I own a Walther PPQ M2 9mm with a 5" barrel. It is truly an excellent firearm. I chose the PPQ for 2 main reasons... of all the guns I could get my hands on at local gun shops, it was (with the large backstrap installed) the most comfortable in my hand, and it has a very nice trigger. The vast majority of PPQs have a 4" barrel, but I specifically chose the version with the 5" barrel because accuracy matters to me, and, as long as I live in NJ I'll never have a concealed carry permit, so being lighter and more concealable is no advantage to me.
Walther PPQ Forum - part of the Walther Forums
caveat - ignore the fanboys
International version of the PPQ Owner's Manual - Has some spec info not in the regular US version on page 109.
Tangfolio's Disassembly Pictures Thread
The 9mm PPQ (M1 and M2) has a barrel twist rate of 1:250mm, which is 1:9.84in, or nominally 1/10.
Knowing the barrel twist rate can be important when reloading for accuracy at 25yds and 50yds.
Walther Arms - number
Earl's
M1 vs. M2
where to buy
different-height front sights
rear sight width/gap
Dawson Precision
PPQ sights are compatible with P99 sights and PPS sights.
Limbsaver - YES
Hogue Hand-all - NO
Wolff spring pack
Lanzer's PPQ Trigger modifications... Lighter trigger return spring thread on Walther Forums, or as described on his website. Uses this spring from Sodemann.
The Walther Part Number for the factory 10-round PPQ M2 9mm magazine is 2796651. You can buy them from the Walther store, but no one else ever has them in stock (I checked: Buds, Walnut Creek, EuroOptic, Grab-A-Gun, Kmart, Tombstone Tactical, Ammo Freedom, GoOutdoorGear, and even Ebay).
You can search for them by part number 2796651 at gun.deals website. (make sure you un-check the "Firearms" checkbox to see the results)
The factory 10-round magazines use the same parts as the factory 15-round magazines, with 2 changes. First the 10-round magazine spring has one additional coil on it. Second, the body of the magazine has two indentations, one on each side. If you're looking at the numbered holes on the back of the magazine, the indentation on the right side is about 1mm below the hole numbered 10. The indentation on the left side is about 4mm below the hole numbered 9. Both indentations are in the raised part, about equidistant between the front and the back of the magazine. The indentations are the entire width of the raised rib (6mm), and about 4-5mm high, and oval-shaped. These indentations make bulges inside the mag body, which prevent the bullets from being pushed down further, which is how it prevents you from loading more than 10 rounds into the magazine. I'm not entirely sure why the spring has one extra coil; possibly to make it a little stronger, so that if the spring itself catches on the bulges, it has a better chance of pushing around that obstruction. The nice part about this setup is that you can still completely disassemble the magazine for cleaning, including taking the spring and the follower out of the magazine body.
If you were to put a pin across the mag body, you would not be able to get the spring or the follower out.
If you put any kind of obstruction on the inside of the mag body that prevents the follower from pushing down beyond the 10-round limit (such as a drop of epoxy on the inside front or inside back of the mag body), then, when it comes time to clean the magazine, you would not be able to get the follower out. That is because, unlike 1911 magazines, the follower cannot be rotated inside the magazine body, even after the spring is removed.
You can still get the follower out of the body of the 10-round factory magazine with the indentations, because the follower is not a constant width (and the follower is exactly the same in the 10-round and 15-round factory magazines). The follower is a little skinnier in the middle, so it can move past the indentation bulges. The trick is that the bullets cannot move past them.
So... the best solution is probably to put two drops of epoxy (or JB Weld, or similar) on the inside of the magazine body, one on the middle of the right side, about 1mm below the 10 hole, and one in the middle of the left side, about 4mm below the 9 hole.
The idea is to permanently attach something to the bottom center of the follower, so that it can only be pushed down far enough to fit 10 rounds.
This would work similarly to
The Walther PPQ is a short-recoil-operated, locked breech, striker-fired, polymer-framed, semi-automatic pistol. It has no external safety lever, but there are 3 safeties built into the gun (trigger blade, firing pin block, and disconnector safety). The striker is fully pre-cocked, and there is no decocker. Whether it should be considered single-action or double-action is a matter of some debate, and depends on your definition of what constitutes an "action". The fully pre-cocked striker imparts 2 important, practical advantages over many other trigger mechanisms... the trigger pull is the same for every shot, and the trigger pull only has to move the firing pin block and trip the sear, so it's relatively light and smooth, and not overly long. Typical trigger pull weight is around 5.5 lbs, and trigger pull length is about 0.4 inches, with a 0.1 inch reset. In 9mm, the normal double-stack magazines hold 15 rounds, which works out great for me, since the NJ limit is 15 (larger 17-round, and smaller 10-round magazines are also available).
The "PPQ" name stands for "police pistol, quick" (originally in German, of course, but the abbreviation works in English, too). The "police pistol" part is because that was the intended usage... as a police pistol. The "quick" part is because it has an unusually short (and therefore quick) reset. The reset is how much you need to let the trigger out after taking a shot, in order to shoot again. The reset is shorter than the full trigger pull on many pistols, but was purposely designed to be short/quick on the PPQ. Ironically, it's the quick reset that made it an unpopular choice as a police pistol. The thinking is that, in a stressful situation, such as a shootout, it may be too easy to accidentally fire an additional shot unintentionally with such a short reset. Fortunately for the rest of us, Walther decided to make it available to the public, and most users love the short reset.
The Walther PPQ comes in several variations, and is itself an evolution of the Walther P99. Caliber choices include .22LR, 9mm, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP. The .45 ACP version has polygonal rifling, whereas the others have traditional land-and-groove rifling. Barrel choices include 4", 4.6" threaded, or 5". The 5" barrel versions have slots cut in the front portion of the slide to reduce slide weight (they look like ported barrel slots, but they are not). The M2 versions use a traditional button-style magazine release which is reversible for left or right handed shooters. The original PPQ, now called the M1, uses an ambidextrous paddle-style (a.k.a. lever-style) magazine release built into the bottom of the trigger guard. The M1 and M2 magazines are not interchangeable, because the latch holes in the magazine body are in a slightly different location, to accommodate the different mag release mechanisms. Not every combination of caliber, barrel length, and mag release mechanism is available. PPQs come with different sights in different markets, but in the USA, most versions come with polymer 3-dot sights, and the rear sight is windage adjustable. The "PPQ Navy" version has a hole in the striker channel to evacuate water, should the gun be submerged, and stronger striker spring to push the striker through water, and comes with one 15-round magazine, and one 17-round magazine. The "PPQ Navy SD" version is the same as the PPQ Navy, but with the 4.6" threaded barrel. The "PPQ First Edition" version has the 4.6" threaded barrel, M1 paddle-style magazine release, and non-adjustable tritium night sights, and comes with one 15-round magazine, and one 17-round magazine.
One of the very nice things about the PPQ, is that the grip is very ergonomic. It comes with three backstraps (small, medium, and large), to accommodate people with different-sized hands. The backstrap is the back part of the grip (the part that touches the palm of your hand).
Malfunction clearing video from You Tube.