Edit: Geronimo, can you elaborate on what you mean about how you compare it to the 1911? I thought the 1911 had a great reputation. I'm just confused as to whether the PPK is known to be a problematic piece of junk, which is the impression I got from thefiringline, or if it's a good pistol and I just found all the people who hate it.
Both are good pistols. The 1911's a great pistol, as a matter of fact. A lot of thought went into it, and I reckon it's superior to the PPK as a combat weapon - not just because of caliber, but because of the simplicity of the design.
The PPK doesn't have the 'religious' fervor for it that the 1911 has - after all, the 1911 was in two World Wars, and it's in .45. And Jeff Cooper liked it. The PPK is sometimes seen as an overly large gun for such a small caliber - compared with the mini-mouseguns they've come out with lately. It's more popular to bash the PPK than it is to bash the 1911 (except, I suppose, on Glocktalk). People who've never shot a 1911 will praise it, 'cause they used it in Call of Duty or Medal of Honor. It's popular to like that gun. People who hate 1911s and say so usually don't get high on the popularity lists. It's fashionable to diss mouseguns.
I think the PPK's a bit more popular for those that want to go out and buy a pistol for defense and don't know much about 'em... they don't strip and clean the gun and magazines before they fire it. May buy the cheapest ammo available - which could be out of spec. They could buy old magazines that are warped, have weak springs, bent followers... since a heck of a lot of autoloader problems come from lousy mags. May not clean the gun after firing - just stow it away in a sock drawer, or in a pocket. Not sure if .380 HPs have a noticeably different OAL than FMJ rounds... that could cause problems.
The 1911's got military history and gunwriters behind it. All the PPK's got is James Bond - and he switched to the P99.
The PPK's a good gun, generally speaking. It usually works - but it's got an undeseveredly bad reputation, in my opinion. It may be the fault of magazines or overzealous greasing of the gun in the factory. Or a poorly-constructed feed ramp - I don't know.
If you buy one, seems like a S&W model would be best. They apparently stand behind their product, and fix it if it don't work right.
The 1911 - yes, it's a good gun. Generally speaking, it's great. In certain cases, it's terrible. The biggest problem with taking its reputation for granted is people who shoot it very rarely and sing its praises - a hundred rounds over the course of several months isn't a torture test. Seems that .380 ammo is generally cheaper, so people will shoot it more - thus they will notice jams more regularly in a .380 than a .45. And it could be 'limp wristing.'
I think the 1911's a fine pistol. I think the PPK's a fine pistol. They both have issues from time to time. I reckon that smaller guns require smaller margins of error than larger guns do - another possible problem area for manufacturing.
The 1911 is likely superior to the PPK, however - not just in caliber power/size, but in simplicity.
