Rifleman Review: Walther Arms PD380

 Along with its duty-size polymer-frame handguns, Walther Arms has a long history of producing compact carry pistols, too. One of the more recent models in the Walther Arms compact handgun lineup is the PD380, which is loaded with features designed to make it accessible and shootable for everyone. Watch our "American Rifleman Television" Rifleman Review segment above to see the details of the PD380.

"A few years ago, we watched Walther come to market with a brand new series of Performance Duty Pistols, the PDP. Now, this takes the PDP and wraps it into the older PK380 handgun," American Rifleman Managing Editor Christopher Olsen said. "The PK380 was really the first focal point for Walther to make a gun that everybody could shoot."

Chambered in the soft-recoiling .380 ACP cartridge, the Walther Arms PD380 includes a nine-round detachable box magazine. To streamline the exterior of the pistol and avoid having unnecessary snag points, Walther does not include a manual slide-stop lever on the gun. The pistol's slide will lock back on the magazine follower after the last round has been fired.

 "So just like the PK380, the PD380 retains the slide mounted safety lever, and it's up for fire, down for safe," Olsen said. "It's really an intuitive location where you can easily engage it with your thumb before ready to fire. So like that PK380, this PD380 has the light rack feature. And one of the nice things about having that slide mounted safety lever is it acts as a cocking location to easily pull it back. And you'll notice that the PD380 has much more aggressive slide serrations than the previous iteration. They're nice and deep, you can get a good purchase on it, and it's very tactile."

The gun's hammer-fired, DA/SA operating system provides a long, heavy first pull of the trigger, but once the slide cycles after the first round, each subsequent trigger pull is in single-action, providing a lighter, cleaner pull with shorter overall travel. True to Walther's European lineage, the PD380 uses bilateral, paddle-style magazine release levers located on the underside of the trigger guard.

 "So with Walther's PD380, you get a nice, ergonomically sound, compact carry pistol, and it comes from a company that definitely has put a lot of focus in those .380 pistols over the years," Olsen said. "As Walter says, with the PD380, 'this is covert carry reimagined.'"

Walther Arms PD380 Specifications
Manufacturer: Carl Walther GmbH Sportwaffen (Germany)
Importer: Walther Arms, Inc.
Action Type: hammer-fired, double-action, recoil-operated, semi-automatic, centerfire pistol
Chambering: .380 ACP
Slide: steel; matte-black finish
Frame: black polymer
Barrel: 3.7" stainless steel
Magazine: nine-round detachable box
Sights: three-white-dot configuration; fully adjustable rear, post front
Trigger: single-action, 6-lb., 2-oz. pull; double-action, 9-lb., 15.5-oz. pull
Overall Length: 6.48"
Height: 5.15"
Width: 1.24"
Weight: 20.6 ozs.
MSRP: $499

To watch complete segments of past episodes of American Rifleman TV, go to americanrifleman.org/videos/artv. For all-new episodes of ARTV, tune in Wednesday nights to Outdoor Channel 8:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. EST.