Gun Review: This One Is For The Ladies—The Walther PK380

Walther PK380 (Image credit: Walther)

Like every other responsible gun owner, I research guns before I buy them. (LIE. I buy WWII collectible handguns without watching YouTube videos about the weapons.) I DO research firearms I buy for practical use, i.e home defense, concealed carry, and just plain fun to plink with.

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Years ago in my concealed carry class, I saw a thin woman in her late 60s trying to qualify with her husband’s 45 ACP 1911 (Kimber I think,…). Her shots were going everywhere except for the paper bad guy. Her hands hurt. Loading the mag was difficult for her. I offered her my Walther PK380 (with the trainer’s permission). In a few minutes she was on target and shooting like a granny assassin.

Annie Get Your Walther PK380

Like Irish Spring soap, the Walther PK380 is strong enough for a man but made for a woman. Walther decided it needed a gun for the women’s market and the PK380 was born. The mags are easy to load (no autoloader needed) and the slide is easy on the hands. The trigger pull is light but not TOO light, roughly 11lbs. in double action and only 4 lbs. in single. The hammer block safety means it isn’t likely to go off if dropped (please don’t test this to try to prove me wrong. It not worth the “I told you so!”) There is also a safety that requires the breakdown key to lock and unlock.

Some people think the smallest round you want to fire into the center mass of a lumbering attacker is a 9mm. This blanket statement doesn’t consider a lot of factors in the equation, one of the most important of which I believe is comfortability. I believe that people are more likely to practice with and utilize a gun that is comfy for that individual to hold. Hip-breaking recoil is a deal-breaker for a lot of people, not to mention mashing your thumb for eight minutes to load a magazine.

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Some guys think that a man carrying a Walther PK380 is akin to a dude smoking a Virginia Slim. As a proud owner of this pistol I can assure you the weapon is not the transgender of firearms. Its a lot of fun to practice with and doesn’t print with the right clothing. Stovepipes are rare (I only get them with reloads). One downside: .380 ammo is way more spendy than 9 mm but that has nothing to do with the gun itself.

This is not the smallest carry gun you can find. It’s bigger than the 9mm Glock 43 in every way. It’s not the best pocket pistol but it’s great for a purse. I find it too large for summer carry but I love it for spring and fall because 1) I can hide it under a jacket, 2) I find the .380 cartridge to be enough to penetrate the light jacket I expect a meth-crazed lunatic attacker to be wearing in April and October.

The PK380 comes in various, “pretty” colors, like light blue and pink. There are leopard print PK380s online, but I suspect they are custom jobs. The slides come in black and brushed silver. I bought my black PK380 used and the slide is brown, which the owner told me is due to keeping it in a holster too long (moisture). It’s not the only brown slide I’ve seen, either. Must be somewhat common.

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I got my PK380 on gunbroker.com for $230 with a case and 3 mags (that was years before comrade Biden took office and drove the price of freedom way up). The guy I bought it from got it for his wife but she was now looking into a Ladysmith instead. It had only 200 rounds through it, which I don’t consider to be completely broken-in yet.

My 5’4, Trump-loving, Puerto Rican girlfriend loaded, fired, and reloaded this weapon a handful of times and loves it. No pain to fire, no strain to load the mags.

Whether you are a man, a woman, or unsure, the PK380 is a great weapon. Get one now ladies before Kamala takes off AND takes your right to defend yourself.

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