Practical and Impractical Handguns: Part 2

 

So, this is it; a Walther PPQ Q4/M1. I just bought one this week. My intention was to wait and pick one up later, but I found it on an auction site at a low price, so I went ahead and followed it thinking that it would certainly go up in price over the point which I was willing to pay, which is about the high $500s or possibly low $600s. 

These things are generally $699 as you can see, but the real issue isn't the price, it's the fact that they are difficult to find as the M1 or "Classic" version at any price. With the Covid/political issues this last year or so has made them even more difficult to find, but has inflated the price quite a bit (eg. typically in the $800-900 range). 

Back to the auction: when I came across it, there was almost a week left, and to make things worse, it was ending at a time when I would be tied up working and unable to bid! 

This is where friends come into play. I have a long-time friend who lives in another town and has had quite a bit of experience in dealing with auctions. So I contacted him, told him the situation and asked for help. I gave him my account info and he agree to bid for me. He made one offer to test the system, then placed an offer close to my max the day before. It was in the low $400s at that time and I thought; "there's no way it stays down that low". But as it got close to the time the auction was set to expire, it was still in the $400s. We texted back and forth excitedly, one of which had him saying that maybe it would stay under $500, to which I answered, that "I can't even bring myself to think that".

He turned out to be right! The auction completed at $499! It's like the one of the left, the M1 vs. the M2 on the right. Plus, since it's an older one instead of new, it comes with 3 RDS adapter plates in the box instead of having to contact Walther to get 1. I'm just a bit excited today waiting for it to arrive at my FFL. If all goes right, I should be able to pick it up, put my RDS on it and shoot it this weekend!