This year, Walther Arms opened up sales of its law-enforcement oriented Walther PDP ACRO Professional models to the rest of the American gun-buying public. The Walther PDP ACRO Professional is a tactical/duty pistol package consisting of a standard polymer-framed full-size 4.5-inch 9mm Walther PDP that has a directly-milled factory slide for the Aimpoint ACRO footprint and also includes an Aimpoint ACRO P-2 pre-installed and ready to zero. Besides the mounted optic, the PDP ACRO Professional ships with several other niceties including Walther’s Dynamic Performance Trigger, the company’s premium flat-faced trigger. There are also co-witnessing backup XS Sights, three 18-round magazines and factory magazine basepads compatible with Walther’s tactical magazine well. In short, the Walther PDP ACRO Professional package has everything a police officer or civilian defender could want, save for the ammo or holster.
The Walther PDP Shooting Experience: Slide Tracking And Accuracy
After zeroing the Aimpoint ACRO P-2 at 25-yards, I headed over to my gun club’s steel plate rack and just had some fun shooting a couple of magazines at the steel plates as fast as I could. Even though the P-2 is an enclosed-emitter red-dot sight with a smaller window, I didn’t have too much difficulty tracking the dot or slide and it would have been tempting to just stand there and shoot up half a case of 9mm blasting steel plates all afternoon. One of my favorite things about the PDP family in general is how the slides and dot sights track, making it quite easy to take quick shots. This is also where the Walther Dynamic Performance Trigger facilities getting those hits, as it breaks effortlessly and cleanly.
To get a mechanical accuracy baseline, I shot three 10-round groups of 9mm factory ammunition through the Walther PDP ACRO Professional at 25 yards from rest. These factory loads included the Nosler 115-grain ASP JHP, the HOP Munitions 147 grain Poly RN, and the Staccato Range 124 grain FMJ. The 115-grain Nosler ASP cartridges printed a 2.22-inch extreme spread group with a mean-radius of .73 inch, while the Staccato 124-grain Range FMJ extreme spread group measured 2.49 inches and had a mean radius of .83 inch. Both of these factory loads proved to be extremely consistent and got along well with the polygonal rifled barrel of the Walther PDP ACRO Professional.
I also tested the HOP Munitions 147-grain Poly action-pistol/competition load. My 10-round extreme spread group of HOP Munitions 147-grain Poly measured 3.88 inches across and had a mean-radius of 1.35 inches. While this group is larger than the other two, it’s fair to reiterate that these HOP loads are a specialty competition product whose premise is providing a very soft and gently recoiling cartridge that has a slower (900 fps muzzle velocity). Not only does this soften the recoil impulse and give competitors an edge on faster follow-up shots, but with the heavier 147-grain bullet, this load will still make the minimum power-factor. The tradeoff is that pushing a heavier bullet with slower velocities tends to group with more shot dispersion. It’s just the nature of the beast and something I can also observe using my own 147-grain “gaming/sub-sonic” handloads as well. Because of their gentle nature, such loads, whether they’re factory loaded or done at home at the bench, will cycle better with lighter recoil springs as well. Out of 10-shots, four didn’t cycle because the Walther PDP ACRO is set up to handle higher-power duty-rated 9mm ammo and not ammo for the practical shooting sports.
The Takeaway
Perhaps the most noteworthy thing about the PDP ACRO Professional is that Walther makes it available to anyone. Many major gun manufacturers sell guns with factory milled slides for the law enforcement market, but these are seldom available to the normal consumer. Regardless of whether this PDP stows in a police officer or a law-abiding gun owner’s holster, they get the benefit of having a low sitting and directly milled Aimpoint ACRO P-2 red dot sight on their slide. In the realm of enclosed-emitter red-dot sights, the ACRO is still considered one of the premier choices and one of the few that’s approved for duty from a wide list of law enforcement agencies. In short, a handgun like the PDP ACRO Professional is ergonomic, has a neutral grip angle that allows it to point well, has an excellent trigger and also plays well with mounted dots, something which augments the shooting experience. In the case of the PDP ACRO Professional, it’s especially noticeable as the factory optics cut places the Aimpoint ACRO P-2 quite low on the slide. In fact, the XS Sights R3D sights on these models are standard-height, not “suppressor-height” sights.
