T4E New Walther PPQ M2 (GEN2) The Most Realistic.43cal CO2 Semi Auto Blow Back Paintball Pistol - FDE

I have been looking for a means to defend my home and family without the risk of crossfire or going down the road of other lethal means. I live in NJ after returning from the military where I was stationed in NC. I originally brought my guns back from an open carry 2A friendly state to one of the strictest states for the UNINFRINGABLE second amendment. I got rid of my guns because everything is illegal here so if I ever had to use them I would be going to jail.So it looked like Nonlethal was the way to go for me. First I got the Byrna SD (a glorified cheaply made $400 paintball gun) and after rounds fell out of the barrel and it fired with the safety on I moved on to the Tippman M4. Very solid in all regards and I will be writing a review on that as well, just not as ready and compact as I would prefer for middle of the night type scenarios. Then I found this gem! Where has this been my whole life?!?! It has the look, feel, and weight of a typical poly frame pistol. Where the blowback is abbreviated it’s not noticeable when squeezing off rounds and does lock back when empty. This is merely for realism and “chambering” a round isn’t really required. The fixed sights are fine with contrasting colored dots, but take my advice and step up your game by buying a cheap green dot laser sight for faster target acquisition.Strangely accurate for what is essentially a miniature musket that shoots rubber and PVC balls. At 50’ with the laser sight standing in a traditional pistol stance and PVC pellets there was about a 3-4” grouping. At 25’ it’s a nail driver. Most in home situations are within the 25’ range. There are pepper balls available, just illegal in NJ (what a surprise?!) in the .43 caliber where the .68 caliber is readily available, which makes absolutely no sense.The other bonus is the CO2 cartridge is housed nicely in the clip. Expect 4-5 reloads of the 8rd clip before having to change the cartridge. There are speed piercing clips that can be loaded and ready with your preferred method of pew pew and are only a palm press away from ready, which is another serious drawback with the Byrna which requires the pistol not be stored with a cartridge that’s pierced and the use of an Allen wrench built into the base of the magazine to engage it. Not exactly ready deployment. There is an Allen built into the back strap to pierce the OEM clip but most would just move up to the palm piercing variety. Magazine release is authentic as is the weight of the mag for a very realistic reload to finish with a slide release to complete the muscle memory drills.All in all this purchase is the most promising as of yet and I’m absolutely in love with this pistol. I am actually considering buying three more for our bugout bags since they are half the price and twice as good as the Byrna.

At first, second and third glance, you cannot tell that this is a trainer. It's as close as you can get to the real deal. While some may say .43 isn't powerful enough, I shot two mags of rubber balls, and rubber with iron core balls into a triple layers cardboard shipping box, that was in front of a wall covered with wood panels. Every shot went through the CB and put a very nice dent in the wood panels from about 20 feet away. I would not want to get hit with even the all rubber rounds at that distance. Of course if the person you are shooting is wearing heavy layers, they won't hurt as much, but the sound and power alone is enough to have them thinking twice about their next move. That's why I plan to load them with 2 rubber cover irons, then 2 Riot Balls, then 2 pepper balls followed by 2 more Riot Balls in the event they are a gluten for punishment. While most reviews, videos I've seen indicate a loss in power, I fired two mags and lost very little if any velocity based on the damage assessment (not electronically measured). The standard mag performed better that the quick piercing Mag where the Co2 cartridge is not pierced until you bump the knob on the bottom. I wasted 3 carts trying to get that thing to work and when I finally did, it was damn near impossible to unscrew it to get the depleted cartridge out to reload. Too 15 minutes and a small flat head screwdriver to get it released. Not something I want to have to do out in the field and for the price, that Mag will likely never get used, I just buy more Co2 cartridges unless they send me one as a replacement indicating mine was defective (too damn expensive for this).I was tempted to go with the Byrna LE for the first shot Co2 piercing feature and heavier .cal, but I like the look of the T4E for concealability. Of course the Byrna packs a heavier punch, however, I think the T4E .43 gets the job done equally. I'm seriously considering the G17 version of the T4E due to the availability of assorted accessories that fit and may still pick up the Byrna LE if they ever come down off that ridiculous 9mm price point.YMMV