Broke My New PPK/S!

[dennishoddy]

And we are talking about them fixing a pistol that was built in 1983.

[emoji106][emoji106]


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[ldp4570]

Update: I called Walther in Fort Smith Arkansas today and spoke with a fellow in customer service. I explained what happened to him and even though this is an Interarms gun, he said they would be glad to repair it for me for free if I would ship them the slide and the broken part so they can see and analyze what may have happened. It is on its way as we speak! I think that's great customer service, I'll get my pistol back, repaired at the factory, and it's not gonna cost me anything but the cost of shipping. I'll keep those of you who are interested updated.


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Is this a German made or a Ranger Alabama made Walther? I've never had that issue with any of mine. Yours is the first I've heard of with that type of breakage. Now the P-38's are known for this, especially the Walther P-4 version since the thumb safety is nothing more than a spring controlled hammer drop, so at times the lever has been known to shear off due to spring force.

 

[druryj]

Is this a German made or a Ranger Alabama made Walther? I've never had that issue with any of mine. Yours is the first I've heard of with that type of breakage. Now the P-38's are known for this, especially the Walther P-4 version since the thumb safety is nothing more than a spring controlled hammer drop, so at times the lever has been known to shear off due to spring force.

Well it's a Ranger. Sweet Home Alabama and all that.


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[D. Hargrove]

Well it's a Ranger.

Damn Rangers, now had that been a Force Recon it never would have broken, never...

 

[druryj]

LOL! Good one. You know, these darn PP series guns are funny; a lot of people admire them, including myself, despite what I feel is somewhat of a design flaw; the design and operation of the whole external safety thing. And those guns made by the Ranger Manufacturing Co. (seemingly more known for the boats they made) under contract by and for Interarms are now pretty well thought of in the Walther circle...more so now I think than before the advent of the S&W made Walthers starting in like 2002. One of their design flaws, IMO,as well as many other Walther folks is the whole safety lever thing: It's like ...backwards. It's the opposite of a 1911; if the gun was in "fire" when the safety was down, it would be so much better. But nooooooo; the gun is in "fire" when the lever is up, and many a Walther PP, PPK, or PPK/S has had a problem with the safety falling down into the "safe" position while firing. See, the safety drum has two detent holes machined into the drum; one for "safe" and one for "fire" . And the safety plunger engages these detents accordingly. And the spring which tensions that plunger also tensions the extractor. The problem seems to be worsened by the fact that these detent holes and the plunger itself are machined at 90 degrees, not a very sharp or deep detent really, and one that sees a bit of wear every time you go from fire to safe and vice versa. And then, you see how the safety drum actually BLOCKS the hammer from hitting the firing pin. Repeated dry fire may be another cause for wear and abuse on that safety drum. Remember now; we're talking about an old (1929) design here; one of the first successful DA/SA pistols. Anyway, it is a problem waiting to happen , IMO, with all of them. Over time, every safety drum, plunger, and detent hole will wear and the whole "drop into safe while firing" thing can happen. Whether they are RANGERs, the very early Zella-Mellis German Guns, the French made Manhurins, the later ones made in Ulm, Germany or not.

Of course, I could just be wrong about all of this and the damn thing just broke.

 

[druryj]

Is this a German made or a Ranger Alabama made Walther? I've never had that issue with any of mine. Yours is the first I've heard of with that type of breakage. Now the P-38's are known for this, especially the Walther P-4 version since the thumb safety is nothing more than a spring controlled hammer drop, so at times the lever has been known to shear off due to spring force.

There's a big thread, in fact I think it's a sticky, over on Waltherforums.com about the safety lever on the PP series falling from FIRE to SAFE. Seems that it is usually wear on either the safety plunger or the detent hole in the safety drum itself that the plunger fits into and is held there by spring tension. Some people have replaced the spring to give stronger tension, some say polishing the drum and hammer helps, some say to replace the safety drum and/or the plunger. One of the guys there who is a long time, well established, and seemingly knowledgeable fellow even has a set-up to machine the detent and plunger to a sharper point. I think one guy even superglued or JB welded the dang thing in the FIRE position! That seems a little too drastic or too Bubba-Like to me. On my 1995 Interarms (Ranger) Walther PPK/S Stainless Model, a few years back I began to experience the safety falling down to SAFE when firing and I replaced the spring, plunger and safety drum to cure the problem. I'm thinking I even went ahead and put a new extractor in there since I had it pretty much detail disassembled at that point anyway. This new-to-me blued PPK/S was NOT having that problem of falling from FIRE to SAFE; it just has a broken safety drum itself. Dang old Rangers...that would really suck if that had been a boat made by Ranger that broke in half while in operation!

 

[Fyrtwuck]

You just proved what I've heard all these years.

"A Marine can break an anvil with a rubber mallet"

 

[ldp4570]

There's a big thread, in fact I think it's a sticky, over on Waltherforums.com about the safety lever on the PP series falling from FIRE to SAFE. Seems that it is usually wear on either the safety plunger or the detent hole in the safety drum itself that the plunger fits into and is held there by spring tension. Some people have replaced the spring to give stronger tension, some say polishing the drum and hammer helps, some say to replace the safety drum and/or the plunger. One of the guys there who is a long time, well established, and seemingly knowledgeable fellow even has a set-up to machine the detent and plunger to a sharper point. I think one guy even superglued or JB welded the dang thing in the FIRE position! That seems a little too drastic or too Bubba-Like to me. On my 1995 Interarms (Ranger) Walther PPK/S Stainless Model, a few years back I began to experience the safety falling down to SAFE when firing and I replaced the spring, plunger and safety drum to cure the problem. I'm thinking I even went ahead and put a new extractor in there since I had it pretty much detail disassembled at that point anyway. This new-to-me blued PPK/S was NOT having that problem of falling from FIRE to SAFE; it just has a broken safety drum itself. Dang old Rangers...that would really suck if that had been a boat made by Ranger that broke in half while in operation!

I've heard of it happening, but so far never had a problem with any of mine. YOu are correct that not much has changed on these since 1929, but its still a damn fine pistol!!