TargetTalk

First comments about SSP where quite sad. Has someone bought new SSP in last couple of months? And does someone have infomation what happend to first SSP's that did not work very well? Did first SSP's ended to paperweights or did factory repaired them?

jer: I bought a Walther SSP exactly an year ago and, I have had virtually NO mechanical problem so far. Having said that, I must add that an occasional misfeed (where the round does not engage the ramp properly while being chambered) has occured. In most of the misfeed cases, the uppermost bullet in the magazine had been the culprit and I found the cause to be a nicked bullet head (lead) due to mishandling while inserting the magazine. I have seen this happen on Pardinis, Walther GSPs and Morinis, so it is a 'shooter's fault' really rather than the pistol or the ammunition. I must also add that my shooting has been rather limited and I have fired about 5,000 rounds or so. Maybe the problems, if any, might show up in due course, but so far the SSP has turned out to be a superb pistol.

Personally, I think that ALL big names produce first class pistols and, barring the teething problems of a new model of any manufacturer, one can be sure to have got his money's worth. Generally, if a Standard 25m Pistol has the following attributes, be sure that ANY big name would be a bargain:

1) Single action, not-less-than 1000 gms trigger
2) Adjustable micrometric rear sight
3) Barrel length, preferably as long as the allowed 153mm
4) Sight radius not-greater-than 220mm
5) Positional adjustment of trigger
6) Positional adjustment of grip

The Walther SSP has all of the above, plus some nice-to-have features like recoil buffer, and a low bore axis, both features minimising the recoil nuisance. Some manufacturers have ingenously gone around the recoil problem by limiting the barrel length (which results in relatively incomplete burning of the powder, hence lesser muzzle velocity). Benelli MP90 & MP95, Pardini SP/New and Walther GSP Expert have barrels < 120mm and, for good reason, are preferred by some for the Rapid Fire discipline.

As a parting statistic, in my club, there are a dozen or so Walther GSP Expert owners, two Pardini SP-New, two Walther SSP and one Morini CM-22 owners. Our scores are in the region of 520-540 so one can't be sure if its the gun brand at work or the man behind the gun. I love my SSP though!

I know some people having an SSP and some more having tried it including myself.

None experienced real problems with it, no broken pieces. The small problems encountered were due to wrong adjustements due to the complexity of the pistol.

Main, and almost unique, complain is about the not so good trigger. I had the same conclusion, the trigger is not bad (better than GSP expert) but not at the level of a Pardini, Morini or Tesro.

Other remark is about the complicated pistol design that makes in depth cleaning not so easy.

I am wondering if such a complex design is really needed.

I have tried the Walther SSP recently. The pistol was very new (less than 500 rounds) and these are the impressions I got from it.

The recoil is very different from other pistols I have tried (Pardini, GSP, AW93, IZH 35 etc.). It recoils pretty much straight back through the hand and arm rather than flipping at the muzzle.

The (to me) feel was very nice, the sights aligned almost automatically and the grip was very good. Although I didn't fire very many shots, it grouped fairly tight.

The loading is a bit fussy and not very positive, but you would get used to it I think. I also felt that the action was not positive in feel when cocking and loading. Perhaps with more use you would get more proficient with it, but a couple of times I couldn't get the action to lock open for loading.

The trigger is gritty to the feel and certainly not as nice as the Pardini. Having said that, a friend has a new Walther GSP Expert and it was also gritty when new, but has got much smoother through use so perhaps the same will happen with the SSP.

The major problem I have with it is the price. I was almost going to buy one myself, but the price put me off and I bought a Pardini SP New instead. It's a far easier pistol to clean and dismantle (takes about 10 seconds to take apart) and has a really beautiful trigger. The other advantage the Pardini has is the ability to adjust the width of the rear sight blade very quickly.