PPK/S and Russian ammo
So I picked up a very lightly used S&W Walther PPK/S. Only has about 200 rds through it.
I've done a bunch of reading here and on other sites regarding breaking it in and smoothing things out.
My question is how well does yours eat the cheap Russian steal case ammo?? I've got a few hundred rounds to run through it for the break in and I'd like to do it fairly cheaply. The problem is that I'm worried about low powered ammo and new stiff springs not playing well together.
Anybody using the Wolf, Tula or others with success in .380?
I've fired ~100 (out of the 200 total through the gun) rounds of some random Russian steel cased through my new SW PPK/S with mixed results. FTE and FT return to battery occurs semi often. However, my PPK/S is nowhere near broken in and im trying not to judge until the gun gets past the 500 round mark.
So, i have had bad results, but other causes are probably also to blame
I broke mine in on various reloada in the moderate power range and had no issues related to the pressure/velocity of the round. It's a pretty basic blow back design and st the low end all it needs is enough recoil to cycle the action.
If you have function problems it will probably related to bullet type, profile, seating depth and inconsistencies in the case dimensions.
My well-broken-in S&W PPK .380 had about 500 rounds of Wolf ammo though it with mixed results. The .380 stuff may be underpowered, but recoil is quite stout.
Group size doubled - that's fine, it's still acceptable accuracy. The middle 250 rounds fed fine, but for whatever reason the gun did not want to feed that ammo reliably in the beginning, and stopped liking it with the last box of the case, refusing to feed right. Not a lot, but often enough to be annoying.
The main issue was lighting the harder primers in that ammo.
If you're okay with the above, it certainly will break the pistol in ;)
I woul;d look for some Fiocci or Sellier and Bellot brass case ammo in place of the steel case stuff.
Been using some reloads from a funshow guy I know. 90grn and those are working well.
Just started on a few boxes of Win. White box with the flat nose from WallyWorld. No issue there either with ~400 rounds through it.
Also picked up some Tula there also. We'll see how that does.
Biggest issue I'm having is getting the first round to chamber. Being sure to get a full pull on the slide is a bitch........
Just a quick update.......Tula is running well.
The WWB flat nose works well also. I've had more problem with it and light strikes than the Tula.
Second pull on the trigger makes it go without question. I'm at ~300 rds through it now. Should get a bunch more now that the weather is turning nice.
