Thursday, May 22, 2014

Gone shooting - Walther OSP


I went to the range again yesterday morning. The skies were clear and the temperature was 70, nearly perfect weather for shooting! I have several guns that need to be shot, either to try them out a first time or to sight in. It's my goal to have them all done in 2014. I will.

Yesterday I took my Walther OSP. I've owned the pistol now for way over a year and never got around to shooting it. It was time to change that.

The OSP is a competition designed pistol chambered in .22 Short only. The magazine, just ahead of the trigger, holds five rounds. Walther also made a model in .22LR and .32 (GSP) and all of them are known for their superb accuracy. Coming from Walther you would expect nothing less. This is not a gun that I would normally be interested in but in late '12 I had the opportunity to pick up this 1988 dated gun at a good price. I decided to take a chance on it.

I set out for the range with my Walther and two types of ammo just to see what it could do. Well, the Walther could "do" much better than I can. From a rest and with some RWS match ammo I was shooting half inch groups at thirty feet. I'm not used to such a fine trigger and it quickly became obvious to me that this pistol was capable of much more accuracy than I am. I also tried some CCI hollow point ammunition. Reliability was excellent with the RWS, I did have a few hang ups with the CCI.

As you would expect with a gun chambered in .22 short and with a weighted barrel, recoil was nonexistent. The oversized grips were quite comfortable too and made it a pleasure to shoot.

I had a great morning at the range yesterday but I haven't decided if I'm going to keep this Walther yet. Magazines and replacement parts are not cheap or plentiful, and to be honest I think maybe this gun might be too good for me.

10 comments:

Home on the Range said...

That looks like some serious fun, right there. Beautiful pistol.

Wilson said...

Thanks! Yes, it is kind of beautiful in space gun way. From what I’ve read the OSP was originally designed for Olympic 25m rapid fire pistol competition. Evidently the Walther dominated that event for years until rule changes finally outlawed it.

Anonymous said...

I hope you were quoting lines from Blade Runner while you were shooting it, that looks like an awesome scifi gun.

Jason said...

My vote: Keep it!

Wilson said...

@deadmandance – It does look rather Bladerunner-ish, doesn’t it?

@Jason – I’m still debating it. The only downside is the cost and availability of replacement parts.

Unknown said...

Hey, i really enjoy your page. Do you have a facebook page?

Wilson said...

Thanks! Sorry, not on facebook.

Jason said...

John - do you have a SCAR 17? Saw that Copes Distributing has Thermold mags on sale for $10, don't know if they are any good or not.

http://www.copesdistributing.com/blow-thermold-scar-308762x51-20rd-p-6067.html

Wilson said...

Jason, yes I have a SCAR 17. I don’t know a thing about the mags you’ve linked to but I have enough factory magazines to get me thru the duration. Are you buying a SCAR?

Jason said...

Oh I wish. I am pretty set up with my M1A Bush rifle right now, but have the itch for an AR10 of some sort. SCAR 17 would be nice though!