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Walther ppk .380 jams with cheap ammo, which ammo to use for target practice?

51K views 43 replies 22 participants last post by  97yota4wd 
#1 ·
hey guys i need some assistance.
i currently have a walther ppk .380 pistol.

when i shoot cheap ammo, it jams, at least 1 every mag.
when i say it jams, i mean it just doesnt seat the slide all the way and the bullet is partially sticking out of the chamber. in order to not jam the slide would need to go forward another cm.
took it to the gun smith, he did a throuogh cleaning and inspect, he said everything is fine and just alot of times the smaller guns dont like cheap ammo.
so what is some good quality ammo, that i can use for target practice? but still be easy on the wallet?
the only good ammo they have at my local store is very high priced hollow points at $1 per bullet.....
thanks for the help in advance.
 
#6 ·
i think its 108 grain. or 100 grain. i can check when i get home from work.

What kind of ammo were you using?
ill verify when i get home from work. it was like 100 grain fmj something..
the gun smith told me the ammo was ****.
ppk's are pretty notorious for reliability issues. A good smith can slick everything up for you cheaper than buying high dollar ammo if you're going to shoot it regularly. If you can find CCI Lawman in .380 these days, I'd try that. It's hotter than WW White box, Federal Champion and most imported stuff but not a lot higher cost. It's just pretty hard to come by because of the benefits. The biggest benefit and the reason I like it and will pay more to get it when I can for all calibers is it's loaded to the same specs as their Gold Dot defense ammo so you get to practice with the same powder, bullet weight, velocity, etc. as what you can carry.

I don't stick to this 100% of the time these days because of the recent shortage and buying what I could find reasonably to just shoot regularly and keep my stock up. Things are settling down a bit now and availability and pricing are coming back. I sold my only remaining .380 a few months ago so I haven't needed any for a while. I have no idea what's out there but late last year it was nearly nothing and outrageous in price.
dang that sucks, i want a gun that will fire every time no matter what.
i dont want to carry a gun that jams all the time. that will get me killed.

the gun smith told me the cheap ammo i was buying had all different casings, some different primers, some were crimped wierd.

i would just sell the gun, but i got ****ed over when buying it, got it from my moms ex husband and didnt know much at the time.
i paid $500 and the gun is pretty beat up. i think id be lucky if i can sell it for $400

Sometimes its the ammo, sometimes the magazine, sometimes its the weapon. Thats usually the first thing to try a different magazine.

Some weapons are just pickier about what they digest. I had a walther PP years ago, dont remember it being to picky, but didnt shoot it alot before I sold it. Gonna imagine a Walther with its tighter tolerances is going to be a little more sensitive to ammo than something cheaper, funny how that works. Your just gonna have to buy different boxes of cheap FMJ to find something it will like.

I have an Argentine Browning HP copy, I have never found an ammo it wouldn't eat, from the nastiest cheapest reloads this one store used to sell, at the time it was like $4 a box of 50. HP, FMJ, cast, it doesnt seem to care. A friend had a 9mm he paid quite a bit more for. A tenarmi, dont remember which model. I always ended up shooting up his ammo. He would buy a box to try, and it would jam, then another brand, and another. Never did find one it would feed reliably, he finally just got rid of it.
i have a different magazine, ill try that.
thanks guys.



ill report back when i get home with the exact ammo i am using.

sorry for not knowing before i posted the thread
 
#4 ·
ppk's are pretty notorious for reliability issues. A good smith can slick everything up for you cheaper than buying high dollar ammo if you're going to shoot it regularly. If you can find CCI Lawman in .380 these days, I'd try that. It's hotter than WW White box, Federal Champion and most imported stuff but not a lot higher cost. It's just pretty hard to come by because of the benefits. The biggest benefit and the reason I like it and will pay more to get it when I can for all calibers is it's loaded to the same specs as their Gold Dot defense ammo so you get to practice with the same powder, bullet weight, velocity, etc. as what you can carry.

I don't stick to this 100% of the time these days because of the recent shortage and buying what I could find reasonably to just shoot regularly and keep my stock up. Things are settling down a bit now and availability and pricing are coming back. I sold my only remaining .380 a few months ago so I haven't needed any for a while. I have no idea what's out there but late last year it was nearly nothing and outrageous in price.
 
#5 ·
Sometimes its the ammo, sometimes the magazine, sometimes its the weapon. Thats usually the first thing to try a different magazine.

Some weapons are just pickier about what they digest. I had a walther PP years ago, dont remember it being to picky, but didnt shoot it alot before I sold it. Gonna imagine a Walther with its tighter tolerances is going to be a little more sensitive to ammo than something cheaper, funny how that works. Your just gonna have to buy different boxes of cheap FMJ to find something it will like.

I have an Argentine Browning HP copy, I have never found an ammo it wouldn't eat, from the nastiest cheapest reloads this one store used to sell, at the time it was like $4 a box of 50. HP, FMJ, cast, it doesnt seem to care. A friend had a 9mm he paid quite a bit more for. A tenarmi, dont remember which model. I always ended up shooting up his ammo. He would buy a box to try, and it would jam, then another brand, and another. Never did find one it would feed reliably, he finally just got rid of it.
 
#7 ·
Is it a newish gun? One of my coworker's brand new PPK behaved like that for a few hundred rounds, but after breaking in, it is much less picky about the ammo she uses in it. Hers was also very susceptible to limp-wresting. When she starting shooting with her carpal tunnel brace, it worked better, too.
 
#12 ·
Thank you, I will check it out!

I'm betting on magazine. Next would be the recoil spring. Neither are hard to fix nor expensive.
Okay, I will try my other magazine, have not tried it yet. My recoil spring seems really strong. Like almost overly strong, but I hear that's normal on the Walters.
But I will definitely try that too if it does not work.
I want to shoot a couple hundred rounds of my good carry ammo to make sure it does not Jam. I've only shot about six. Because they are so expensive
My wife and I each own a Walther PK380, her's has an issue where it won't eject a shell case, once every mag, mine never has had any problems, both have been shot the same number of rounds, around 400 each. My wife picked the Walther beacuse of the way it fit her hand. She didn't like most other small handguns. I'm going to take her's to a gun smith to check it will report back what he says.

By the way we both shoot Freedom Munitions 95g FMJ for target practice.
Hmm, mine ejects fine, it just has an issue with loading the bullet all the way into the chamber. I can actually take a picture and upload it for you guys.
I also agree with the Walther being a perfect carry gun. If it functions properly


The ammo I have been using is 100 grain 380 tmjfn ( what the heck is that?)
Reffett elite ammunition.

Label
 
#11 ·
My wife and I each own a Walther PK380, her's has an issue where it won't eject a shell case, once every mag, mine never has had any problems, both have been shot the same number of rounds, around 400 each. My wife picked the Walther beacuse of the way it fit her hand. She didn't like most other small handguns. I'm going to take her's to a gun smith to check it will report back what he says.

By the way we both shoot Freedom Munitions 95g FMJ for target practice.
 
#15 ·
Never heard of that ammo. I'd try the major brands like Winchester, Remington, Federal, Fiocchi, S&B. Usually auto pistol problems are ammo or mag related, generally speaking.

The PPk can be a finicky little pistol so you might have to try a variety of ammo along with a highly polished (no grinders) feed ramp.
 
#19 ·
i cant afford to shoot the high quality stuff at my gun shop at $1/round

My ppk/s has trouble if you use Mec Gar mags or if you feed it some cheap ammunition like ppu. With factory Walther magazines and MagTech 90 grain bulk packs, it's very reliable.
how do i know what mag i have? it just says walther on the bottom.

ill check out magtech. thanks
 
#22 ·
That looks like some questionable ammo. There are brands out there, remanufacturers, that will used mixed brass. A bit funny as a box of Magtech, mixed brass was more money than winchester the other day.

So a box of factory would be the place to start, remington, winchester, fiocchi, whatever. But not probably junk reloads.

The recoil spring on the walther will be pretty stiff, they tend to be on anything blowback like a PPK. Original magazine may be fine with decent ammo, may not. Shouldnt be to hard to find a proper mag, but try to find a factory to eliminate it being a mag issue. Yea there are some pretty questionable mags being produced.
 
#28 ·
I had a 1960's Walther PP that was in beautiful condition. It was immaculate inside and out. It had some of the prettiest, deepest blueing I've ever seen on a gun. For as good as it looked it didn't feed worth a darn.

A buddy of mine who is a Walther guy who collects P38, PP, and PPK told me that some of the PP and PPK in 380 just don't feed right and it is difficult to fix. His suggestion was try and find ammo that your gun likes and stick with it. That was about all he could offer. It wouldn't feed any hollow points without at least one jam of some sort per magazine. I settled on using Federal American Eagle 380 ACP 95 grain FMJ. It seemed to do the best but I would probably get at least 2 or 3 failure to feeds anytime I went to the range and shoot 100 or so rounds.

As much as I enjoyed how pretty that pistol was I decided to part ways after 10 years of owning it and not shooting it that much because of the frustration. I ended up using the funds for a nice little Sig P238 that goes bang every time and my wife enjoys shooting it a lot more without the feed issues.
 
#33 ·
Ammo, Gun, Limp Wristing

Most .380 ammo nowadays is wimpy. Too many poor pot metal .380 guns were made. To compensate and to reduce law suits, most, (some) .380 ammo makers have reduced the power of their .380 ammo, especially the non expensive practice FMG ammo.

The PPK is a very old design. Worked just great with full power European type ammo. The gun does not like down powered ammo. Corrective action may include replacing the recoil spring with something lighter for practice ammo only. Cheap fix.

Also, sometimes the gun just needs to be broken in. The gunsmith should have done a detail action job that would do like a normal break in period would do. You gun might need about 500 rounds on it before it completely loosens up. Patience.

If you have time and want too, just unload the pistol completely and remove the mag. Lube heavy. Hand rack the gun about 500 times. Do not fire. You will smell hot metal. Normal. Disassemble, clean completely then re lube. You have hand lapped.

The last thing is the way you are shooting the gun. The Walther PPK is a straight blow back pistol. If you limp wrist it while firing, you can make the gun jam every shot regardless of the ammo. Design flaw. Hold tight, stiffen your wrists and forearms. HB of CJ (old coot)
 
#35 ·
Most .380 ammo nowadays is wimpy. Too many poor pot metal .380 guns were made. To compensate and to reduce law suits, most, (some) .380 ammo makers have reduced the power of their .380 ammo, especially the non expensive practice FMG ammo.

The PPK is a very old design. Worked just great with full power European type ammo. The gun does not like down powered ammo. Corrective action may include replacing the recoil spring with something lighter for practice ammo only. Cheap fix.

Also, sometimes the gun just needs to be broken in. The gunsmith should have done a detail action job that would do like a normal break in period would do. You gun might need about 500 rounds on it before it completely loosens up. Patience.

If you have time and want too, just unload the pistol completely and remove the mag. Lube heavy. Hand rack the gun about 500 times. Do not fire. You will smell hot metal. Normal. Disassemble, clean completely then re lube. You have hand lapped.

The last thing is the way you are shooting the gun. The Walther PPK is a straight blow back pistol. If you limp wrist it while firing, you can make the gun jam every shot regardless of the ammo. Design flaw. Hold tight, stiffen your wrists and forearms. HB of CJ (old coot)
you are thinking the same that I am, :thumb:
I've owned several PPK and PPK/s The S&W did not stand up to the Interarms and the original Walthers.

OP, there was a recall on many of the S&W PPKs.
If it has been through the recall there should be a stamp on it.
http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Category4_750001_750051_757981_-1_757978_757978_image
 
#34 ·
My wife's PPK/S had a FTF every few rounds for the first couple of boxes. It's gotten better over time. It hasn't jammed in a box or so, but I can't give it a clean bill of health just yet.

I didn't see where you mentioned the age of the gun. But if it's new, give it a few hundred rounds. Also, use only factory magazines.
 
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