FOG HORN 2017

Twobirds Flying Publication

WALTHER ARMS CREED

Copyright 2017, Towbirds Flying Publication. All Rights Reserved.

 WALTHER ARMS CREED a Walther creation at a value price
WALTHER ARMS CREED a Walther creation at a value price
By: Sal Palma
I have to confess to being influenced by James
Bond when I picked up my first Walther, a
wonderful PPK. It shot great, felt great and bit
my hand regularly, but ahhh it was sexy! The
Walther PPK was the personification of a
company with 150 years of experience creating
some of the worlds finest firearms. From that
tradition comes Walthers PPS M1 and PPS M2,
circa 2007, then the PPQ in 2011. Walthers
history includes some amazing target pistols,
law enforcement and military sidearms, and in
2013 Walther introduced the PPX which was
designed to be a low cost duty pistol. In 2017
Walther engineers unleashed the CREED a
derivative of the companys PPX.
So, what makes CREED a Walther?
Grip-
Right off the top is its ergonomics which are
extraordinary. Ive often said that Walther
knows more about the human hand than any
other firearm manufacturer and that continues
to be true for the CREED. Its not just its hand
Copyright 2017, Twobirds Flying Publication, All Rights Reserved
2017
filling grip, its the way it fills the hand along
with the grip angle. Absent in CREEDs design is
the interchangeable backstraps.
Grip angle is more important than many
shooters realize. A competently designed grip
allows the pistol to sit low in the hand reducing
the bore axis to hand height; it also makes
reaching weapon controls like a magazine
release or slide release comfortably accessible.
Continuing with ergonomics, Walther equipped
the pistol with an extended slide catch lever
that is accessible and can be operated without
breaking your grip. The magzine release is also
easily accessible, extended and ambidexterous.
Trigger-
Second on the list of things that are extremely
important to me is the trigger. Walther
designed the CREED as a hammer fired pistol
with a pre-cocked double action only (DAO) fire
control system. I was floored by how close the
CREEDs trigger feels like a striker fired pistol.
To be quite honest, I was expecting some
grittyness or inconsistantcy in the trigger pull
but I was gladly proven wrong. Other than the
trigger reset being a bit long for my taste, the
CREED has an excellent trigger. Impressive to
say the very least.
So heres what we have so far. Superb Walther
ergonomics and an excellent trigger which
addresses the top two major consideration
when selecting a firearm. Whats next?
Sights-
 WALTHER ARMS CREED a Walther creation at a value price
2017
The pistol ships with a steel three dot sight and problematical. Two drop safeties, a firing pin
a 6 inch sight radius. Windage adjustments are block and a Picatinny accesory rail. Whats
made at the rear sight which is drift adjustable. missing from this package is an ambidexterous
Walther provides a wide space rear sight for slide release and interchangeable backstraps.
faster target acquisition. Defensive shooting No big deal!
occurs at relatively short ranges and depends
heavily on effective use of the front sight post,
so being able to easily pickup the front sight to
engage your target is important. One feature
that Walther omitted, and I have to believe it
was cost related, is top slide serrations. I think
theyre important because under certain
lighting conditions its quite probable that slide
reflections will interfere with the front sight
picture

Everything Else-

We all get very excited about ambidexterous

controls but lets be honest, unless youre a
southpaw who cares, certainly not me.
Ambidexterous comes in handy when you are
lefthanded or an organization that recycles
weapons among a number of shooters i.e.
military organizations and departments that
issue firearms to their members. So, yeah, you
wont be able to talk about all of your

The Walther CREED is not a pistol that you

shoot groups with, its a robust, reliable and
extremely well designed working pistol that will
go BANG every time you pull the trigger.

At an incredibly low M.S.R.P. of $399, you get a

Walther pistol with a capacity of 16+1 rounds, a
slide with front and rear slide serratations;
finished in a non-slip corrosion resistant
ambidexterous controls but you can sure as hell
Tenifer coating. Theres not a right angle
talk about saving $300 without compromising
anywhere on the pistols geometry, so even as
ergonomics, robustness, combat accuracy and
a full size pistol conceal carry wont be
reliability. CREEDs polished feed ramp is

Copyright 2017, Twobirds Flying Publication, All Rights Reserved

 WALTHER ARMS CREED a Walther creation at a value price
revealing of Walthers comitment to quality,
and its unlikely youll find a sub $400 pistol
with that level of attention to detail.
Is Walthers CREED perfect? No, but its not
intended to be perfect, and Ive already pointed
out my personal desire for serrations at the top
of the slide, and yes the grip texture could be a
bit more aggressive, but Ill get over it; instead
Ill take the money I save any day of the
week.The CREED pistol is designed to be a cost
effective entry point to Walthers extraordinary
line of fullsized polymer pistols.
2017
comfortable that I have enough diversity so that
any issues will be statistically significant.
During my live fire session the only issue I
experienced was with the Federal AL. This
aluminum case ammunition produced a failure
to extract two rounds into the live fire and
accounted for the 9 oclock hit from the right
shoulder 4 point zone The remaning 15 rounds
behaved just fine.

As a side note, a couple of months ago I

reviewed Blackhawks Omnivor multi-platform
holster. So, just for drill, I decided to see how
the CREED would do with a Streamlight TLR-2
and the Omnivor. Voila!

This isnt the place for me to say that if you

dont own an Omnivor you should kick yourself
in the derrire. But, there, I said it!
All other ammunition performed well and there
Shooting Experience were no issues with ball, hollow points or steel
cased ammunition. Winchester white box,
For my live fire testing, I ran through an notoriously flakey did very well with no hickups
assortment of ammunition consisting of through the Creed.
Winchester White Box, Federal AL (aluminum
case), Tula, Hornady Critical Defense and
Perfecta. I didnt have 147gr 9mm to test so Ill
have to run with 115gr and 125gr 9mm. Im

Copyright 2017, Twobirds Flying Publication, All Rights Reserved

 WALTHER ARMS CREED a Walther creation at a value price
2017
Taking the CREED down for cleaning requires
only four steps.

1. Clear the weapon.

2. Lock back the slide.
3. Rotate the takedown lever
4. Release the slide

Walther marketing placed the CREED as an

entry level offering, personally theyre selling
the pistol short. The CREED shots well, feels
great and operates reliably. Its an ideal
beginners firearm due to its utter simplicity; it
also makes a great working or duty pistol for
organizations needing reliability, accuracy, high
magazine capacity and excellent ergonomics.
One thing is certain, it wont strain your budget.

With the introduction of the Creed, Walther

Arms has set an industry standard for value.
Check it out, I think youll be as impressed as I
As I mentioned earlier in my review, grip
am!
texturing could be more aggressive, but the
Creed is quite frankly an amazing offering and -SP
to think you can pick one up for $370, street
price, is remarkable.

This precocked harmer fired Double Action Only

trigger is easily the envy of many of its striker
fired competitors. Trigger reset is a hair longer
than a Glock but quite acceptable. Sights too
are excellent; allowing the shooter to pick up
the front sight post quickly, an important
attribute in conceal carry or combative
applications.

CREEDs bore height is high which results in a

bit more muzzle rise than its competitors with
lower bore height; however, recoil is relatively
mild and aggressive slide serrations make
reloads and clearing malfunctions a snap. This
gun simply feels good in the hand!

Copyright 2017, Twobirds Flying Publication, All Rights Reserved