Walther SSP or a Pardini SP22

[Jabbahut]

Hi.I am looking for to buy a new sportpistol and i have focused on Walther SSP or a Pardini SP22.Which of them has the best recoil characteristics?which of them are most reliable?Why is the Pardini so popular among the top shooters.Have it become a fashion to shoot Pardini or are they superior compare to the other brands?

[j danielsson]

The pneumatic recoil damping system of the ssp is probably not working so well, since they now deliver them without an essential o-ring. Hence the recoil is fiersome compared to what it was designed to be.
But it reloads more reliable now.

Pardini is a very reliable pistol with the secondbest recoil caracteristics of all ( depends on how the grip fits ). Benelli is the same in this aspect. Matchguns can be better. But no one beats pardini when i comes to sparepart availability (europe) and simplicity in construction.
I can change absolutely anything in 15 minutes. That is an advantage if you do not have a backup pistol and if you are shooting issf-events.
Superior, yes.
You may consider Fwb aw 93. Extremely good pistol for anything but 4 second RF series.

[Jabbahut]

The pneumatic recoil damping system of the ssp is probably not working so well, since they now deliver them without an essential o-ring. Hence the recoil is fiersome compared to what it was designed to be.
But it reloads more reliable now.

Pardini is a very reliable pistol with the secondbest recoil caracteristics of all ( depends on how the grip fits ). Benelli is the same in this aspect. Matchguns can be better. But no one beats pardini when i comes to sparepart availability (europe) and simplicity in construction.
I can change absolutely anything in 15 minutes. That is an advantage if you do not have a backup pistol and if you are shooting issf-events.
Superior, yes.
You may consider Fwb aw 93. Extremely good pistol for anything but 4 second RF series.

Do you know when Walther stop the delivery of that o-ring?

[crankythunder]

When I purchased my competition pistol 5 years ago, I was fortunate in that I had the ability to try out a number of pistols side by side over a couple of months. The pistols were owned by my teammates. I found this very informative and the pistol that I wanted at the beginning of the procedure is not the one I wanted at the end.


When I started the test I wanted to get a FWB 093 simply because it resembled the Baikal IZH that I was replacing at the time. The FWB is a impressive gun and there is no doubt that I would have been happy to purchase it to begin with.

I was impressed with the Walther. I do not know if it had the o ring or not, it was a very comfortable pistol to shoot and I really liked it. I did not select the Walther although it was my second favorite pistol.

I ended up selecting the Pardini SP Bullseye model simply because I liked it. I like it even more after shooting it continously for 5 years and tens of thousands of rounds. I have not had a alibi that was not ammo related in those five years. Duds? yes, no jambs, no failure to feed, no failure to extract, no light hits on the primer, nothing! (Knock on wood).

A year ago or so, a FWB became availalbe at a attractive price and I snagged it up as a back up gun (yeah like I need a backup gun but that is my story and I am sticking to it). I still like the Pardini better. I could list the reasons like support from Pardini USA, low recoil, balance, the adjustable counterweights, shot recovery, but the best way to explain it is that I really like it and that is the best that I can do.

Regards,
Cranky

[Azmodan]

today, in the 25m pistol women final, a Pardini malfunctioned, leading to the elimination of an indian shooter (Manu Bhaker)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Dct3yOohlY

i see that most of the shooters had 2 pistols on the table. is this common? can they change pistol mid final?

and... the gold medal was won with a Feinwerkbau aw93 (all the rest had Pardini)

[Gwhite]

She had two malfunctions, and the second one (her re-fire) failed to fire the first round. It's hard to say, but it acted like something significant broke, like the firing pin or some piece in the trigger mechanism. There was also something odd about how many rounds she was allowed for her re-fire. She thought she should get 3, and the official only gave her two.

[mhayford45]

I have shot a Pardini for over 5 years. Nice gun; the best overall set of compromises.....until i shot a Matchgun ... better trigger and handling. I have one on order and will sell the Pardini BE when it arrives.

[jbshooter]

.....until i shot a Matchgun ... better trigger and handling.

Fully agree except that I haven't got any pardini experience but a lot with Walther SSP.
I can't imagine another gun can give shooting experience better than an MG2 so it's easy to put away any temptation to change.
I found the same with P8X air pistol after using LP400 and Morini for years. P8X trigger is a dream.

[joel]

My SSP has never had one failure, but I prefer the MG2 as well.

Joel

[deadeyedick]

I have also owned both SSP & “E” as well as manual and “E” Matchguns.

Both point and are balanced beautifully but my heart is with the MG2. The recoil is substantially less on the MG2 and I am not distracted by the “all over the shop case ejection “ of the SSP.

[jbshooter]

Dryfiring with SSP is also a problem. Not so with MG2.

[jbshooter]

The pneumatic recoil damping system of the ssp is probably not working so well, since they now deliver them without an essential o-ring. Hence the recoil is fiersome compared to what it was designed to be............

In my experience you need to change the recoil springs more frequently with the Walther SSP because it shortens over time. You feel a big difference in felt recoil when you swap out for a new spring.