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2021 Guns & Ammo of the Year Awards
The Guns & Ammo of the Year awards showcase the best of what’s new and innovative in the firearms industry. The winners for 2021 are still wise purchases in 2022.
Guns & Ammo editors, contributors and staff are set to declare the firearms industry’s award recipients for 2021. Only products made commercially available since the fourth quarter of 2020 (and were not considered for last year’s awards) qualified for nomination. Products were evaluated and discussed by G&A’s staff through the COVID-19 pandemic and the Outdoor Sportsman Group’s Roundtable in Cody, Wyoming. Several editors and contributors attended events and hunted with these products within the last 12 months for further evaluation.
Nominees’ products that were deemed to be all-new designs, as well as those possessing the greatest potential benefit to the greatest number of readers were given additional merit when scored. When having to decide between two otherwise equally important new products, the more affordable choice broke the ties in our voting. G&A acquired several samples of each nominee throughout 2021 to achieve a representative evaluation. Products that caused doubt in reliability or durablity were eliminated from the list of candidates.
The winner for each category emerged from a point system once three criteria were met: First, the product must have been new and available for purchase in 2021. A line extension of an existing product didn’t earn as many points as one possessing innovative features and engineering. Second, it must have demonstrated quality and reliability to a degree that met or exceeded its design objective. Lastly, the winner offered the greatest appeal to the largest audience. G&A’s staff awarded points after surveying in-store availability and confirming retail pricing to ensure the product exists and offers great value.
To protect the credibility of the Guns & Ammo of the Year awards, no manufacturers, advertisers or sales representatives were involved with the selection process. What follows is the ultimate list of 2021’s best new products.
While many brands shifted the focus to developing micro-compact pistols, Walther reinvented its polymer-frame, striker-fired full-size and compact offerings. The PDP is the intended replacement for the PPQ series.
As of this writing, the PDP series currently includes the Compact with 4-inch barrel and 15-round capacity; the Full Size with 4-inch barrel and 18-round capacity within a longer grip; and the Full Size with 4 1/2-inch barrel and 18-round capacity grip frame. There is also a 15-round Compact model with a 5-inch barrel and long slide, as well as a Full-Size model with 5-inch barrel and 18-round grip frame. All of these models are currently only offered in 9mm and include two magazines for a suggested retail price of $649.
Regardless of model, all PDP pistols were designed from the outset to accept popular electronic-dot sights. No matter which optic is attached, the rear sight does not have to be removed to accommodate an optic. And even if your preference is to use the PDP with its traditional post-notch sights, the PDP includes a coverplate to conceal the optic cut. Lastly, though the sights are zeroed at the factory, the rear is adjustable for tuning windage and elevation to your needs.
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The grip is an engineering feat. It was purpose-built to help shooters make the transition to using red dot sights more intuitive. Shooters find that locating the red dot is faster and easier due to the front of the bottom of the grip design that naturally applies pressure and support to the pinky finger. Additionally, the contoured and textured grip surface on the sides and backstrap provides a premium feel. It features a tetrahedron design that’s not abrasive, yet offers increased and aggressive traction with your hands as you squeeze. Positive control also appears on the slide. Termed “SuperTerrain Serrations,” they protrude above the surface of the slide.
Guns & Ammo evaluated several samples of the PDP during 2021, and three for long-term evaluation. We observed sub-2-inch, five-shot-groups from 25 yards produced by every pistol tested. A credit to its accuracy, Walther’s new Performance Duty Trigger is a good one. It’s likely the best box-stock trigger for any base-model, striker-fired, polymer-framed pistol on the market. The length of travel is short, the reset is consistent, and it produces excellent tactile definition.
There were many new handguns introduced in 2021. The fact that several were qualified and considered for this award makes this win a particularly significant achievement for Walther.
Walther PDP Specifications
- Type: Recoil operated, striker-fired, semiautomatic
- Cartridge: 9mm
- Capacity: 15+1 rds. (Compact); 18+1 rds. (Full Size)
- Barrel: 4 in.; 4.5 in., or 5-inch; polygonal rifling
- Overall Length: 7.5 in. (Compact); 8 in. (Full Size)
- Width: 1.34 in.
- Height: 5.4 in. (Compact); 5.7 in. (Full Size)
- Weight: 1 lb., 8.4 oz. (Compact); 1 lb., 9.4 oz. (Full Size)
- Finish: Tenifer (steel)
- Sights: 3 white dots, adj.; optic ready
- Trigger: 5 lbs., 9 oz. (tested)
- Safety: Trigger safety; striker safety, disconnect safety
- MSRP: $649
- Importer: Walther Arms, 479-242-8500, waltherarms.com
Rifle of the Year: Savage Impulse
Not content to rest on its 60 years of success in selling Model 110 variants (or 20 years of AccuTriggers), the “new” Savage Arms is a fresh company that has launched bold products to attract new business. It was sold by Vista Outdoor in 2019 to a group of investors led by Savage’s management, and that might have been the best thing to happen to the brand since the introduction of the Model 99.
Savage Arms has a 127-year-long thread woven through America’s fabric, and it’s now building on its respected reputation with forward-looking designs. Savage’s first order of business was to introduce the Renegauge in 2020, which earned Guns & Ammo’s Shotgun of the Year honors. This year, Savage impressed us again with the Impulse rifle.
