Walther SSP Damper system

[Ray Dash]

I just broke down my SSP for the first time to clean it after the first 1000 rounds through it. When I was putting it back together I noticed that the nozzle screws in the front of the pistol are set so that the larger orifice is on the damper side. I am curious is anyone has tried the smaller office on the damper side with any luck shooting CCI standard ammo. With the larger orifice CCI standard has been 100% reliable in the first 1000 rounds so far but if I can get the pistol to kick even less than it does now with the smaller orifice screw and still function that that would be even better.

[joel]

You can swap the positions of the two screws and see what you like. It hasn't made much of a difference for me, but I'm not a national class shooter either. Also, I shoot CCI and had no issues whatsoever with either screw position.

Joel

[deadeyedick]

It didn’t appear to make much difference to me either.

In fact I filled in the holes with two pack epoxy and started with no holes.... moving to larger drills and swapping them all the time without any appreciable difference in recoil.

The sharp recoil was the main reason I sold both SSP’s I have owned, however I would try CCI quiet semi auto bullets. They are rated at 835 FPS and reduce the apparent recoil by what feels to be around 30% in my Pardini and Domino 602 without any loss in accuracy. The Pardini kicks in a similar manner to the SSP but is better behaved with CCI 975cc.

Don’t bother buying the expensive Walther pivoting weight either....recoil feel is identical but the front is uncomfortably heavier IMO.

[Ray Dash]

Being from NY we don't have the advantage of buying Pardini's and other pistols that have great recoil systems. In my opinion the SSP has much less kick then the other 22 pistols I have used and my Rapid fire scores went up after using it. If guys say the SSP has a lot of kick I can't imagine what some other high end pistols feel like. I will look into the quiet CCI and see how reliable they are in the SSP.

[deadeyedick]

My benchmark for recoil is the Matchguns MG2.

For what it is worth:

Pardini SP RF. Quite severe recoil moderated only by heavy weights at the front raising
the pistol weight to1200 grams which is quite a handful for less fit shooters.

Hammerli SP20 Moderate/heavy recoil but muzzle flip more than expected...


Benelli MP 90s. Moderate recoil and very underrated Pistol especially the very latest version
with the silver receiver and fully adjustable rear sight assembly.

Walther SSP/E. Beautifully balanced and great pointing pistol, however recoil is quite sharp
without heavy weights as used by Pardini.

Walther GSP. Recoil moderate but length of pistol and inexcusable rear sight means this
pistol was better in the 1970’s despite it’s excellent engineering and QC.

FAS 607. Recoil is similar to SP20.... but beautiful ergonomics and balance allow great
sight picture recovery.

FWB AW93. This pistol has quite severe recoil and muzzle flip reflective of an early 90’s
design.

Morini CM22 Well made, light and as a result the recoil is quite high.

Matchguns MG2. The main difference between the Matchguns MG2 and the rest is that the
recoil is directed backwards into the palm with hardly any recoil or
muzzle flip.
Once you experience this rearward recoil it will be very hard to use another.

The above comments are my opinions only... based on “owning” and using each of these pistols.

I personally shoot my highest scores with a Domino 602 with the factory lightened shroud.

P.S. Your SSP will function equally as reliably with 975cc as it does with CCI std.

[Azmodan]

very interesting.
than why are all (well... 99%) of the high end shooters (world cup finalists) use only Pardini?

i asked Celine Goberville, and she said something about reliability (in french, didn;t understand very well :) )

[deadeyedick]

I also asked a top level shooter who was of the opinion that certain factories had a large enough budget to sponsor/encourage/afford to have elite shooters use their product giving the impression that if you buy brand “P” for example then 10’s will flow.

Encouragement may vary from providing the pistols along with technical and parts backup at Major competitions to ...( $$$ ).. who knows !
As a shooter this level of support would surely be very appealing.

My personal experience with the pistols I have described is that they all showed a similar level of reliability ( at least in my case ) and if you look at the threads here regarding Pardini feeding/extraction problems with the fourth round you will see that as well as being a lovely pistol, they are not totally problem free...

[Gwhite]

<snip>
Benelli MP 90s. Moderate recoil and very underrated Pistol especially the very latest version
with the silver receiver and fully adjustable rear sight assembly.

I'll second that. I have a Pardini and a Benelli, and my Pardini has been collecting dust for several years. People who swear by Pardini have rarely fired a Benelli. It's too bad the factory doesn't support them better. I think they are too busy making money on shotguns to bother with their pistol line....

[jbshooter]

The bolt of a Pardini has a shorter travel stroke than the MG2. The bolt on the Pardini I think will always bottom out on its spring buffer, so you will always feel some impact and maybe get some muzzle flip. The bolt on an older MG2 (I'm not sure if its the same with the new one-screw take-down model) has about 5mm further travel before its hits the hard rubber buffer. In my experience with the right ammunition (in my case RWS Pistol Match in the yellow box) the bolt doesn't reach the buffer on an MG2 so there is very little felt recoil. You can only just feel it with CCI SV. The bolt of an MG2 uses up most of its recoil energy in actuating cleverly designed spring loaded cams and levers in the cocking of the hammer and feeding of the next round which, coupled with correctly calculated recoil springs (two of them) mean there is little impact left to go down the shooters arm.

[Gwhite]

The latest version of the "MG-2 Evo" doesn't have the rubber buffer at all. I guess they decided it wasn't necessary for most target ammo.

[Mark Briggs]

Hmmm... Interesting comments here.

For what it's worth, the first and second generation MG2's did not have a rubber recoil buffer (I have one of each).
I have owned all of the previously mentioned pistols, save for the SSP. The Pardini got the job done but wasn't at all comfortable in doing it - just too heavy up front. The moving weights up front were put there to compensate for the shortcomings of a 30 year old design. Pardini could do much better with a clean-sheet design, just as Walther and Matchguns did.

I find both the FAS602 and 607 pleasant to shoot but as soon as one cranks up the energy level of the .22 ammunition used the recoil impulse rapidly climbs into the uncomfortable range. Last night I ripped off 75 rounds of CCI Standard Velocity with the FAS607, thus had a well-established recoil baseline. I switched to SK Magazine (500 rounds in a tin can) and found it much faster to recover sight picture, with much softer recoil. Then I switched to a hotter PMC load... Wow, did I feel it!

A week ago I was asked to demonstrate shooting the FAS607 and one of the shooters-in-training captured the session on video. There was no visible muzzle rise, just a straight back push. That was with CCI SV ammo. Hotter stuff does indeed cause muzzle rise.

As others have commented, the MG2 sets the standard for recoil management with that straight back push. The 4s series in Rapid Fire is easy with it as there simply is no real shot recovery.

[Leon]

<snip>
Benelli MP 90s. Moderate recoil and very underrated Pistol especially the very latest version
with the silver receiver and fully adjustable rear sight assembly.

I'll second that. I have a Pardini and a Benelli, and my Pardini has been collecting dust for several years. People who swear by Pardini have rarely fired a Benelli. It's too bad the factory doesn't support them better. I think they are too busy making money on shotguns to bother with their pistol line....

I'll third that too. The latest iteration of the Benelli MP90S is a marvel, only let down by it's quite small front sight. A quick trip to the gunsmith fixed that - it now sports a 6mm front sight and a rear sight gap of 6.5mm. Just beautiful ! The Benelli is also ahead, by leaps and bounds, of the Pardini in terms of quality too...

I first came across the new Benelli MP90S at the SHOT Show in Sydney a few years ago. At that time I could not decide between it, and the then new Walther SSP, so I compromised and purchased both.

Since then, I have had 1 x SSP, 2 x SSPEs, 1 x AW93, 1 x Pardini SP1 Elec - they have all come and gone, but I still have the Benelli ! - along with my FAS 602 and 607.