As some of you may remember, one of the first guns that we got in for review is the Walther PDP. We did a first look and then added some mods, and now we're going to take a quick look at how it's performed over the last 5 months. Then I'll give you a few things I liked about it, and a few things that I learned that I didn't like as much about it.
First, a quick re-introduction to the PDP. It's Walther's flagship handgun, with a polymer frame and a striker-fired action. This is a 2022 production PDP, which makes it what Walther is now calling the 2.0 version. The PDP comes in either Compact or Full Sized frame, with available barrel lengths of 4, 4.5, and 5 inches. This one we have is the full size frame coupled with the 4.5 inch barrel and slide. It has an overall length of 8 inches, an overall height of 5.7 inches, and a width of 1.34 inches. Weight on this unloaded is 22.3 ounces. It comes from Walther with two 18 round magazines, which gives it an overall capacity of 19 rounds including one in the chamber. As I mentioned it's striker fired, and it has a rated trigger pull weight of 5.6 pounds out of the box. All PDPs come optic ready from Walther, and they all have a rail section for mounting accessories. MSRP for the PDP is $650. It can be found at most online and brick-and-mortar retailers; I got mine at Brownells.
First I wanted to talk about what I think is the most important part of my time with the PDP: reliability. Being a gun that is designed to be a duty or home defense gun, the PDP needs to be reliable above all else. This particular PDP has had a little over 1700 rounds through it at the time of filming this video, over the course of about 5 months. It has seen a relatively even mix of 115 grain commercial range loads as well as 147 grain full metal jacket handloads that I worked up to run through it. It's had about 400 rounds of steel case ammo through it. It has also had a little over one hundred self - defense loads through it, 20 of those being 147 grain Hederal HST and the rest being 115 grain Barnes Tac-XPD.
I'm very happy to say that the PDP lives up to what I would expect from it in terms of reliability. At one point after the initial review video, I ran almost a thousand rounds through it without cleaning it (including all 400 of those steel cased rounds) to see if it would affect operation at all. The PDP didn't even blink at running as dirty as it got, it just kept on working. I have had absolutely zero malfunctions with the PDP in my time with it. No feeding issues, no ejecting issues, no parts breaking, no stoppages of any kind.
One more thing to note in terms of reliability is the optic mount. After a bit of controversy with the original design, Walther made some changes to the optic mounting system for this 2.0 model. I mounted up this Swampfox Justice and Ironsides shield combo to test the optic mounting system, and I have had zero problems with that as well. Even with me using the optic to rack the slide and repeatedly banging it on a table to test the ironsides shield, the plate mount is rock solid. Neither the plate mount or the optic haven't moved at all in the time they've been on there.
As far as accuracy is concerned, I can only say that the limiting factor in accuracy with the PDP was definitely my skill as a shooter. I had the PDP out to the limit of my local range, which was 25 yards. As long as I was doing my part as a shooter, it always put the rounds where I was aiming. One thing that I did note is that the PDP is has a bit more muzzle flip than other 9mm guns this size, which I think might be down to the slightly high bore axis.
Now for some things that I like about the PDP. The first thing that I will always tell people I like about it is the trigger. The action is very short, very crisp, and the reset is very tactile. Additionally, the trigger shoe itself is nice and wide, which I personally really like. One thing I wanted to note with the trigger is the pull weight. It came out of the box at a little over 5 pounds for me, but it has definitely lightened up as it has broken in. Currently it's sitting at right around 4.5 pounds, and feels great.
Another thing that I like about the PDP that I didn't really notice at first is magazine release button. My hands are definitely on the smaller side, and the placement of the mag release button makes it very easy for me to drop a magazine without having to shift my firing grip at all. Actually my finger lands right on top of it when I have a normal firing grip, which is something that does not happen very often for me.
One last thing that I like about the PDP is the shape of the grip. It takes some getting used to, but it is very ergonomic when you do get used to it. It has just the right width for me, and with the medium backstrap, it has a great length of pull as well.
Again not every gun is perfect, and there are some things about the PDP that I learned I didn't like too much after spending some time with it. I previously mentioned the high bore axis of the PDP, and the resulting increased muzzle flip versus other guns this size....that's probably the first thing that I would list as something that I found I didn't like. Again, this can be mitigated with proper shooting technique (or even with a compensator...)
Another one of these things I don't really love is the "shelf" on the right side of the gun where the back side of the safety is. This is there so that the magazine release can be switched for left-handed shooters, but I found that it really digs into my finger/knuckle when I'm shooting and gets a bit annoying over the course of a range day. Not really much of a way to fix this (short of Walther making a model with a paddle mag release) so I'm just living with it at this point.
Another thing I learned I didn't quite love about the PDP is the texturing on the front strap. It's nowhere near as aggressive as the texture on the rest of the grip, and when my hands are sweaty my fingers tend to shift on the front strap because of the lack of grip. This may just be particular to me, as I like my grips very aggressive.
One last thing that I don't like about the PDP is something that I think could be an easy fix: the sights. While I appreciate the adjustable sights, there's two things about them that I really don't like. They're plastic, and they're not tall sights. Walther makes all models of the PDP optic-ready from the factory (and makes a big deal out of this in its marketing) so I think that it should come with a set of tall sights that will cowitness with most optics. Additionally, with a gun this well made, a set of plastic sights just screams cost-cutting and is really just a bad look. While installing a set of sights is an easy fix, I think that it's an extra cost that shouldn't necessarily have to exist.
So that's it! 1700 rounds and 5 months with the Walther PDP. I knew I liked this gun right when I picked it up for the first time, and I have just gotten to like it even more as I have spent more and more time with it. It's rock solid and 100 percent reliable, and it continues to be one of my go-to home defense weapons. Needless to say, I would not hesitate to recommend the PDP to anyone looking for a do-it-all pistol that they can trust their life to.
What's next for this thing then? Probably more upgrades, particularly that Dynamic Performance trigger. After that I'm thinking of maybe a threaded barrel and compensator of some sort to tame a bit of the muzzle flip that I mentioned. If you're looking for a PDP, a Swampfox Justice, or a weaponlight, you can find them at Brownells where I got mine. That's all I have for you this time, so until next time, stay safe!