The Gun Control Act of 1968 attempted to ban "Saturday Night Specials" so that poor people (let's be honest, black people) could not afford to buy pistols. Because of the convoluted system of points used to exclude SNSs, even high quality compact pistols such as the Walther PPK were banned from import. Also imported the PPK/S, a PPK with a longer grip to get around the compact dimensions sustrm. Walther made PP and PPK pistols in the U.S. in partnership with Interarms and S&W at various times. American Arms made a licensed copy of the PPK called the PX22 briefly. I bought one at some point because it was inexpensive and I like the PPK design. My wife used it on a couple of occasions to discourage coyotes inviting our dog over for dinner. The table was set only for the coyote and his family.
More recently, I bought a U.S. made PPK/S (which has a slightly longer grip to accommode more rounds and make it GCA68 compliant) in .22LR. it is a very nice piece of firearms art. It is also very accurate and great fun at the firing range: minimal recoil and cheap to feed. It is also very reliable so far. I found an American Arms PX22 magazine in the back caverns of the gun safe and wondered if it would fit the PPK/S.
I should not have wondered. The PPK magazine is short enough to not function or even seat in the PPK/S. The PX22 also had a heel magazine catch (the original design, not intended for rapid reloading for competition or defensive shooting) unlike the PPK/S which has a more modern magazine release and a notch in the magazine for retention.
I love my PPK/S but if you get a chance to get a PX22 at a not to silly price (they were less than $100 dealer cost when I bought mine), you might enjoy it. It is very compact, adequately accurate for self-defense at conversational distances and as week as .22LR is, it would, I think, make most rapists and robbers remember an urgent appointment at the ER if your first two shots connected.
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