Many of us learned to shoot with rifles and pistols chambered in .22lr. Personally I had nearly forgotten the caliber when ammunition got scarce and I sought bigger booms. Ammunition has returned to shelves and one simple truth remains; .22lr is an excellent training caliber. Walther Arms understand this and offers a 5″ PPQ in America’s favorite plinking caliber.
Experienced shooters or those lucky enough to start with a Walther have come to love the ergonomic grip and crisp trigger that Walther is known for. I admit to having at least a half dozen Walthers in my armory and carrying the PPQ SC or PPS M2 depending on weather. I also have two variants of 5″ PPQs because they’re just so great on the range. Were I to re-enter the competition shooting world I’d be hard pressed to not use one of them.
While 9mm is an affordable cartridge, it doesn’t beat .22lr for high-volume shooting. I also advocate the use of .22lr to eliminate bad habits. The low recoil will free most shooters from the flinch monster, and near-hits become more obvious misses when the hole you punch is only .22″ wide. So how does the .22lr PPQ stack up in comparison to a full-sized caliber? Take a look in the video below.
Of course no first look would be complete without the obligatory numbers as taken directly from the manufacturer’s website:
- Model: 5100302
- Caliber: .22 LR
- Barrel Length: 5″
- Trigger Pull: 4.85lbs
- Trigger Travel: 0.16″
- Capacity: 12Rds
- Overall Length: 8.1″
- Height: 5.3″
- Safety: 2 Auto
- Width: 1.3″
- Weight Empty: 22.4oz
As a large-handed shooter I’m looking forward to hitting the range with a .22 that actually fits my hands. We’ve got an assortment of ammunition in from Aguila that ranges from 20gr up to 60gr. While some of those more extreme loads aren’t meant for semi-autos, it’s still worth a try. Stay tuned to the GBGuns Channel for the shooting impressions video.
