It started when we got a Sig Sauer P320 Carry. It fit my hand pretty well and right out of the box I shot my best groupings ever, and the trigger was pretty good. Plus it was a Sig. Someday soon I'll probably put up a full review on that one as well.
At first I was set on getting a CZ P-07. I shot it at the range and it just wasn't quite the one. Then I moved to the new HK VP9. Let me be clear, the VP9 is the most comfortable handgun I have ever held. It is like those Germans made it just for me. Plus it was from a company with a stellar reputation, at a lower (but still high) price from them--$650 plus tax. Finally rented one of those, and I didn't like the trigger. It had a really long reset and my finger was getting rubbed by the trigger trough. Turns out that seems to be a relatively common issue. I could have trained myself to put my finger on the right spot on the trigger but I also didn't shoot the same groups with the VP9 that I could with the Sig. I still want one one day, but it won't be soon.
Next I tried a FNS-9. I liked that it was comparatively dirt cheap ($440+tax through IOP, with night sights) and held 17 rounds in the same size frame as other holding 15. Put about a hundred rounds through the FNS side by side with the Sig and found that it just didn't fit my hand quite right, the groupings weren't what I wanted, and the trigger was pretty dang heavy. Following that I fired an XDm and an M&P9. And then I rented the PPQ.
Holy crud. I put my first three rounds through touching holes in a triangle shape at 7 yards. Sure it's not the farthest but 1) I've never pulled of three touching rounds with any other handgun before and 2) I had never fired the PPQ before. I was sold right then. To be fair, I had researched it plenty and it was down to the PPQ or the FNS.
Paid just under $600 out the door. Came with a foam lined hard plastic case, one pistol, two 15 round magazines, one magazine loader, a cable lock, very nice user manual, and a test target from the factory of five rounds at 15 meters. I got the M1, or classic style, that has the European paddle magazine release rather than the American button style. I've already come to appreciate the paddle release because you can't accidentally drop the mag, it's truly ambi, and you can hit it with your trigger finger without shifting your grip. After just a short time it starts to feel really natural.
The PPQ comes with three different backstraps. Better than the FNS' two, but not as many options as the VP9's 27 possible configurations. Field stripping is stupid simple. Eject the mag, clear the chamber, squeeze the trigger, push straight down on the takedown lever, slide the slide forward. Done.
The trigger on the pistol is just -WOW-. The hype is there for a reason. There's quite a bit of take up, a very short and light pull, and a terrifically short, audible, tactile reset.
Now for the two big negatives for me. The sights that ship with the pistol are polymer, front and back, and neither are dovetailed. It sounds like with the front you can adapt Glock sights to work, but the rear is entirely unique to the Walther. I can let this slide because I will be replacing them with night sights anyway. I'm thinking an AmeriGlo green tritium front with orange outline and either a solid black rear or a single center tritium dot on the rear.
The second gripe is that the rod in the recoil spring assembly is polymer. I don't know if this is actually a problem. The Walther forum is abound with people assuring it's a non-issue, with very few cases of broken rods. Walther has apparently been using these in the P99s for over 15 years and I imagine that if it was a common problem they would have redesigned it. Or they are just cheap bastards. Steel recoil rods are available complete with springs, but for $60.
I already have Talon Grips on their way and a new Alien Gear Cloak Tuck 2.0 IWB on order too. I've said it before, for me, Talons seem to be the single best addition you can make to any handgun, especially for the price. I haven't read a bad review on the Alien Gear holsters yet and I look forward to doing a review of it in 1-2 weeks
My only real regret so far is that I didn't wait a week to see what neat toys might be announced at SHOT. Hopefully there isn't anything too cool coming out! Pictures will follow in the next day or two. Let me know if you have questions, I'll try to answer them. I'll be updating this as I think of things. The brain isn't firing on all cylinders tonight. Pretty drained from watching that nail-biting NFC championship game
