Walther SSP

deadeyedick · Post by **deadeyedick** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 8:04 pm

I went back as suggested, and cant beleive I misread back, for front [sight]. My apologies gentlemen, all I can say in my defence is that the intention was to be of help.
We have an outhouse here in Oz....[thunder box], with a bloody great hole in the ground, so everything goes straight down, with no rotation in either direction.

Richard H · Post by **Richard H** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 8:08 pm

deadeyedick wrote:I went back as suggested, and cant beleive I misread back, for front [sight]. My apologies gentlemen, all I can say in my defence is that the intention was to be of help.
We have an outhouse here in Oz....[thunder box], with a bloody great hole in the ground, so everything goes straight down, with no rotation in either direction.

Hey I appreciate the help, just watched the Simpson's episode the other week where he run's up a collect phone bill in Australia getting a kid to check which way the the water goes down the drain. Just hope there won't be a booting.

Is your rear sight screw tight and can you remove it?

deadeyedick · Post by **deadeyedick** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 10:38 pm

Checked my SSP just a few moments ago, and the screw came out with little resistance, and the sight was easily removed.
If the screw is completely removed before sliding the sight upwards from the dovetail, be careful, as there is a small separate piece that helps form the dovetail that will fall to the floor, resulting in some time spent on hands and knees...or worse still, the tiny part bouncing off into some remote part of the workshop, never to be found again.
I am curious to hear what is causing yours to be so stubborn. Gary

Richard H · Post by **Richard H** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 10:44 pm

What vintage is yours serial number wise, mine's 038XX?

deadeyedick · Post by **deadeyedick** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 10:49 pm

Richard, mine is 036xx

jbshooter · Post by **jbshooter** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 11:34 pm

Mine is 3090, must be an earlier one.
The rear sight has fallen off twice during shooting. It gets screwed on really tight now. I normally only remove it when I thoroughly clean the gun so it won't get damaged when laying upside down on the bench. As for the rest of my experience with the SSP I am pretty happy with it. It has a large Rink grip (best move I've made with it), I wish the rear sights could be opened a bit wider, I grease the pistons quite regularly to prevent any stickiness, I've polished the slide surfaces to remove some of the roughness between mating surfaces, I've made new slide locking buttons that don't catch on your fingers when you release the slide, I use the 0.6mm dia insert for all ammo, my preference (and the gun's preference) is for harder ammo rather than the softer Pistol King stuff, I have found that you will fail the trigger weight test when you move the trigger shoe to the bottom of it's three positions. Best of all I like the weight and the fact that the main heft of the gun is in the hand rather overhanging with noseheaviness out there.

deadeyedick · Post by **deadeyedick** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 4:49 am

I wish the rear sights could be opened a bit wider

Great summary JB. I too wish the rear sight adjustment allowed more width, for as it stands , it is too narrow when the front sight post is in the 5mm. position.
I filled in the hole in the 1mm. screw in valve at the front with two pack epoxy, and re drilled it to 0.5 mm. The recoil is even less than before.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 4:58 pm

I hope I'm not wandering off topic here, but how does this new Walther SSP pistol hold against more mature counterparts like the FWB AW93, Morini CM 22M, Morini CM 22M ALU, Pardini SP New, etc. ? What are the upsides and downsides of this new Walther SSP and why would a shooter want to replace his or her current pistol with this SSP pistol?

deadeyedick · Post by **deadeyedick** » Wed Mar 31, 2010 12:19 am

What are the upsides and downsides of this new Walther SSP and why would a shooter want to replace his or her current pistol with this SSP pistol?

Upsides. light and well balanced, incredible range of adjustments to suit almost all individuals, extremely well made, looks great, fabllous sights.

Downsides. ejects cases eratically,recoil is not as sophisticated as the Matchguns MG2, therefore not as forgiving in faster firing.

There is no answer as to why a person should buy one...you simply have to try it for yourself, and listen to what it says to you.

Personal opinion: I love the SSP, but for competition use, the Matchguns MG2 RF would be first on my list. The MG2 is definately a better competition pistol. [ don't forget, this is a personal view only, resulting from having owned both ]

jbshooter · Post by **jbshooter** » Wed Mar 31, 2010 1:06 am

I have to admit I was very close to buying an MG2 before I finally went with the SSP. I am a bit of a technology nut and would have been happy with either one. If I had purchased the MG2 I would have been left wondering what the SSP might have been like. I don't shoot much rapid-fire so recoil or return-to-sighting-line is not a big issue with me. Big things for me are 150mm barrel length (purely for mental comfort, length probably doesn't make any difference), magazine not be in front of trigger guard (don't like nose heaviness), light construction with add on weights, rear sight as far back as possible. I like the breach face to be well behind my trigger and the boreline to be low. I like the magazine ejection of the SSP whereby the magazine springs into your empty hand when released. I still favour a swinging hammer over the slide used in the SSP (I've polished the slide for a smoother feel). The first-stage pull of the trigger isn't as smooth as the trigger on my Hammerli 280 but this doesn't make any difference in a match, only when fondling it after cleaning. I will look at an MG2 again soon I think.

deadeyedick · Post by **deadeyedick** » Wed Mar 31, 2010 11:15 pm

Have you noticed any difference by polishing the striker and slide ? My pistol came with the black coated L grip, which proved too bulky, so I decided to re profile the grip to suit my hand. While removing the rubberised coating, I found that the timber underneath was laminated in shades of grey, and finished up more attractive than the original, not to mention now fitting perfectly. Apart from the grip, I turned up 6mm. spacers for the magazine spring to increase its pressure on the last few rounds, and reduced the orifice in the recoil dampening valve to 0.5 mm. Aside from yet making the sight blades open further, I am much happier since these changes.

buonvento · Post by **buonvento** » Thu Apr 01, 2010 4:14 am

Really more attractive than before... Anyone knows if Walther is making a .32 version?

deadeyedick · Post by **deadeyedick** » Thu Apr 01, 2010 9:08 pm

The first-stage pull of the trigger isn't as smooth as the trigger on my Hammerli 280 but this doesn't make any difference in a match, only when fondling it after cleaning.

Mine was exactly the same...the worst first stage roughness I have ever encountered.
If you notice it is not present until the pistol is in the cocked position.
Closer examination showed that when cocked, the striker arm [pin] exerts a downward pressure on part no. 76, which is the upper part of the sear mechanism. This pressure makes the first stage feel rough as the two metal parts are drawn over each other until arriving at the second stage.
I had noticed that this annoying feature was worse after cleaning with an aviation wax and oil cleaning fluid, brushed, and then blown dry with compressed air.
Promlem Obviously not an adequate film of lubricant for metal on metal to move without dragging.

Solution1 I first squirted a liberal amount of oil into the area and re assembled the pistol...quite an improvement.
2 I then put a glob of teflon grease onto the end of the small screwdriver from the toolkit and worked it onto these surfaces and re assembled.

Final result the smoothest first stage imaginable, and with no alteration to the action or release force of the second stage.

I hope these findings will help other SSP owners as well.

jbshooter · Post by **jbshooter** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 2:45 pm

Here is the slide polishing I did....

johny_r · Post by **johny_r** » Fri Dec 17, 2010 6:03 am

Hello,
I've recently bought a second-hand SSP and I am having problems with the trigger setting to my liking. Maybe some of you - experienced SSP shooters - may help.

I'll try to be precise in my explanation of the problem :-)
My aim is the setting of cca. 700g 1st stage and 300g+ second stage. I also want the gun to release somewhere during the second stage - so I do not want a pressure point release with no 2nd stage movement. I hope I explained it well :-).

I managed to get the following:
1. 1000g overall weight but the 1st stage is just about 440g and there is no 2nd stage (point release).

2.Trigger releases during the 2nd stage which is fine, but setting of the first stage to 700g makes the overall weight over 1500g and the 2nd stage cannot be further lightened (unscrewing the inner allen screw almost out does not help).

This means that the only possible setting to the total 1000g and release during the 2nd stage means that the 1st stage is too light and 2nd stage to heavy and cannot be further lightened.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks a lot for any help.

Richard H · Post by **Richard H** » Fri Dec 17, 2010 10:41 pm

I t should be able to achieve those settings. Unfortunately I'm not home so I don't have the updated trigger setting insert that came with my pistol (the manual really is poorly written, at least the english version).

It does require you to make settings and then go back and reset another parameter.

When I get home I'll try to scare it up.

johny_r · Post by **johny_r** » Mon Dec 20, 2010 5:20 am

Thanks a lot,
that would be very helpful.

By the way, I somehow managed to set the trigger to two stages but when the pistol is uncocked and I press the trigger it feels to have 3 stages. Is this normal? I did not manage to find out why there appear 3 distinct stages. However, when the pistol is cocked, only 2 stages are present. And when the pistol is stripped (the frame with the trigger is apart from the slide/barrel piece) there are also only two stages.

Thanks.