cause by not seating the bullet
deep enough. I'll change that on the the next batch of
reloads I make.

The last problem is the double action problem. I have found
that the trigger ocasionally fails to return to the full forward
position. This is fixed by either pushing it forward, or by
pulling it back slightly and allowing it to snap forward.

I have learned that the trigger does this after the gun has
been fired 20 or more times without being cleaned, so I
believe it is problem of dirt in an extremely closely machined
action. I'm going to fire it a few hundred time more and
see what happens. Hopefully it will wear in and stop this
malfunction.

More later, THP

 

[battlecry]

Thanks for the update OM. My experience may be different than yours but I noticed that on mine the slide was rubbing against the trigger bar. In my case it was not sufficient to prevent the trigger from resetting but the rubbing was noticeable when pulling the trigger. I first tried polishing the bar, but the solution was to bend the trigger spring hook leg to the left, so it would force the trigger bar to seat towards the frame, away from the slide.

The trigger bar has a fin on the front top surface that rides in a slot machined on the side of the frame. A burr or foreign object there may prevent a weak trigger spring from seating the trigger forward. I'm just guessing, OM. There is so much slop in the fit of my trigger pin, trigger hole, and frame hole that I do not see that on mine. Good luck.

PS- See TexBond's post about the TPH double action fix.

 

[battlecry]

Seattle Vic:

These guys here have also found some difficulty feeding the first round:

http://www.packing.org/oldtalk/thread/?thread=23908

Seems to point to magazine spring issue.

Regards,

R

 

[black campbell]

Well, the PPK/S is headed for the advert sectionof the paper. After having fixed the ejector/slide stop, I'm still getting regular jams. I'm moving over to my FN 5.7mm -- it's lighter and super-reliable.

 

[michael t]

I can't belive these pistols are having so many problems My old Interarms just keep running and running. Somebody at S&W better take charge and do some QC. Its these kind of stories that will Kill the Pistol sales and then no more PPK/S Maybe that what Smith wants so they can push their junk.
I have said it before and will again I will not buy a S&W PPK/S . As long as I can find used Interarms .
New 2nd Gen Kel Tecs are a better buy today than these. I have bought 3 of them since Feb. and all have been perfect from the box. I put some oil on slide rails and started shooting.NO cleaning or disassembly till I was done for day. All are over 500 rounds. I love my PPK/S and will buy others. But they won't have Smith's address on them.

 

[romma]

Well, the gun shop I bought mine from said I had a missing spring. I can't wait to ast the shopkeep what spring it was. I didn't push him over the phone, he said that it was something that could only be missing if you were detail stripping it. I have only field stripped mine.