Apropos of Nothing: Umarex Walther PPQ vs the real thing

My wife will don a Black Widow costume this year for Halloween, and so I’ve been prop hunting. I looked for the Glock 26 that Agent Romanov uses in the Avengers movie, but Glock got medieval on replica and airsoft gun makers (in fairness, it’s their right to do so, and if you don’t protect your stuff, you lose it).

So I went with the Umarex spring loaded PPQ, largely because I love the PPQ.

Holy crap, these are accurate replicas. Pix follow, and the one with the orange muzzle is obviously the airsoft weapon, but other than the heft of the slide, you would be hard pressed to tell the difference.

Ironically, two of the differences between the replica and the real weapon are such that I prefer the replica!

1) The striker status indicator on the replica is a giant red/orange nub that sticks out of the back of the gun. This is similarto the Springfield XD(M), and I prefer it. I’ve seen a few other types of LCI, and the pin sticking out the back of the gun is my preference. That being said, the Springfield has both the Loaded Chamber Indicator on top of the gun, compared to the PPQ’s side-mounted red demarkation. The striker status indicator does not exist on the PPQ, but does on the XD(M).

2) The magazine release on the real thing is a thumb button. The Umarex replica uses the ambidextrous finger/thumb release along the bottom of the trigger guard. I first encountered this on a H&K USP Compact way back in 1999 or so, and I’ve always liked it. Fingertip mag release is my preference.

Edit: I knew I’d seen this before. Umarex took the magazine release from the P99 model, as well as the sharply curved trigger. 

The magazine for the airsoft actually will fit and seat in the real gun, though it won’t lock in place. I did push the real-world mag into the airsoft, but as you might imagine the bullets tend to get in the way.

All in all, a very convincing replica. Don’t point it at anyone – you might not like the results.