Walther PK380 Review [2018]
Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF)
Walther's PK380 is an older design with an endearingly old-fashioned manual safety, paddle-style magazine release, and disassembly tool. That said, its grip is stunningly comfortable, its feature set makes a lot of sense for many shooters, and it's one of the softest-shooting .380s on the market – noticeably softer shooting than a full-size poly-framed 9mm (Glock 17). It is a reliable gun, but not with every ammunition you feed it - expect to try a few brands of ammunition before you find one that runs 100%. Those looking for a bare-bones ultra-compact pocket pistol should likely pass over the PK380 - it’s just not small enough. However, it’s still very easy to make it disappear and it’s one of very few CCW guns you'll actually want to practice with.
Review Contents
This review is organized as shown below. You can read the whole thing, or just use the below guide to find to the section that’s most interesting to you.
- PK380 Overview and the Walther Compact Pistol Lineup
- In the shop:
- PK380 Overview and the Walther Compact Pistol Lineup
- In the shop:
- Tabletop Handling Observations
- Internals
- User Interface (Trigger, Sights, Magazines, Grip, and Other Controls)
- Live Fire Handling Observations
- Reliability
PK380 Overview and the Walther Compact Pistol Lineup
Walther’s PK380 is a polymer-framed, hammer-fired, single-stack .380 based loosely on Walther’s P22. The PK380’s barrel is 3.6” and its overall height is 5.2”, straddling the line between a compact and a subcompact and retaining much of the P22’s “shootability” with a comfortable and confident grip. Locked-breech operation adds an easy-racking slide and soft recoil, giving the PK380 a rare combination of concealability and range-plinking appeal.
The PK380's more unusual features include an ambidextrous manual safety, a paddle-style magazine release, and a field-stripping procedure that requires a special key. This key can also permanently lock the gun, rendering it inoperable for long-term storage.
Some might snicker at these charmingly old-school features, but the only real buzzkill is that disassembly key - the rest may actually work to the PK380’s advantage. First-time gun buyers looking for a small-but-not-too-small CCW can be uncomfortable carrying a pistol with no external safety, and the PK380's big flapping paddle of a safety feels very reassuring. Furthermore, it's perfectly positioned to add plenty of grip to the rear of slide,
The other .380 in Walther’s lineup is the famed PPK, a true subcompact pistol with a 3.3” barrel and a 3.8” height, although between the PPK’s tiny size and blowback operation, some regard .380 as too powerful a chambering for this pistol (it was originally chambered in .32 ACP).
Stepping up to 9mm and back to the approximate size of the PK380, Walther offers a number of other concealment options. The PPQ SC takes Walther’s flagship, double-stack, striker-fired duty pistol and simply cuts it down to a concealable size. The PPS, also a striker, is built from the ground up around a single-stack magazine to give it a slim grip profile. Finally, the CCP steps away from the rulebook completely with gas-delayed blowback operation, making it one of the most controllable CCW 9s on the market.
And now, back to the PK380.
The PK380's more unusual features include an ambidextrous manual safety, a paddle-style magazine release, and a field-stripping procedure that requires a special key. This key can also permanently lock the gun, rendering it inoperable for long-term storage.
Some might snicker at these charmingly old-school features, but the only real buzzkill is that disassembly key - the rest may actually work to the PK380’s advantage. First-time gun buyers looking for a small-but-not-too-small CCW can be uncomfortable carrying a pistol with no external safety, and the PK380's big flapping paddle of a safety feels very reassuring. Furthermore, it's perfectly positioned to add plenty of grip to the rear of slide,
The other .380 in Walther’s lineup is the famed PPK, a true subcompact pistol with a 3.3” barrel and a 3.8” height, although between the PPK’s tiny size and blowback operation, some regard .380 as too powerful a chambering for this pistol (it was originally chambered in .32 ACP).
Stepping up to 9mm and back to the approximate size of the PK380, Walther offers a number of other concealment options. The PPQ SC takes Walther’s flagship, double-stack, striker-fired duty pistol and simply cuts it down to a concealable size. The PPS, also a striker, is built from the ground up around a single-stack magazine to give it a slim grip profile. Finally, the CCP steps away from the rulebook completely with gas-delayed blowback operation, making it one of the most controllable CCW 9s on the market.
And now, back to the PK380.
In the Shop:
Tabletop Handling Observations
The review sample is personally-owned by one of our staff, about 5 years old and well-used, but the finish is still attractive and largely unworn. The safety physically blocks the hammer from contacting the firing pin, so with the safety on, the PK380 is one of few hammer guns that we de-cock without worry. The PK380 has an exceptionally comfortable grip – it’s a very nice gun to pick up and hold. It is also a locked-breech design (more on that in the Internals section below) which makes it unusually easy to rack the slide (for a subcompact .380), a plus for small-framed shooters.
A Picatinny rail lets the PK380 add a light or laser, a common want for those buying the PK380 as a bedside pistol, although some CCW shooters prefer a smoothly contoured frame under the barrel to minimize the risk of snags on holsters or clothing. In response to this, Walther offers a laser sight custom-made for the PK380’s contours, smoothing out the Picatinny rail’s edges while also adding a competent laser sight to the package.
The review sample is personally-owned by one of our staff, about 5 years old and well-used, but the finish is still attractive and largely unworn. The safety physically blocks the hammer from contacting the firing pin, so with the safety on, the PK380 is one of few hammer guns that we de-cock without worry. The PK380 has an exceptionally comfortable grip – it’s a very nice gun to pick up and hold. It is also a locked-breech design (more on that in the Internals section below) which makes it unusually easy to rack the slide (for a subcompact .380), a plus for small-framed shooters.
A Picatinny rail lets the PK380 add a light or laser, a common want for those buying the PK380 as a bedside pistol, although some CCW shooters prefer a smoothly contoured frame under the barrel to minimize the risk of snags on holsters or clothing. In response to this, Walther offers a laser sight custom-made for the PK380’s contours, smoothing out the Picatinny rail’s edges while also adding a competent laser sight to the package.
Internals
The PK380’s full-length, all-steel guiderod is a welcome upgrade over the plastic guiderods common in many competing pistols.
Once upon a time, back before the Kel Tec P3AT and its resulting slew of copies, the PK380's big party trick was that it is NOT a straight-blowback action, unlike many other pistols chambered in .380 Auto (and smaller) calibers. Straight blowbacks are cheap to make and get good accuracy from their fixed barrels, but they only make sense up to about the .380’s power level. Get up into the 9mm and beyond power levels, and the slides get too big and the recoil springs get too stiff to make a good gun (just nobody tell that to Hi Point...).
Walther plopped a no-kidding, tilting-barrel, locked-breech Browning lockup into the PK380. This type of action is more expensive to manufacture and technically has less ultimate accuracy than a straight blowback, but it does have two big advantages - the slide is much easier to rack, and the gun will kick a bit less.
For a subcompact CCW gun, this is a big deal for several reasons. Number one, absolute pinpoint accuracy isn't what people are after with their CCW guns. Number two, subcompacts have small, fiddly slides that are harder to get a grip on than full size duty guns. Number three, a large chunk of the buying population for subcompact .380s is women, who are statistically more likely to have reduced grip strength. Finally number four, even a .380 can kick pretty snappily in a tiny little subcompact frame, but between the locked-breech action and a surprisingly low bore axis (for a hammer gun, see our Pistol Bore Axis Article) of 1.56”, the PK380 is quite manageable at the range.
The PK380’s full-length, all-steel guiderod is a welcome upgrade over the plastic guiderods common in many competing pistols.
Once upon a time, back before the Kel Tec P3AT and its resulting slew of copies, the PK380's big party trick was that it is NOT a straight-blowback action, unlike many other pistols chambered in .380 Auto (and smaller) calibers. Straight blowbacks are cheap to make and get good accuracy from their fixed barrels, but they only make sense up to about the .380’s power level. Get up into the 9mm and beyond power levels, and the slides get too big and the recoil springs get too stiff to make a good gun (just nobody tell that to Hi Point...).
Walther plopped a no-kidding, tilting-barrel, locked-breech Browning lockup into the PK380. This type of action is more expensive to manufacture and technically has less ultimate accuracy than a straight blowback, but it does have two big advantages - the slide is much easier to rack, and the gun will kick a bit less.
For a subcompact CCW gun, this is a big deal for several reasons. Number one, absolute pinpoint accuracy isn't what people are after with their CCW guns. Number two, subcompacts have small, fiddly slides that are harder to get a grip on than full size duty guns. Number three, a large chunk of the buying population for subcompact .380s is women, who are statistically more likely to have reduced grip strength. Finally number four, even a .380 can kick pretty snappily in a tiny little subcompact frame, but between the locked-breech action and a surprisingly low bore axis (for a hammer gun, see our Pistol Bore Axis Article) of 1.56”, the PK380 is quite manageable at the range.
User Interface
Trigger:
The trigger is a typical hammer-fired Walther – that is to say, it’s pretty good. It’s not jaw-droppingly crisp but its single-action pull is light at 5.25 lb and its reset is acceptably short at 0.25” (6.4 mm). It’s easy to be accurate with a trigger like this, and it’s frankly much better than many CCW guns. That said, some shooters prefer a heavier trigger on carry guns to mitigate the risk of accidental discharge. For those shooters, put the safety on and de-cock the PK380 (or you can carry empty chamber, of course) and the double-action trigger pull clocks in somewhere above 9.0 lb (our trigger pull gauge only goes up to 9.0 lb). Light serrations on the trigger face round out the package.
Sights:
Older PK380s have steel sights, while newer ones have plastic – both are three-dot arrangements with all-white dots and a slightly smaller front dot. The sights are competent and sturdy, and the rear is drift-adjustable.
Magazines:
Magazines are nickel-plated single-stack affairs with witness holes for all eight rounds. A pinky finger extension adds a finishing flourish to an already comfortable handgun grip, but you’d better like the extension because there’s no alternative flush-fit baseplate. Only one magazine comes with the gun. More can be found at gun shows and online for between $20 - $35, but don’t expect to see them in stock at a big-box retailer.
Trigger:
The trigger is a typical hammer-fired Walther – that is to say, it’s pretty good. It’s not jaw-droppingly crisp but its single-action pull is light at 5.25 lb and its reset is acceptably short at 0.25” (6.4 mm). It’s easy to be accurate with a trigger like this, and it’s frankly much better than many CCW guns. That said, some shooters prefer a heavier trigger on carry guns to mitigate the risk of accidental discharge. For those shooters, put the safety on and de-cock the PK380 (or you can carry empty chamber, of course) and the double-action trigger pull clocks in somewhere above 9.0 lb (our trigger pull gauge only goes up to 9.0 lb). Light serrations on the trigger face round out the package.
Sights:
Older PK380s have steel sights, while newer ones have plastic – both are three-dot arrangements with all-white dots and a slightly smaller front dot. The sights are competent and sturdy, and the rear is drift-adjustable.
Magazines:
Magazines are nickel-plated single-stack affairs with witness holes for all eight rounds. A pinky finger extension adds a finishing flourish to an already comfortable handgun grip, but you’d better like the extension because there’s no alternative flush-fit baseplate. Only one magazine comes with the gun. More can be found at gun shows and online for between $20 - $35, but don’t expect to see them in stock at a big-box retailer.
Grip:
For years now, a single-stack polymer Walther grip has been a very pleasant thing to hold. The PK380 is no exception. We are confident that a good number of PK380s have been sold simply because the future owner picked it up in the gun store and went “wow”. The grip has some extremely modest finger grooves and no backstraps to speak of, so no grip adjustments to fit it to your exact mitt. All totaled, however, the comfort of the grip is one of the reasons the PK380 is so darn pleasant to shoot.
Other Controls:
The safety is a flapping paddle actuated by your thumb, present on both side of the frame for ambidexterity. It’s perfectly positioned to add grip for racking the slide, not at all unlike H&K charging supports, and not once in dozens of racks during a variety of shooting scenarios did we accidentally flip it to the wrong position during charging. The magazine release is a European paddle-style, also ambidextrous like the safety, which makes the PK380 fully ambidextrous. Some may note at this point: "what about the slide release, is that ambi?" Well, yes and no. There isn't a slide release, for perplexing reasons, so technically, that means the PK380 does have fully ambidextrous controls.
For years now, a single-stack polymer Walther grip has been a very pleasant thing to hold. The PK380 is no exception. We are confident that a good number of PK380s have been sold simply because the future owner picked it up in the gun store and went “wow”. The grip has some extremely modest finger grooves and no backstraps to speak of, so no grip adjustments to fit it to your exact mitt. All totaled, however, the comfort of the grip is one of the reasons the PK380 is so darn pleasant to shoot.
Other Controls:
The safety is a flapping paddle actuated by your thumb, present on both side of the frame for ambidexterity. It’s perfectly positioned to add grip for racking the slide, not at all unlike H&K charging supports, and not once in dozens of racks during a variety of shooting scenarios did we accidentally flip it to the wrong position during charging. The magazine release is a European paddle-style, also ambidextrous like the safety, which makes the PK380 fully ambidextrous. Some may note at this point: "what about the slide release, is that ambi?" Well, yes and no. There isn't a slide release, for perplexing reasons, so technically, that means the PK380 does have fully ambidextrous controls.
In the Field
Live Fire Handling Observations
Most CCW pistols are a chore to take to the range – a necessary chore, if one wants to be a responsible (read: extremely well-practiced) carrier of a concealed firearm, but a chore nonetheless. You can hardly blame them, though – CCW pistols give up the full-size grips, long sight radii, and recoil-absorbing weight of pure duty guns in favor of concealability. The PK380, however, walks the line quite well. Its grip is by no means beefy but it does feel unusually confident and secure. Recoil is very manageable – noticeably less than a Glock 17 (full-size 9mm) we shot back-to-back specifically for comparison. In short, the PK380 is a great-shooting pistol, and many times more pleasant to shoot than some other competing CCW pistols.
We did find that the PK380 needed a firm grip – any hint of limp-wristing resulted in an audibly delayed closing stroke for the slide. However, this slow closing stroke never induced any malfunctions (more on that in the Reliability section up next).
Accuracy is acceptable – it’s not a target pistol but it definitely gets the job done. The review sample shot consistently to the left across several shooters, but the owner wouldn't let us fuss with the drift-adjustable rear sight, having set it up just the way he likes it. If we were a less scrupulous publication, we might brag about the below 3-shot group, taken at 10 meters standing (target shown is the CHCOF Stage 1):
Most CCW pistols are a chore to take to the range – a necessary chore, if one wants to be a responsible (read: extremely well-practiced) carrier of a concealed firearm, but a chore nonetheless. You can hardly blame them, though – CCW pistols give up the full-size grips, long sight radii, and recoil-absorbing weight of pure duty guns in favor of concealability. The PK380, however, walks the line quite well. Its grip is by no means beefy but it does feel unusually confident and secure. Recoil is very manageable – noticeably less than a Glock 17 (full-size 9mm) we shot back-to-back specifically for comparison. In short, the PK380 is a great-shooting pistol, and many times more pleasant to shoot than some other competing CCW pistols.
We did find that the PK380 needed a firm grip – any hint of limp-wristing resulted in an audibly delayed closing stroke for the slide. However, this slow closing stroke never induced any malfunctions (more on that in the Reliability section up next).
Accuracy is acceptable – it’s not a target pistol but it definitely gets the job done. The review sample shot consistently to the left across several shooters, but the owner wouldn't let us fuss with the drift-adjustable rear sight, having set it up just the way he likes it. If we were a less scrupulous publication, we might brag about the below 3-shot group, taken at 10 meters standing (target shown is the CHCOF Stage 1):
But, we don’t put our names to our articles – anonymity breeds honesty. Here are the next two shots:
Expect groups like these when casually plinking at 10 meters.
Concentrate and you can shrink these a bit, but most shooters will not be able to get the holes to touch consistently.
Target shown is the CHCOF Stage 1.
Concentrate and you can shrink these a bit, but most shooters will not be able to get the holes to touch consistently.
Target shown is the CHCOF Stage 1.
This group formed an oddly even circle. Again, expect groups like these when casually plinking at 10 meters.
Reliability
We did not clean the PK380 before feeding it 100 rounds of Wolf steel-cased FMJs, 150 rounds of Fiocchi FMJ brass, and 50 rounds of Prvi Partisan JHPs during testing (while also relying on its owner’s assessment of reliability over 5 years of ownership). It is not an “eat anything” pistol, for either FMJs or hollow points, but its pickiness is consistent and therefore (for some shooters) permissible. Find a load it likes, and it’ll shoot just fine. Feed a brand it doesn’t like, and it’ll have consistent problems.
The PK380 ate the 100 rounds of Wolf steel-cased quite happily, but evidently it didn’t care for the Fiocchi brass-cased FMJs – it failed to extract 3 times over the course of 150 rounds, each time with the same behavior shown below. The extractor completely missed pulling the round from the chamber, resulting in an attempted double-feed. A few minutes of Googling turns up reports that sending the gun back to Walther can fix problems with extraction, but the owner preferred to simply shoot bullets the gun liked rather than have a technician muck about with the internals. The PK380 did also eat the 50 Prvi JHPs without issue.
We did not clean the PK380 before feeding it 100 rounds of Wolf steel-cased FMJs, 150 rounds of Fiocchi FMJ brass, and 50 rounds of Prvi Partisan JHPs during testing (while also relying on its owner’s assessment of reliability over 5 years of ownership). It is not an “eat anything” pistol, for either FMJs or hollow points, but its pickiness is consistent and therefore (for some shooters) permissible. Find a load it likes, and it’ll shoot just fine. Feed a brand it doesn’t like, and it’ll have consistent problems.
The PK380 ate the 100 rounds of Wolf steel-cased quite happily, but evidently it didn’t care for the Fiocchi brass-cased FMJs – it failed to extract 3 times over the course of 150 rounds, each time with the same behavior shown below. The extractor completely missed pulling the round from the chamber, resulting in an attempted double-feed. A few minutes of Googling turns up reports that sending the gun back to Walther can fix problems with extraction, but the owner preferred to simply shoot bullets the gun liked rather than have a technician muck about with the internals. The PK380 did also eat the 50 Prvi JHPs without issue.
This same malfunction cropped up three times over 150 rounds of Fiocchi FMJs, but it ate the Wolf steel-cased FMJs and Prvi JHPs just fine.
The PK380’s owner was firm in his trust of the pistol and its preferred FMJ (Federal) and JHP (Hornady Critical Defense) flavors, having somewhere north of 1,000 rounds through it. However, he cautioned prospective buyers to be prepared to spend a few bucks finding ammunition it likes. To be frank, we would expect that cost with any CCW pistol, but it’s fair to say that there are more ammunition-tolerant pistols out there than Walther’s PK380.
Wrap-up
So what does the PK380 bring to the table? Well, the its biggest virtue is shootability, putting it at odds with the ultra-compacts like the P3AT and LCP - hardcore pocket pistols that trade off pretty much everything in pursuit of minimal size. The PK380 is a little big for the subcompact class, but that size gives it just enough bite in the palm and fingers to feel truly secure. Its grip is, in typical Walther fashion, stupidly comfortable. Helped along by the slim, single-stack grip width, this is a very nice gun to pick up and hold.
Those looking for a bare-bones ultra-compact pocket pistol should likely pass over the PK380 - it's just not small enough, and it's got odd, jutting bits like a hammer, external safety, and Picatinny rail sticking out of it.
However, those looking for a pistol that can easily disappear into a waistband or purse should look closely. It's rare to find a CCW gun with a trigger and handling characteristics good enough that you'll actually want to train with it. Add in ambidexterity, an easy-racking slide, and a modest price point, and you've got a fine package. The under-barrel Picatinny rail adds versatility, permitting a light or laser to turn the PK380 into an exceptional bedside gun. The manual safety is a must-have for some, and an overlookable flaw for most, plus it makes the slide even easier to rack. And then, of course, there's that grip... *fans self with hand. Whether you buy it or not, you really do owe it to yourself to pick up a modern, single-stack Walther like the PK380 or PPS. They're really something, and the PK380 is, too.
Those looking for a bare-bones ultra-compact pocket pistol should likely pass over the PK380 - it's just not small enough, and it's got odd, jutting bits like a hammer, external safety, and Picatinny rail sticking out of it.
However, those looking for a pistol that can easily disappear into a waistband or purse should look closely. It's rare to find a CCW gun with a trigger and handling characteristics good enough that you'll actually want to train with it. Add in ambidexterity, an easy-racking slide, and a modest price point, and you've got a fine package. The under-barrel Picatinny rail adds versatility, permitting a light or laser to turn the PK380 into an exceptional bedside gun. The manual safety is a must-have for some, and an overlookable flaw for most, plus it makes the slide even easier to rack. And then, of course, there's that grip... *fans self with hand. Whether you buy it or not, you really do owe it to yourself to pick up a modern, single-stack Walther like the PK380 or PPS. They're really something, and the PK380 is, too.
And that’s it. Happy shooting.
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