Walther’s PPQQ4 TAC
Optical Sight! Tactical Light! And a Cool Can to Boot
The Walther PPQ Q4 TAC is a polymer-frame striker-fired combat handgun with literally all the bells and whistles. Sporting three interchangeable backstraps, an optics-ready top deck, and a threaded barrel right out of the box, the PPQ Q4 TAC represents the state of the art in modern pistols. Running arguably the best trigger in the industry, the PPQ Q4 TAC is the perfect general-purpose handgun for competition, survival, and home defense applications. At least, as they say, in my opinion!
While recreational shooting and concealed carry are topics unto themselves, the actual mission of a full-sized combat handgun fractionates into a handful of fairly narrow categories. Back a century ago these missions would have been served by something like a .45 ACP Colt 1911. However, 100 years ago those few folks who had phones in their homes had them wired rigidly to the wall, and air travel was the sole purview of science fiction writers. Nowadays, devices in our pockets allow us to call Norway if we desire. Advances in materials science and engineering have made everything lighter, faster and more reliable. That same evolutionary axiom applies in spades to the combat handgun.
Evolutionary Roots
The Walther PPQ Q4 TAC draws its lineage from a deep and storied well. Carl Walther started his eponymous gun manufacturing concern back in 1886. While the Walther Models 1 through 9 were fairly forgettable heaters, the Polizeipistole hit the streets in 1929 as the Walther PP. The abbreviated PPK version came two years later. These two revolutionary pocket guns combined the superb single-action/double-action trigger of the revolver with the trim chassis of an autoloader and subsequently changed the world. The Walther P38 was one of the best service pistols of the Second World War.
Now fast forward to the present and Walther is one of the world’s most respected handgun manufacturers. Their designs are cutting edge, and Walther iron has occupied James Bond’s gunleather from his 6th book to the present. The current PPQ is itself an evolutionary development of the Walther P99. The P99 was and is one of my favorite “combat” pistols.
Pertinent Particulars
The Walther PPQ Q4 TAC is the apex predator among Walther’s current formidable lineup and offers literally everything the Information Age shooter might want all in one lockable plastic case. The PPQ Q4 TAC is to handguns what the smart phone is to Alexander Graham Bell’s original cumbersome contrivance. Everything about the weapon is designed to incorporate the latest in combat handgun technology.
Starting at the back, there are three interchangeable straps to accommodate different hand sizes, and the grip is nicely textured. The gun comes with three magazines. One is a flush-fitting 15-rounder, while the other two incorporate extended baseplates for two more rounds. The magazine catch is reversible at the user level, and the slide release is perfectly replicated on both sides. The rear sight is unmarked and readily adjustable for both windage and elevation and the front includes a fiber optic light pipe.
There’s a loaded chamber indicator built into the extractor and a safety blade incorporated into the trigger. The PPQ Q4 TAC naturally has the standard array of invisible safety mechanisms tucked away within the bowels of the gun as well. The steel slide is Tenifer coated and sports an attractive no-snag trapezoidal cross section. There are deep slide serrations both front and rear.
The back part of the slide is cut to accept any common mini red-dot sight, and the gun comes with mounting plates for most popular optics. If you can work an Allen wrench you can mount up your own electronic sight. This feature alone makes the gun markedly more efficient than its predecessors. Those of us with a little mileage on our peepers can still hold our own against younger shooters with a dot mounted atop our smoke poles. The dust cover is railed for standard accessories, and the barrel is threaded 1/2×28 to accept a sound suppressor. The retail is $799.
Semi-Silent Service
Walther is justifiably proud of their Quick Defense trigger. Sporting a predictable 5.6-lb. break along with an abbreviated 0.4″ trigger travel and a crazy tight 0.1″ reset, this has become the striker-fired trigger to beat. If you are the sort who fancies your combat pistol a machinegun and rides the reset to maximize rate of fire, the Walther Quick Defense trigger is your baby. The trigger’s cultivated comportment and predictably crisp personality combine with the various optic options to make the Walther PPQ Q4 TAC an exceptionally agile and accurate platform.
Sound suppressors are finally becoming de rigueur on American firearms these days, and it’s about time. Owning one requires a $200 tribute to Uncle Sam along with a spot of government paperwork and the patience of Job. Turnaround runs from 6 months to forever depending on the political climate. However, little will improve your gun handling while making you a more neighborly shooter than hanging a proper can on the end of your gun’s snout.
The Walther PPQ Q4 TAC comes with two recoil spring assemblies. One is optimized for use with a sound suppressor. The other is for the unadorned muzzle. We used a Gemtech GM9 sound suppressor and a (sadly) recently discontinued EOTech Mini Red Dot Sight. The GM9 is slim, remarkably compact and efficient. Others might be quieter, but this is a combat tool. Nothing is more maneuverable indoors or within a vehicle. The EOTech MRDS, like many other mini red-dot sights, is all but weightless and speeds up target engagements while offering unprecedented situational awareness.
Impressions
The Walther PPQ Q4 TAC is the gun you grab when you hear glass breaking downstairs at 3 o’clock in the morning, or you have to hit the road in the face of the coming zombie apocalypse. With a Streamlight TLR-1 light mounted on the rails you can pierce the darkness and clear the house much more efficiently than our grandparents might. The PPQ Q4 TAC is optimized for such things.
Fast, unusually accurate and reliable through everything we fed it with no maintenance whatsoever, the Walther PPQ Q4 TAC is a thoroughly modern defensive handgun. I ran most everything in the gun room through the gun, and it all performed swimmingly. The SIG 124-gr. FMJ and Browning BPT 147-gr. FMJ loads both printed a single ragged hole at 10 meters. The Q4 TAC is lightweight, comfortable, reliable and lethal. If James Bond was a real guy, this would be his gun.
Walther
Ph: (479) 242-8500
https://gunsmagazine.com/company/walther-arms-inc/
EOTech
Ph: (888) 368-4656
https://gunsmagazine.com/company/eotech/
Gemtech
Ph: (208) 939-7222
https://gunsmagazine.com/company/gemtech/
Streamlight
Ph: (800) 523-7488
https://gunsmagazine.com/company/streamlight-inc/
