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austinrealtor wrote:
Yeah, I think Walther has a winning idea with a Browning-action .380 (blowback .380s are a pain the palm of the hand - literally). Personally, I was turned off by the battery of arms on the PK380 - hammer fired DA/SA but WITHOUT a decocker. So are you supposed to carry it cocked and locked? When you load a mag and rack the slide, hammer is back yes? At least, that's the way it seemed to me when I played with one extensively at a store. Other than that glaring oversight, and the slightly less annoying lack of a slide lock, I like the gun overall for its intended purpose.

Actually the slide does lock on an empty magazine. What's missing on the PK380 is the slide release; you have to perform a rack to drop the slide. The P22 does have the release; don't know why its not on the PK.

Also, with the safety on, the hammer can be dropped but it is not a de-cocking procedure. This can be un-nerving Since I don't carry the gun and only occasionally shoot it when I go to the range with my wife, I'm just not used to the safety and have forgotten that is on/there and dropped the hammer by pulling the trigger a few times. I think that is not a problem and the hammer can be routinely dropped this way. The manual says to lower the hammer with the thumb.

Its just a unique gun; down to the mag release. For me I like a clean slide striker fired gun. I have not owned a large caliber 1911 style gun in several years and I'm just used to the modern guns with no external safetys.

My wife loves the gun and that is the important thing. She feels confident handling it and likes to shoot.......I'm sooo lucky

austinrealtor wrote: .......But my strongest recommendation based on reading this whole thread is to take a strong look at the small thin 9mm guns. They're easier to shoot than a blowback .380 (Walther PPK, Bersa etc), fire a more potent AND less expensive round, and are roughly same size.

My wife has a PK380. It isn't a blowback either and I was amazed how easy it is to handle. I sort of winced when she bought it because it would have been so much easier to keep us both in ammo if she'd gotten a 9mm but for her hand and strength, the PK380 is perfect. She has the P22 also and starts with it at the range. I like to shoot it too (when she lets me ).

My wife has the PK380. She tried several guns before settling on the Walther. The reasons were two-fold. First off the slide is very easy to rack due to the short slide travel, Browning tilt barrel design rather than the usual blowback of many 380's (not slide release so you have to rack when first putting in a mag). Also she thought the magazine was easy to load (could have been mag age related). Its her gun and I'm very glad she has it.

My view. There are many bells and whistles on the gun. The left side/ right side (ambidextrous) safety in particular is a bit much for me. When I rack the slide I have make sure I didn't change the "state" of the safety. She is much more familiar with the gun than me but a few times when I've loaded the first round with a rack, I've put the gun either on safety or in between and it drops the hammer with no bang. Just a muscle memory thing.

Again, the attraction for her was the ease of racking.

Very accurate too.. YMMV.