[Sum_Cowboy]

Guys & Ladies,
Are these worth the price around $250 to $290? Because im thinking about getting one I found a place locally that will get me the gun out of state for $30 bucks the rest of the gun shops here locally wants about 50 to 100 bucks to start off. Im 23 and I know some about guns because my dad is a retired us.marine so i been around him learning about guns and so forth. The reason I like the Walther .22 handguns is because of the way it looks and feels, I had the chance to buy one a week ago but the guy wanted 500 bucks for it. Thanks Jamie (Sum_Cowboy)

[DMSHEPARD]

I would check out www.rimfirecentral.com's walther section, there is a ton of info on this pistol. Mine has functioned quite well, but does have a few feed failures from time to time. Most people do a few reliability mods and this cures the demons. I like mine (3.5"), but it is not as accurate or as reliable as my Ruger autos. The short barrel should be around $300 or less (more here in MA), not $500! They also look good with a can, if it's legal in your state. Good luck and welcome.

[Tropical Z]

Are these worth the price around $250 to $290?
NO! They are a $150.00 gun selling for the price of a well made .22lr that will last many years.Ruger and Beretta are MUCH better choices.

[ugaarguy]

What are your plans for it? Plinking? Competition? Cheap to shoot P99 look alike? Let us know what your intentions are and we can give you more relevant/specific advice.

[kjeff50cal]

Which Walther .22 Handgun, the PPKs, the new P99 lookalike?

[Avizpls]

The new P99 look-alike? Isnt that the P22? Thats not new though.

[usp9]

forget the p22 and get other guns? Do you have any reasons for saying this, any experience with these three guns you can share to enlighten us?

[Zundfolge]

The little P22 is not that great a pistol. Probably a fun plinker but I understand they can be real finiky about ammo (no el chepo bricks of .22).

However a Walther GSP is an awesome .22 ... and if you find one for $250 to $290 then either its stolen or the seller doesn't know what he's got (a GSP will cost you at least a grand).


Anyone offering you a P22 for $500 is a thief. A P99 should be less than $500.

[TX1911fan]

The P22 is a very fun gun, especially for kids and women. It is finicky about ammo, but you can use bulk packs. Just stay away from Remington Thunderbolt. Mine likes Remington Golden Bullets, so that's all I use. The great thing about the gun is that it is just like a regular auto loader, so it teaches principles for larger guns. My wife still likes it the best, but has moved up to the P99. My 8 year old son thinks it is the best thing in the world.

[evan price]

I just bought a 3.42" barrel, black frame and metal, Walther P22 with two mags in the case with lock, for $239 brand new. I heard that they were ammo sensitive, jam prone, inaccurate, smelled bad, and caused baldness.:neener:

I debated buying a S&W 22A, Ruger Mk X, Colt Woodsman, Browning BuckMark, etc etc. before buying this. Those guns have a 5" barrel and a reputation for accuracy, and new Smith 22A's are going for $200 or so new around here. Used Ruger, Browning or Colts are about $250 around here. But the Walther is more Tacticool than those guns- not that that matters, but it looks like a P99... Personally, even though a 5" compensated Walther P22 is available, I like the smaller 3.42"; also, the 5" is harder to take apart to clean. Not as bad as the Ruger, Colt or Browning though.

The Walther is a blowback design. It has a safety on the slide that interrupts the hammer and lifts it up a little. Thus you can dry fire it with the safety on all you want within reason. The mag release is on the trigger guard. The takedown is under the slide towards the front; the slide comes off, leaving the barrel in place.

The new Walther comes with a mag with a flat floorplate and a mag with an extended finger rest floorplate. It comes with a pair of backstrap pads, if you have a larger hand, it can feel more, well, Glock-Like if you put on the fatter pad. I am a big guy but I preferred the smaller backstrap. It changes by pushing a pin out of the frame.

It comes with a barrel wrench and a little plastic rod, the rod is to guide the recoil spring into the slide when you put it back together. The first time I stripped it I did it the hard way without the little rod.... then read the manual and found it easier (Oh yeah, the manual...) I will be making my own rod out of brass rod stock though for just in case. The little black plastic rod looks too much like a piece of leftover sprue or something and almost got thrown out twice by me.

It also comes with three different front sights so you can change it out to suit how you wish to aim, and change your POI.

What I found was a gun that I loved to shoot. And got 3" groups out of at 21 feet the first 10 rounds I fired- it was consistently as accurate as the Springfield XD9 I just bought. It takes a little more steadiness to hit good groups (I think because the light 36 grain .22's would drift more)and the light weight of the gun means if you are used to a more cannon-like handgun it moves around more on you when you correct your point of aim. MY SOP was to hang a new target, put about 100 rounds of .22's into it, then finish it off with about 30-45 rounds from the 9mm Springfield XD. :evil:

I tell ya what, I had a great time with it and my only regret was that it didn't have a 100-round mag, because I loved pulling the trigger again and again and having to shoot only 2-10 rd mags before reloading dampens the buzz a little. Of course, very little recoil, very little noise, one handed shooting is easy. The trigger was smooth and very predictable, once you get the hang of it you can pop away 10 rounds very quickly.

If you expect the accuracy and build quality of a $1239 Kimber .45 1911 Match Grade you will be disappointed. It was well built and all but it is a .22LR not a .45acp so parts are smaller and more delicate. Not flimsy, just smaller. And it has a poly frame. And it's $1000 cheaper. But it has the quality of a Walther, proofmarks clear to see, everything fits very well.

Will this replace a "real" gun? I bought this to teach my wife to shoot. It will be great for that. As a self defense caliber .22LR sucks... but that's not the gun's fault. As a have-fun-poking-.22"-holes-in-paper gun, it is a great investment. If you learn to shoot the Walther well you will have a good start to shooting a bigger gun well. Let's face it: You can spend hours at the range and only burn through $20 worth of ammo. What could be more fun, unless your idea of fun is spending $2 per shot for .500 revolver ammo? If you can eventually get sub-2" groups of .22 holes, then getting sub-2" groups of .36 or .45 holes will be easier.

The Walther ate up an entire box of (550) Walmart "Golden Bullet" bulk .22LR hollow points. The cheap ones that are like $8 for 550 rounds. Federals, Winchesters, whatever they were. I ALSO bought a box of CCI Stingers because I heard the Walther was stiff new and needed the high pressure Stingers to cycle correctly during break in, I even heard "Walther P22 Would Not Work At All With Cheap Ammo!" on the Interweb. I never used the Stingers so they sit for my home defense (ha ha) loads for the Walther.

I never had a problem except for during the first 100 or so rounds, what would happen is when I loaded a fresh mag and then used my thumb on the slide release to bring it into battery, the first round would stick on the feeding ramp and not go into the chamber. I found that when I released the slide by pulling it all the way back and letting it go with my left hand instead of dropping the slide release, the problem did not occur. After the first dozen mags, I sprayed some teflon oil into the action and the problem went away. I cleaned it after 300 rounds, kept firing, no more problems. I think if I used round nose .22's instead of hollow points I never would have had this problem in the first place. The finish on the loading ramp looked a little coarse; I may spend a little time with some fine emery cloth polishing the ramp a little before my next range time.

The mag release is on the trigger guard (a Euro thing) and people moan about this as well. I had no trouble using my trigger finger to drop the mag, just bend finger down and push the mag eject and it fell right out. No need to even shift your grip, so for me this is a nonissue. The Pictinny rail is kind of useless in this type of gun (Who wants to tactical a .22?? Maybe a small laser..) and it does not accept my standard light that I use on my XD, I guess the Smith & Walthers use a special spacing on the locking bar, it is set back further. There are adapters to use standard rail accessories on the P22 available. There are also adapters to convert the barrel thread into the AR thread so you can use supressors, flash hiders, etc on the P22. Why? Not for me but somebody wants these.

In closing, my only experience with .22LR pistols was the Jennings J22. As a pistol, the J22 makes a great club. I believe someone once said, "The only benefit of the J22 is the magazine lips are sharp enough to use as a knife in self defense when it jams".

The P22 was a 100% turnaround from the POS J22 Jennings. I can actually say that I had FUN at the range with a light pistol. I was used to the J22, "BANG BANG >click< F***! JAM! tap rack >click< tap rack BANG <JAM> F-ING P.O.S.!!!!" :banghead:

So to find a .22LR pistol that is as nice as the Walther P22 is a pleasant surprise. I expected the worst, based on what people have said on "The Interweb" but found a really nice addition to my weapons toolbox.:cool:

Great for a starting out gun to learn HOW to shoot.
Great for a plinking gun to improve your shooting ACCURACY.
Great for a fun gun to spend time at the range with friends and not spend a lot of $$$.
Great to have to teach SOMEONE ELSE how to shoot, especially females, they will learn on a gun that is somewhat Tacticool and overcome the fear of the black gun.
In a pinch, you can shoot a BG with a .22. Any gun in your hand beats that awesome hand cannon in your closet at home.

Your Mileage May Vary, IMHO.:D

[C-grunt]

I have to agree with evan price and say that my P22 has been an awesome little pistol. Its not as accurate as my dads Kimber and its not as reliable as my Glock, but it was cheap, fun to shoot, and cheap to shoot. Mine absolutely hates the Reminton thunderbolts but shoots anything else fine. Its also really cool to put the CCI stingers in it and watch the fireball that comes out the front of it.