MORE ON THE 2013 WALTHER PPK/s IN .22

Yeah, I'm googling and reading the forums fairly regularly about this newly announced "replica" from Walther, the PPK/s. I've been reading one thread on the Walther Forum, the place with folks most likely to care about this introduction, and of course like I do they have minced words from the Walther video announcing the new gun to make all sorts of predictions. You can read the thread at the Walther Forum here.

One thing I did actually learn from the Walther Forum thread is that Gungrabber has already created a sales page for this gun and lists the gun as being available in both BLUE and STAINLESS. Myself, I'd go with the blued version for old times sake.

That's no guarantee that  they will be available in blue, as the Gungrabber page also lists the magazine capacity at 7, when the Walther marketing guy said that magazine capacity was 10. Which stands to reason for other .22's and the various anticipated attempts to pass laws limiting handgun magazines to holding only 10 cartridges each.

I used the word replica above, because in the official Walther product release video, the marketing guy refers to it as a "replica". I don't know what this means, other than it's not going to be a real forged steel slide and frame, as with the original issues of the PP, PPK and PPK/s in all steel.

I have no issues with using alloy for a .22 "replica" but I just hope upon hope that it's not pot metal.

My best guess is that it unfortunately will be at least partially made of pot metal, and I'm guessing that because the price point is so low.

That's the other thing I learned looking at the gungrabber site. They are currently pricing this pistol at $369, and although it won't be available for months, you can join their waiting list if you are so inclined.

We all know about release dates. If they say 1st quarter of 2013, as does Walther as of a couple of weeks ago, it'll be 1st quarter 2014 before I likely see one of these available for sale at my LGS.

It took over a year for me to see and feel a Ruger SR1911 or the Kel-Tec PMR-30, and I'm still not seeing that many of them two years plus.

Maybe the chains like Academy and Cabela's might have increased access to these due to their high volume sales. Ealier this year, I noticed that the Umarex .22 1911 Rail Gun and Gold Cup versions appeared at Academy a few months before hitting my LGS.

So we all know it takes new model guns usually longer than predicted to hit the stores in any numbers that mean we can see or buy one. There is no telling when the new Walther will be available for the average joe.

Be all that as it may, I'm still excited that this gun is coming to the marketplace. There is a chance it will be cool, in ways we don't know about yet. It could have an alloy frame and perhaps a thinned steel slide instead of pot metal. There's all kind of potential for it, and if they did it right or even close to right then this gun will likely be a healthy seller.

And on the other hand, of course, it could be a regurgitated P22 with a new frame and slide. Well, at least that would be a different take on the P22 rather then producing the gun in all sorts of silly colors, as Walther has done recently with the pink P22's.