PRODUCT RECALL for WALTHER CCP in 9 mm Luger We would like to inform you about an important issue and would request you to publish the following information promptly. On the basis of customer complaints and subsequent in-house quality controls, we have established that under certain circumstances there can be an accident risk associated with Walther CCP pistol models. The pistol can discharge unintentionally when the loaded gun is dropped and lands in a certain position (irrespective of whether the manual safety has been engaged or not). Depending on the circumstances in the individual case, severe damage to persons can be done in such a case. Since the safety of customers is our absolute priority, we have decided to carry out a voluntary product recall.
PPQ M-SERIES PISTOLS SAFETY & INSTRUCTION MANUAL Read the instructions and warnings in this manual CAREFULLY BEFORE using this firearm. WALTHER ARMS, INC.
The following serial number ranges are affected: To avoid any risk, owners of WALTHER CCP pistols should no longer load the weapon, unload the weapon immediately and not fire any shots with the gun. Whether a pistol is affected can be identified on the basis of the serial number. This can be seen in the ejection window and is engraved on the barrel: WA111844 to WA111940 WK001205 to WK014663 WK022834 to WK045920 WK050921 to WK068221 What to do: The first point of contact is the specialist dealer where the weapon was purchased.
Our Dealers have already been informed in detail. They will return the guns for inspection to our works. We will return the guns as quick as possible the same way, via the dealer. All this is naturally free of charge for customers. Inspected and approved CCPs can be identified by the very small milled dot on the magazine shaft (see photo): As compensation for any inconvenience caused, each customer who sends in his or her CCP will have this returned with a free additional spare magazine. We will answer any customer questions on this product recall by email. Please send these to the following email address which has been set up specifically for this: Please forward this recall info to other CCP owners, that you know and who might not know about it.
Thanks for your cooperation and support! Carl Walther GmbH Founded in 1886 in Zella-Mehlis, Thuringia, the Carl Walther company today is known for large-caliber pistols used by police and other law enforcement authorities. Additionally, it makes high-quality sporting weapons. In both of these areas it can look back on a tradition of excellent gunmaking going back now 130 years. Legendary handguns bearing the famous WALTHER ribbon logo include the Walther PPK (favored by Agent 007 James Bond), the P.38/P1 pistol of the German army and the well-known P99 and PPQ, all of which have large fan communities throughout the world. In 1993 the company was acquired by the UMAREX Group, which is based in Arnsberg, Germany.
Carl Walther manufactures most of its weapons in the factory which it established in 2005 in Ulm, and it has its headquarters together with its parent company Umarex in Arnsberg. Subsidiary, Walther Arms, was founded in Fort Smith, Arkansas, in 2013.
The Sub Compact has all the attributes of the new Walther PPQ line. The slide is contoured for ease of grasping to actuate it.
The slide serrations are angled so they will dig into your hands as you work the slide. The pyramidal shape of the slide acts to give the slide the maximum purchase on your fingers and the heel of your hand. The PPQ SC barrel is Tenifer-treated, as is the slide, and features the pistol's serial number, caliber and German proof, as well as the Walther logo. Up on top of the chamber is a viewing port that serves as a loaded-chamber indicator. The serial number and proof continue onto the slide and the frame. (An interesting sidenote: The serial numbers are applied via laser after the pistols are assembled, inspected and test-fired.) The barrel geometry is efficient in locking the barrel to the slide, and as a result the force needed to retract the slide is not nearly as great as I'd have expected for a subcompact pistol.
Usually, the recoil spring has to be beefed up so much to deal with the lighter slide that getting a round chambered can be an ordeal- especially for those who might have decreased hand strength. With the PPQ SC, the slide effort feels the same as a full-size pistol. The ejection port is a huge exit portal for empty brass or, should the need arise, to clear out a loaded round. At no time during testing did I have even the slightest hint that the brass was having trouble getting gone.
After a couple of range sessions, I usually find brass marks on the slide in the area of the ejection port, which indicates that the empties had to ricochet off the slide, or tarried in the near vicinity, before leaving. Not so with the PPQ Sub Compact. Even after sending a bunch of ammo downrange, there were no brass marks on the slide. Walther uses the same slide for both 9mm and.40, changing only barrel, extractor and breechface adapter to the appropriate caliber.
Inside the slide, the PPQ uses a striker system, and when I took it apart (which is easy to do), I found the breechface had an extractor and a breechface adapter, both marked '9mm.' The clever Walther engineers designed the slide to work with either 9mm or.40 S&W, and assemblers simply use the appropriate extractor and adapter. Disassembly is easy.
Unload the pistol. Lock back the slide. Remove the magazine. Pull down both sides of the disassembly block at the same time.
Once the block clicks down, ease the slide forward. Once it stops, dry-fire the pistol, and the slide then can come off the frame. The recoil spring is a self-contained dual-spring system, and it simply clicks into a semicircular recess on the bottom of the barrel. Once you have the spring and barrel out of the slide, you can clean everything.
With the barrel and spring are back in the slide, run the assembled slide back onto the frame. Lock it to the rear. Press the disassembly block up until it clicks and you're done.
With the 10-round magazine in place, there's not much room to get all your fingers on the gun, but the serrations on the grip do a good job of helping with control. The standard version of the PPQ SC comes with a compact, 10-round magazine (10 rounds because it is compact, not because of legal restrictions) with flat baseplate and a special 15-round PPQ magazine.
This full-capacity magazine has a sleeve that fills the gap between the baseplate and the frame. This makes it feel like you're holding a full-size frame, and it also prevents over-insertion of the longer magazine. This Sub Compact-marked magazine also has a stronger spring than a regular 15-round magazine to ensure it keeps up with the faster cycling time of the shorter Sub Compact slide. Would the SC stumble if you used regular PPQ magazines? My sample didn't when I tried it, but I was very careful not to over-insert the mags- which risks whacking them into the ejector, possibly bending or even breaking this essential part. In other words, if you want a full-capacity magazine in your Sub Compact, use the one that comes with the pistol. Like the other PPQ M2 pistols, the Sub Compact has a button mag release instead of the paddle on the M1.
The Quick Defense trigger has a nice pull and a very short reset. The PPQ SC features an ambidextrous slide lever and a reversible magazine button. It's the same mag release found on the PPQ M2, not the dual-paddle release found on the M1. This is America, after all, and we know where we expect the magazine release to be. The frame features an accessory rail.
Naturally, the Sub Compact features an accessory rail for lights and lasers. The Quick Defense trigger is equipped with a blocking lever to prevent it from pivoting unless your finger is pressing it. It has a very short reset, for those who fuss over such things. It is also linked to the striker system in the slide, which has both a striker-blocking safety and a pair of drop safeties. The trigger pull on the PPQ Sub Compact is as nice as the trigger on the full-size PPQ M2 sitting in my safe.
Just because it is a compact carry gun doesn't mean it can't have a nice trigger pull. Below that, the frame is sculpted with the same curves as the full-sized PPQ, but it stops shorter. The frame is only long enough for me to get two fingers on it, and my last finger either has to float in air or to curl up underneath the magazine baseplate. This can make shooting a bit more work than it needs be. My Sub Compact sample was the law enforcement version, which comes with a third 10-round magazine featuring a finger extension that makes the gun a little more controllable. The gun features three-dot sights, with the rear sight adjustable for elevation.
The rear sight rests in a dovetail, so you can drift it for windage adjustments. My only complaint is the sights are made of polymer. For most uses- in fact, for the great majority of uses- this is not a problem.
They are durable and stand up to solvents and cleaning brushes. However, polymer sights can wear down after thousands of draws from Kydex holsters. Time will tell, and it may be that the Walther slide contour protects the sights. And, truth be told, how many CCW gun owners subject their guns to thousands of draws? That's usually the province of competition shooters. In testing, the small grip and the light weight of the Sub Compact made a difference. I happened to be shooting another 9mm pistol, one with more than twice the starting weight, and the recoil differences were noticeable.
Not that the PPQ Sub Compact was obnoxious to shoot. It was just more vigorous in its recoil than the all-steel near-anvil I was also shooting. The frame's multidirectional pattern of small, ranked crescents keep the PPQ Sub Compact firmly in your hand, regardless of the direction recoil wants to take it. The vigorous recoil did not keep the PPQ Sub Compact from printing tight groups. It was just a bit less forgiving than if it had been a bigger pistol. It also proved reliable- even after I accidentally dumped it in the sand at my range while setting up my gear.
The PPQ Sub Compact shrugged it off and worked just fine. With the right holster, the Walther PPQ Sub Compact will ride unnoticed on your belt- and unnoticed by your back, kidneys and waistline. It will not be weighty enough to cause you to list to one side, and should you need it, the Quick Defense trigger means you can focus on the sights- and the need to shoot or not- and not how you're going to be struggling through the trigger pull. And you'll be able to take full advantage of the Walther accuracy built into each PPQ, whether full size or Sub Compact.