A rising tide of low recoil semi-auto options has emerged for folks with reduced hand strength. Gun manufacturers typically produce your average gun for a 25 to 35-year-old man without any disabilities. That’s a narrow category, but admittedly, a large demographic in the world of firearms.
With that said, if a gun company wants to succeed, it has to find markets outside the norm. That’s why Beretta, S&W, and Walther are producing low-recoiling, easy-handling alternatives to the normal pistol. Today, we are looking at Walther’s example, the PD380.
Walther essentially updated the Walther PK380 to create the PD380. The PK380 was an odd duck when it was first created and didn’t seem to have a role to fill. It was essentially the modern, polymer version of a PPK, but it lacked the same style as the PPK. The PD380 introduced the PDP ergonomics to a much smaller, easier handling platform.
Inside the PD380
We didn’t recognize the PK380 for its usability at the time, but with the low-hand strength market in the limelight, the PD380 is rightly getting a few more looks. It helps that Walther produces attractive weapons, and the PD380 is a good-looking gun. The stainless slide combined with the black frame makes a striking gun.
The PDP-style grip and squared-off angular-type slide just look nice. Walther replaced the PK380’s cast slide with a machined stainless option. It’s not a big deal, but it looks fantastic. The gun itself is moderately sized. It’s not a subcompact, but it’s not exactly Glock-19-sized. It sits somewhere in between.
The size makes it easy to shoot but still relatively easy to conceal. The gun uses a short recoil action, which is tried and true, but most importantly, it reduces recoil compared to something like the blowback-operated PPK series. While it might seem like an oddity, the PD380 uses a single-stack magazine.
That’s also purposeful. A single-stack magazine is very easy to load. The rounds slide right in without any difficulty. I don’t have hand strength issues, so I might be a poor judge, but I’m betting most people can load this thing without a problem.
Outside the PD380
The gun’s grip ergonomics are fantastic. It feels great in the hand, and the PDP texture and feel are a worthy upgrade. The serrations on the slide are deep and easy to grip. That’s important for the end user with poor hand strength. The easier it is to grab the slide, the easier it is to manipulate the slide.
The PD380 series uses ambidextrous controls. The safety is slide mounted and is only a safety and not a decocker. The trigger guard-mounted magazine release is a love or hate thing. It’s fantastic to me, but it’s a press-down lever, which isn’t the norm, and people like the norm. There is no slide release. You have to slingshot the slide to close it at capacity.
The rear sight is adjustable, and the sights are also plasticky. I hate plastic sights. I wish Walther had considered making it RMSc-compatible, but sadly, it’s not optics-ready.
Shooting the Walther
The gun promises low recoil and delivers low recoil. It’s very soft shooting. The size and short recoil operation make the gun light recoiling and easy to handle. This flat shooting design makes it easy to track your sights and keep the gun on target. You can squeeze off some rapid fire without the gun drifting too far off target.
Manipulating the slide is also very easy. The slide serrations help, and the pull is fairly light. You can also cock the hammer to make it even easier. Double-action triggers tend to be a bit tough if you have poor hand strength. However, the Walther PD380 has a decent trigger. It’s long but light.
At the end of the day, if it’s too heavy, you can carry the gun with the hammer back and safety engaged. Locked and cocked carry is a viable method as long as you train to work with the safety as part of your draw stroke.
The Walther PD380 shoots straight. While the sights don’t seem all that durable, they are functional. A bright white dot on the front sight makes it easy to see and find. It’s easy to follow, and long strings of fire can be done accurately. I can pass a slightly modified 10-10-10 drill, more like a 9-10-10 drill, due to the ammo capacity.
At 25 yards, it’s easy to score accurate hits on targets of varying sizes. I can hit a USPSA A-zone almost all the time at 25 yards, and I can certainly hit the USPSA target every time at 25 yards. The big front sight does cover a bit too much of the target, but it’s still usable.
One More Option
The Walther PD380 impressed me. It’s light recoiling, easy handling, and a great combination of features that make it easy handling for shooters with weaker hands. Performance-wise, it’s not a revolutionary design, but it combines established and successful features to make a solid-performing pistol. It’s a niche design, and I would love it to be optics-ready, but maybe they’ll save it for the Gen 3 polymer frame .380.
For more information, please visit WaltherArms.com.
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