My wife has a PPS in 9mm which is her home defense and car gun. We bought it in August this year and have put 1085 rds through it, including 221 rds of Frderal 147 grain HST std pressure (P9HST2). The remaining ammo was a variety of FMJ, mostly Win USA 115 grain, but also some UMC and some Win 124 gr NATO ammo.
We’ve experienced 3 stoppages:
1. At rd 91-93, I had a horizontal stovepipe. The gun was lubed with FP-10 but not cleaned prior to firing.
2. At about rd 553 my wife experienced a failure of the slide to go completely into battery on the first rd of a brand new mag of Win USA 115 gr FMJ. My theory is that she racked the slide with insufficient vigor.
3. At about rd 1030-1040, I experienced a failure of the slide to lock back when empty. Total rds fired since cleaning and lube at that time were no more than 70. Ammo was P9HST2.
All three incidents happened using different OEM magazines.
I cleaned the gun five times on the way to the current rd count.
Reliability of this gun thus far is roughly similar to what we’ve experienced in the first 600-700 rds or so with our three Kahrs.
My wife and I both like the trigger better than the Kahr revolver-like trigger. The PPS trigger seems very Glock-like to me, though its reset was not as vigorous as a Glock when the PPS was new. She shoots the PPS better than her Kahr TP9 or K9 and also better than her S&W 649, even with std pressure .38 in the 649. She had problems racking the K9 slide but has no issue (now) with the TP9 or PPS. The bore axis seems very low compared to the grip (about the same as a Glock and a bit lower than the Kahrs), resulting in little muzzle flip.
We put a Hogue handall Jr Grip sleeve on the PPS to provide a bit of extra cushioning for my wife. She likes it.
We both like the larger of the two supplied backstraps better than the smaller, even though my wife’s hands are very small, too small for a Glock 19. The larger backstrap gives a Glock-like grip angle IMO. The PPS is IMO a great gun for people with small hands and /or short fingers.
The PPS seems robust and rather Glock-like in many ways. The slide interfaces with steel frame rails that are thicker and much longer than on the polymer Kahrs.
The one potential weak spot IMO is the method of attaching the backstrap to the frame. It seems less than bombproof. The manual advises removing the backstrap during disassembly to decock the striker, but this isn’t necessary IMO. I ensure the gun is unloaded and release the striker by squeezing the trigger, ala Glock. I’ve not removed the backstrap since I changed the small backstrap for the large one at about rd 135.
The PPS does seem to like more lube than a Glock, much like a Kahr. Especially when new, the PPS seems to need lube on the connector to ensure that the trigger resets properly. This seems to lessen as the gun breaks in.
