Walther PDP Pro-X Review: A Competition-Ready 9mm

Competition-ready 9mms are all the rage today. Almost every major manufacturer builds at least one 9 with an 18-round minimum capacity, threaded barrel, optics cut, a barrel between 4 and 5 inches, and other custom touches. The PDP Pro-X has all this, in spades. Let’s cut to the chase… if you are in the market for a 9mm to take to competitions, give this one a look.
This Walther PDP Pro-X is a very nice pistol. The way it handles, its controls, the way it’s built… very nice. I need to say up front that I tend to gravitate towards older-style semi-autos such as the Browning High Power, 1911s, and other guns like them.
However, I’m not a Luddite… I own several striker-fired pistols and enjoy shooting them. I truly like my S&W Bodyguard 2.0, my Springfield Armory Echelon Pro, XDM Elite 10mm, and others. So it was with some interest that I opened the fancy case in which the gun came.

… and discovered the gun, three 20-round magazines, and two extra backstraps, a magazine loader, an Allen wrench, and the ubiquitous lock. Again, very nice.

Let’s look at the gun.


We see a pistol with an ambidextrous slide release/takedown levers, a reversible mag release, a bladed trigger, and a pronounced magazine well.
Digging a bit deeper, we find:

A Parker Mountain Machine compensator, made expressly for this pistol. Here’s another view, from the top:


A five-slot rail

That bladed trigger, complete with logo and squared/checkered trigger guard. Note the undercut at the rear. The takedown lever is above the trigger.
Sights are three-dot…




The grip’s logo and texture…

It sticks to your hand, no problem.

“9mmx19” engraving on the barrel. My left-handedness appreciates the elongated slide release lever on this side of the gun. Also, there’s no doubt where this was made. Note the external extractor.

Specifications
- Model: 4796036
- Caliber: 9mm Luger
- Slide Material: Steel
- Frame Material: Polymer
- Overall Length: 8.5in
- Width: 1.4in
- Height: 5.7in
- Barrel Length: 4.6″
- Sight Radius: 6.4″
- Compensator: Parker Mountain Machine
- Magwell: Aluminum
- Grip Circumference: 5.8″ (Med Backstrap)
- Weight With Empty Magazine: 27.4 Oz. (My scale had the gun weighing 22.7 oz. with no magazine)
- Magazine Capacity: 20rd
- Mags Included: 3, with aluminum basepads
- Trigger: Dynamic Performance Trigger
- Trigger Reach: 2.8″
- Trigger Pull: 4.5lbs +/- 1lb (Measured pull weight: 4 lbs., 0 oz. Very nice!)
- Trigger Travel: 0.2″
- Safeties: 3 – Auto
- Msrp: $999 (I’ve seen it for $950, not much lower than that.)
The gun features an optics cut, Walther’s 2.0 version. The 2.0 system is compatible with many popular red dot footprints, including Trijicon RMR, Shield RMSc, and Holosun K-series.
Where To Buy

At The Range

It’s getting to the point where I should not type “How’d the gun shoot?” but instead should ask “How badly did I shoot it?”
I admit I’m not the best shot in the room, and recent health issues have brought that home. So, please take these groups with a grain of salt, as the saying goes…
I shot some 115-grain FMJ loads I had on hand. I wish my ammo selection were more comprehensive, but I do not receive ammo directly from a manufacturer, unlike some reviewers, so I opt for what I can get.
At any rate, I grabbed some Fiocchi Range Dynamics, PMC, and Monarch. Monarch surprises me… it is usually the cheapest 9mm I can find, but sometimes, it’s the most accurate. I think it’s made in Russia. Anyway, I shot some five-shot groups at 25 yards. I didn’t “burn the barn down” with tiny groups… You could probably do better… but the gun was pleasantly behaved and was a joy to shoot. The four-pound trigger helped, as did the muzzle compensator.
Here are three targets I kept.

Fiocchi Range Dynamics … nothing to write home about here!

PMC – a little better, sort of…

Monarch… the best of the bunch. It performed well throughout the entire session. I would stick with this for practice, plus it’s cheap. I used a center hold for all three loads, and it still shot a bit low, but that could be addressed.
The gun was a natural fit — the texturing was spot-on and helped glue the pistol in my hand, and the undercut kept my hand higher than it might otherwise have been.
My shooting was helped by using the three accessories shown here…

I have really grown to like my MTM Case Gard High-Low Shooting Table, my Athlon Rangecraft Pro radar chronograph, and the Birchwood Casey filled Range Bag. All three of these help. This $160 shooting table adjusts from 18 to 55 inches… I like it “standing up”, as I can grab a gun, a range bag, and stand there and shoot. This way, I don’t have to set a bench up, with what that entails… It’s a lot quicker.
The chronograph fits in my pocket, along with its aluminum tripod. I replaced my Garmin Xero C1 with this Athlon; it has a few more features and can provide you with useful information very quickly. Additionally, it is compatible with a smartphone app for further details.
Using this chrono, I arrived at the following figures:
Ammo: | Average Velocity: | Standard Deviation: | Energy, ft./lbs.: |
Fiocchi Range Dynamics | 1175 | 10.3 | 352 |
PMC | 1163 | 9.4 | 346 |
Monarch | 1154 | 10.6 | 340 |
Speaking of ammo, I found this on the Pro-X’s web page:
Ammo Recommendations:
115 gr. | 124 gr. | 147 gr. |
Federal American Eagle, Fiocchi, Magtech, Remington UMC, Sig Sauer, Speer Lawman, Wolf | Blazer, Federal, American Eagle, PM, Remington UMC, Sig Sauer, Speer Lawman, Winchester | Most ammo will run, but you will see less performance due to a lack of velocity |
Ammo to stay away from:
- Armscor 115
- Blazer 115
- PMC 115 (this functioned fine and was accurate enough for practice)
- Winchester White Box 115
- All reloads or remanufactured ammo
Take these recommendations as you will.
Take-Down

After we shoot, we clean, right? Come on, you know you should! I’m guilty, too… hmmm… Anyway, it’s pretty simple to take the gun apart, if you don’t count working around the compensator. Notice I didn’t take it off the barrel. You’ll need to do that if you want to remove the barrel from the slide.
Compensator Compensation
My research revealed that the general consensus of opinion among Pro-X owners on removing the compensator for cleaning is: don’t. It doesn’t simply unscrew like some comps. It isn’t rocket surgery, to coin a phrase, to take it off, but it can be a bit involved.
From what I’ve read from owners online, they recommend using a Q-tip and some Hoppes or other solvent to reach inside around the feed ramp, etc. This seems to be the only area or item on this pistol that causes controversy.
Here’s a forum that discusses this topic, if you want more information about it. Even considering the issue of compensator removal, it’s not enough to avoid buying one. I’d like to have one… It’s a well-behaved gun.
Summing Up
As I mentioned upfront, if you’re in the market for a competition 9, you might want to give this one a look. I review a lot of pistols… a lot… and it’s not that often that I run across one that is as well-built, as easy to shoot, as well-behaved, as this one.
I review some fairly expensive guns – I have a $2,500 9mm coming in soon – so I’ve seen several guns that cost significantly more than this one and yet do not perform as well as the Pro-X.
No, I don’t work for Walther, and no, I don’t get to keep this pistol… It’s just (as I’ve said several times), very nice. I’ll leave it at that.
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