Walther PDP: New 'Performance Duty Pistol' Line Is Walther's Best Yet

We often learn about new product releases months in advance of the actual release date. This is one we’ve been sitting on for a while now. Walther just introduced its all-new 9mm PDP (Performance Duty Pistol) series and it’s going to be a good one.

What Is the Walther PDP Series?

We actually first shot the PDP back at the 2020 Athlon Outdoors Rendezvous, which we held in September in Idaho. The PDP is an entirely new pistol line. It builds on the very popular Walther PPQ line, and does it well.

Firstly, the new line features both PDP Compact and PDP Full Size models; you can read about both of them on PersonalDefenseWorld.com and Tactical-Life.com, respectively. We shot the 4-inch Compact and 5-inch Full-Size in Idaho without any issues. The Compact features a 15+1 capacity while the Full-Size has an 18+1 capacity. On top of those two, there’s also a 5-inch Compact, 4-inch Full-Size, and 4.5-inch Full-Size. The specs of all five are at the bottom of this post. But what’s new about the PDP series?

“This is a totally redesigned gun for us for 2021. We have new super terrain slide serrations, new performance duty texture, and a brand-new trigger in there,” Jens Krogh, Walther’s VP of Marketing and Product Development, told us. “We took our award-winning PPQ trigger and we made that first stage a little bit lighter so you hit that second stage with a more positive feel. And you get a little better reset there.”

Perhaps the most important part of the new series is that Walther made the entire line optics-ready. With more people switching to carry optics, this move makes a ton of sense. What makes even more sense is the MSRP, which comes in at just $649 for either model. With that price point, this probably won’t be staying on shelves very long. Walther also includes two magazines.