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Walther PPQ vs Glock 19
Walther PPQ vs Glock 19 is an age old question.
Both the Glock 19 and the Walther PPQ are 9mm polymer-frame striker-fired handguns. They’ve been well-accepted on the US market. They’re of a similar size as well, and overall, you won’t find a lot of major differences between these two guns. However, there are significant minor differences that are going to suit one gun better over the other for a shooter. So Walther PPQ vs Glock 19 which is the best for you?
Neither gun is a complete winner comparatively. Both have features that are going to end up being better for shooters with specific desires. That’s what we’re going to go over in this Walther PPQ vs Glock 19 comparison.
We’ll go over all the major and minor pros and cons of both guns. As well as things that aren’t exactly divisive but may or may not benefit you as a potential customer.
Table of contents
Size
| Metrics | Glock 19 | Walther PPQ |
| Weight w/ no mag (Oz) | 21.4 | 21.7 |
| Weight w/ empty mag (Oz) | 23.9 | 24.6 |
| Weight w/ full mag (Oz) | 29.4 | 31.1 |
| Height (top of slide to bottom of magazine baseplate) (Inches) | 4.89 | 5.20 |
| Length (Inches) | 6.99 | 7.09 |
| Width of grip (Inches) | 1.18 | 1.27 |
| Width of slide (Inches) | 1.00 | 1.01 |
| Width across controls (Inches) | 1.33 | 1.34 |
Walther PPQ vs. Glock 19 Concealed Carry: Buyer’s Preference
When you look at these guns for concealed carry, they’re very close in size, but not as much in weight. The Walther is around an ounce heavier than the Glock and is also a little longer in the grip.
Looking at the total height of the gun from the top of the slide to the bottom of the baseplate. You’re going to notice the Walther is also a little over a quarter-inch long, and that does make a difference for concealment.
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However, the Walther PPQ’s grip is also much more shapely than the grip on the Glock 19. That makes a difference as well.
It’s really going to depend on the clothing you wear. I used to carry both of these guns when I was selling real estate. Some of the clothing I had to wear at the time actually worked better with the larger PPQ. This is because the grip shape was much more natural and therefore easier to conceal under clothing without printing.
Walther PPQ
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I had a sweater that tended to stick to the grip on my Glock 19 because it was an RTF2 and it would print really badly.
That same sweater wouldn’t stick to the texturing on the Walther PPQ and print at all. If I had to make a blanket statement, however, I think the Glock 19 would conceal better for most people overall. I would carry the Glock 19 more often as it worked better with most clothing.
The aforementioned weight difference in these two guns is obviously negligible. But if you are considering carrying the gun at three to four o’clock, the Walther PPQ might actually be a better option. Especially if you have a properly designed holster that has adjustable cant so you can push the gun into your body.
Ergonomics
Frame
The frame on these two guns is obviously very similar for the fact they’re both polymer. That’s really where the similarities end. The Walther PPQ has replaceable backstraps sized small, medium, and large. The large backstrap actually increases the trigger reach, which is a nice feature to have.
The PPQ’s grip feels good in the hand to many, but for myself and a lot of others. I noticed the bottom back of the grip (no matter what backstrap you’re using) feels kind of sharp in the palm when you grip it like you would grip any other pistol.
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If you move your hand a little bit more to the right, as a right-handed shooter, your grip changes up oddly but it really allows you to get some good control on the pistol. It’s just a different-feeling gun and points a little bit differently. But you’re able to get a lot of leverage and shoot the pistol really well.
The tang of the grip on the PPQ is not as well-rounded as the Glock 19. So It’s not as comfortable in the web of the hand unless you grip the way I described. If you want a gun that you can shoot the same way as almost any other polymer striker-fired pistol, then the Walther PPQ probably isn’t going to be it.
Generations
The Glock 19 has three different generations in current production. The Gen 3 Glock doesn’t have any modularity built into the frame. It’s a very large grip and that’s really all there is to it outside of finger grooves.
Glock Gen 4 and Gen 5 grips are not as large, but they both have the ability to add extra backstraps. All models come with four backstraps that change the trigger reach. Two of the backstraps include beavertails, while the other two do not.
The only real difference between Gen4 and Gen5 are the finger grooves, which the Gen5 guns don’t have. The Walther PPQ does have finger grooves and the removable backstraps are a nice feature. Combined with its large size, you have the ability to also increase the trigger reach, which I really like. It’s nice to be able to increase that reach if you have larger hands.
The grip length (the part of your hand will actually fit on) of the Walther PPQ is longer. But you have to be careful with that if you have larger hands. The PPQ’s finger groove on the very bottom extends out, so if you have hands just barely larger than mine, that part could be where your pinky is sitting and make it uncomfortable to grip. You really need to pick up a Walther PPQ and make sure it’ll work with your hand. With the Glock 19, it may not be perfect. But if your pinky does hang off just slightly, it won’t be uncomfortable.
Slide
Both of these guns have very basic slides and the finish on both of them is pretty slick. In my opinion, the Walther PPQ is an easier slide to manipulate. Part of that is the cocking serrations, which are a little more aggressive in the Glock. Depending on the Glock variation you get, it may or may not have forward-cocking serrations, while the Walther PPQ has forward-cocking serrations by default.
The serrations are more aggressive on the PPQ, but the slide itself is also tapered significantly from the top to the bottom and really makes it nicer for the web or cup of your hand to come in and grab the slide. I’m going to have to give a major advantage to the Walther PPQ vs. the Glock 19 on that one.
Sights
Stock
The Walther PPQ comes with plastic sights similar to the Glock. I’m not a big fan of those. Now, one advantage the Walther PPQ does have over the Glock 19 is that those sights are a little easier to install on the rear. Both the front sights on the 19 and PPQ use a simple screw from the bottom of the slide to attach the sight, so installation is similar on both guns. The rear sight is much easier to install on the Walther PPQ specifically if you have Walther-made sights.
You still may need a sight pusher depending on the gun or sights you go with. Most of the aftermarket sights I’ve seen do require you to have a press-fit sight in the rear of the PPQ.
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The Glock 19 also comes with plastic sights with the base gun, but you can also get AmeriGlo sights from the factory, which is my preferred stock sight on a Glock. That’s nice if you want to grab the gun at the store directly and not have to worry about installing a good set of aftermarket sights.
Aftermarket
Now, when it comes to aftermarket sights, there aren’t a lot of great options for the Walther PPQ. There are a few out there, but not as many as they have for the Glock 19 by a long shot.
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There’s probably a twentieth of the number of sights available for the PPQ comparatively. Just due to that, the Glock 19 is a much better choice if you’re picky about your sights.
Red Dot Optics
Both guns offer you the ability to mount a red dot optic from the factory, and both are also going to cost you more money than a standard model.
The Glock 19 MOS has a lot of accessories for it; it’s been around forever and you can mount pretty much any dot. The same is true for the Walther PPQ series, and one different feature on the PPQ is that some models will require you to remove your rear sight to mount the optic.
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That means you won’t be able to have backup iron sights. If that’s an issue, then the Walther PPQ may not be a gun you want to look at.
Controls
Trigger: Buyer’s Preference
The triggers on these guns are going to be drastically different. Again, with the Glock 19, we’re going to have a different trigger for each generation of gun currently in production. With the Walther PPQ, there’s obviously only going to be one trigger available for that gun from the factory unless you get one of the competition models with a different trigger shoe.
Glock 19 Gen3 Trigger
The Glock 19 Gen3 trigger has a light take-up before a very hard and stiff wall with zero creep and a hard break. From that break, there’s a short reset right back at the wall. It’s a decent trigger, but it’s very heavy and if you don’t like that type of hard-wall heavy trigger, then you’re not going to like the Gen3.
Glock 19 Gen4 Trigger
The Glock 19 Gen4 is a bit improved compared to the Gen3 in the sense that it’s a little bit lighter-feeling at the wall and has more of a rolling break than the Gen3. However, it’s still not as much of a rolling break as a Glock 19 Gen5 (see below). It’s more of a hybrid trigger between a hard wall and soft rolling break.
Glock 19 Gen5 Trigger
The Glock 19 Gen5 trigger is usually the preferred trigger of Glock shooters at this point. The trigger has that same light take-up as the other two and then you’re going to hit more of a mushy wall. It’s not even really a wall — just a little bit of mushy creep before you go into a nice rolling break.
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Again, it has that short reset right at the beginning of that mushy wall. Overall, it’s a good trigger.
Walther PPQ Trigger
Now, the Walther PPQ trigger is a completely different animal than the Glocks’. You’re going to have some actually fairly heavy take-up when you first feel the gun, and that heavy take-up is so heavy that it’d be easy to pull through it and pull the trigger without realizing that you’ve completed the entire trigger pull.
When you just do the take-up, you’re going to get to a wall. From that point, you’re going to have a slightly hard break. It’s very clean; there’s no creep in that trigger once you’ve gotten through your take-out. From there, it’s an extremely short reset right back at that wall.
It’s an extremely smooth and quick trigger, but is a little light for a lot of people’s taste. I think one thing you have to take into account is its take-up and that heavy take-up is what makes the trigger safe to carry. It’s also what would make it very easy to pull straight through the trigger without realizing you hit that wall, causing the shooter to jerk.
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Overall, the Walther PPQ trigger is excellent, but you’re going to have to get used to it and learn to shoot a little bit differently. It’s a very good trigger (if not one of the better ones) for a polymer striker-fired handgun.
I do think the Canik TP9 trigger is a little better, but it’s also based on the Walther design of the P99. Between those two, I’m going to choose the Walther just because I like giving the original inventors a little bit of credit.
Walther PPQ vs Glock 19 Slide Lock
The slide locks on the Walther PPQ are very large and take up quite a bit of space on the gun. If you grip the gun very high with your support hand and you have very large hands, this may be an issue and it may cause you to either prematurely lock back the slide or make the slide not lock back at all.
Glock, on the other hand, has fairly small slide locks that sit kind of far forward. If you have really small hands, you might have trouble reaching them. I don’t have any trouble reaching them, but others might. In this case, the Walther PPQ is going to work for a wider variety of people.
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The Glock 19 Gen3 and Gen4 only has the slide stop on the left-hand side of the gun set up for a right-handed shooter, but the Gen5 gun is ambidextrous like the Walther PPQ. Overall, I much prefer the design on the Walther PPQ. I find it’s faster and easier to reach and manipulate to both lock back and drop the slide. The Glock 19 just doesn’t do as well as the Walther PPQ in this category.
Magazine Release
There are two magazine release options for the Walther PPQ: you have the original Walther PPQ with a paddle-style release and the PPQ M2 with a button-style release. In my opinion, the paddle-style release is not as refined as the HK VP9- or P30-style paddle release, and just for that, it kind of falls short.
The Walther PPQ button release, however, is far superior to what the Glock offers. The Glock magazine release is definitely usable and works fine, but if you want a super-slick and fast release, you’re going to want to go with a Walther PPQ M2.
Magazine Well Walther PPQ vs Glock 19
The Walther PPQ has a slight bevel on the magazine well that will slightly help you in reloading the gun, but not much. That’s similar to the bevel on the well of the Glock Gen3 and Gen4 guns.
Now the Gen5 Glock 19s have a massive bevel around the mag well that works really well when you’re trying to quickly insert a magazine.
If you’re shooting competition like USPSA’s production division, then this area is a big deal as reloads are very important and you can’t add an aftermarket magazine well to the gun in use. Outside of special circumstances like that, I don’t know how important it is for your average shooter.
Quality: Buyer’s Preference
The quality of these two guns is fairly similar, in my opinion. When you feel certain parts of the Walther PPQ frame, I actually think it’s cheaper, but then I feel the frame texturing and I find it to be of a higher quality than the Glock. The Glock’s consistent matte finish over the entire gun seems to work really well as far as making it appear to be decent quality. Because of those disparities, I’m going to give these guns a draw.
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The slide is definitely better on the Walther PPQ and for that it might have a slight advantage, but again, the frame material does seem cheap in those areas. With just your hand handling the gun over time, that frame is quickly going to get shiny in those areas regardless of use. The frame would also be very easy to scratch as well. The Glock 19 frame will also definitely wear down over time, but it will take a lot longer.
Aftermarket
The aftermarket of these two guns is no comparison whatsoever. There are a lot more options for the Glock 19 than the Walther PPQ. You have aftermarket sight options and trigger shoes by Overwatch Precision and a couple of other companies for the Walther PPQ, but that’s really it. There’s not a lot else out there.
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As for the Glock 19, you can build the gun multiple times over without using a single Glock part. Pick any aspect of the 19 and there’s going to be at least 10 manufacturers making something for it (potentially with the exception of the frame).
Aesthetics Walther PPQ vs Glock 19
Aesthetically, I’ve never been completely in love with the Walther PPQ. It seems a little slide heavy and the proportions are just slightly off. It’s close to being a very elegant gun, but it doesn’t hit the mark. The Glock 19, on the other hand, is fairly attractive but nobody’s going to think it has any super attractive elements about it. Both end up being kind of neutral.
Shooting
Shooting these guns somewhat surprised me.
When you shoot the Walther PPQ with a normal grip, it’s pretty uncomfortable to use. The back portion of the grip is very pointy and it digs into the back of my palm. When I just smooth that grip around just a little bit so that my hand sits differently than it does with any other gun, the PPQ shoots a lot better.
The gun has a lot of recoil with a normal grip that balances out to be more manageable and track flat with the unnatural hold. It also tends to be a lot flippier than the Glock 19, but that flip also dissipates a lot of the felt recoil on the shooter. I think that if you’re willing to work your technique around the Walther frame, you can shoot the Glock 19 and the Walther PPQ equally well.
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If you’re a newer shooter with smaller hands and you plan on only shooting one gun in this size category, then the Walther PPQ is probably going to be a better option because you can build your grip completely around this gun and learn everything you want to about practicing with it. The 19 works with a variety of grips a bit better and shoots really flat. It has a more violent recoil impulse, but cycles pretty fast at the same time and is easy to control.
At the end of the day, it just comes down to what you’re looking for. I think an experienced shooter that has time behind a lot of different pistols and shoots multiple types of firearms regularly is probably going to be better served with a Glock 19 for convenience’s sake.
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Price/Value: Buyer’s Preference Walther PPQ vs Glock 19
When you look at the price of the Glock 19 vs. the Walther PPQ, you’ll see the PPQ run around $50 more for a comparable model. Where the Walther PPQ is going to jump ahead is with the trigger, magazine release, and slide lock.
If you were to upgrade your Glock to a similar control quality level, you would be spending a lot more than $50. For that alone, I’m going to have to say the Walther PPQ is a better out-of-the-box value.
When you take aftermarket support for the Glock into account, that value can change — you could drive an hour in any direction and be almost guaranteed to find replacements for critical Glock parts while Walther doesn’t have that level of support yet.
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If you plan to really run your gun hard, then the Glock 19 might be the better value.
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Pros/Cons
Glock 19 Pros
- Aftermarket
- Size
- Flatter shooting
- Traditional ergonomics
- Price
Glock 19 Cons
- Trigger
- Magazine release
- Slide lock
Walther PPQ Pros
- Trigger
- Slide lock
- Magazine release
- Texturing
Walther PPQ Cons
- Aftermarket
- Magazine cost
- Magazine options
This is an opinion piece, but I always aim to eliminate bias. Look, we’ve all read them before. Gun reviews that claim to be helpful, but they’re really thinly veiled hit pieces trying to get you to buy something before you’ve even started your research. Or, even worse, a review put together by a content writer who has never even held a gun.
I’ve trained with some of the best in the business to learn various shooting styles and ideologies to better serve our customers. I’ve purchased guns of all price points, calibers, and action types to build the best products for the market. I want you to walk away knowing you have the information you need to make a sound purchasing decision.
