Walther P22 Opinions

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mine has been great. no problems at all, except when i shot old corroded ammo, that the cases ruptured when fired. after about 30 of these, it started jamming due to all the unburnt powder residue. certainly not the guns fault. after cleaning, it resumed on its merry way, firing shot after shot with no problems what so ever. i do not know if people are expecting to much from their P22, or if they are actually having problems with it. but for me, i would reccomend buying one on my personal experience. and i would do so to my best freind, or any family member. as far as i am concerned, and with my experience with my gun, i would say it is every bit as good as any other gun on the market . it may not look as nice as some, but mine certainly functions as well.
 
Mine is up to 7000 rounds through it. It only jams when I feed it flat-nose ammo like Remington Golden Bullets and some of the other brands with the flat-tip hollow points.

It likes the Wal*Mart Federal 550-bullet bulk pack stuff, runs like a watch on that. No broken parts and no issues with mine, I even ran it for thousands of rounds of shooting without cleaning to see if it would mess up, after many thousands it finally had so much gunk in the mag it started FTFeeding and jamming. Swapped out the dirty mag for the clean one and it kept right on running.

For $229 new 2 years ago it was a great deal, everyone I take shooting loves it, it has a manual of arms similar to any other semiauto pistol without the buck-rogers look of some.

3" groups at 30 feet if I do my part. I will say that it's easy to miss because it is so light and the trigger is kinda long. It will never be match grade accurate but it's fun to shoot pop cans with.

Maybe I'm just the lucky one who got the one good one Walther ever put out. I dunno. It's not for sale. And I don't even have any cracks starting in the slide, either.

I think a lot of the bad press came from the bad mags not feeding, so people tried higher velocity ammo, which overtaxed the recoil spring, which caused the slide battering.

YMMV.
 
Yep, they really screwed up on the first design mags. The spring was a couple of inches longer than the revised version in an attempt to get the bullet nose up when the mag was full.

The revised ones with slots to allow the top 3 or 4 rounds to spread their rims pemitted a way softer mag spring and good feeding...plus easier loading.
 
I like mine, It eats the Federal Bulk from Wally World. Doesn't like the remmington.

I paid $200 for it and could be happier for a cheap to shoot plinker.
 
I had real mixed emotions about the gun. I think the only reason why I kept it as long as I did (I traded it this week and got what I paid for it) was because my father-in-law enjoyed shooting it the twice a year he comes to visit, and I collect/shoot Walthers. I found it to be reasonably accurate but very finicky about ammo with more FTFs than any other .22 that I have experienced. The gun also seemed delicate to me compared to my full caliber Walthers, almost toy-like.

I have also found that I don't nearly enjoy shooting a .22 as much as full caliber guns. If I do replace it will be with a Ruger MKII or III, one like the one that I sold years ago. It's hard to do better than that.
 
Potmetal gun. Spotty reliability. Skip it and get a Ruger, Buckmark, or CZ.
 
got about 10k through mine now. you can read what i have to say over at gundirectory.com's page for the p22.

if you want a tack driving 22, get a ruger or something else.

the p22 is great for training kids and stuff since the p22 is more like a centerfire pistol imo. with a few changes it's an excellent training pistol. i bought one to train my fiance, and she's already graduated to a CZ SP-01.
 
I love all the potmetal commments, like what do you think it's going to be made out of? A full slide out of stainless wouldn't cycle with 22LR. Take a few cases of the slide breaking (not the only gun to do that), add a little internet hype, and you'd think these guns explode when you look at them wrong.

Anyways, mine has worked great thus far. I think around 8k through it, maybe more. Feeds Golden Bullets, Federal Automatch, and anything CCI without trouble. Haven't tried others as I never needed to. It's certainly not a target gun, but it is surprisingly accurate for it's size (though the sights are not). Great for training new people, and the ladies seem to love it. :)

If you want one, get one used, then you'll (ideally) know if it cycles on bulk stuff and can save some money. :cool:
 
Keep it clean and it'll be shooting forever. I've already run thousands of rounds through mine, and Walther rebuilt it for me (had a manufacturing defect), but it's accurate, burns about any kind of ammo I feed it, and just keeps on knocking out the X ring.

I joke with the guys at the range that they might shoot "big calibers" for self defense, but I can put 10 round in their eye before they get off a shot.... very accurate pistol, and you can adjust it to your own "feel". If it had a little more barrel, it would be good for 50 to 60 yards. Up to 25 yards, the short-barrel model is very accurate. I'm sure the "target" model is better, but I bought it to "plink", and it's great for that purpose. If I'm low on ammo money, I can shoot 500 rounds for about $11.

WT
 
My buddy has one. As far as I know, it doesn't jam. I thought the trigger was awfully heavy, especially for a .22. It's not a target pistol; that's certain. If you already owned a Walther in 9mm for instance, it might make sense.
 
Just consider that the slide is cast Zinc.

That's right, pot metal. There is absolutely no reason to make a gun out of that unless you intend for it to be a disposable piece of crap. There's no reconciling that.

That pretty much sums up the P22 (and the Mosquito).
 
Just consider that the gun shoots .22LRs, and you might even get by with a plastic slide and it would work fine.

Whatdaya want, a cast iron slide on a .22lr plinker? There's a reason most .22's don't cycle the entire slide when firing- just the back piece. To make it work it has to be lightened.
If you want all steel buy a 1911 and forget .22 entirely.
Oh wait, they make some of them out of aluminum too.. recycled pop cans, junk, they will fall apart...
 
Whatdaya want, a cast iron slide on a .22lr plinker?
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Steel works just fine thank you. All the decent 22s are made out of steel. GO figure.

Guns made out of Zinc are cheap disposable junk. I thought we figured that out 30 years ago.

If you want all steel buy a 1911 and forget .22 entirely.
Oh wait, they make some of them out of aluminum too.. recycled pop cans, junk, they will fall apart...
Click to expand...
Well, Al framed 1911s don't have the greatest track record actually?
 
Evan price,

Whatdaya want, a cast iron slide on a .22lr plinker? There's a reason most .22's don't cycle the entire slide when firing- just the back piece. To make it work it has to be lightened.
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I have a Ruger MK I made in 1952 that's stone cold reliable. It's made entirely of Steel.

I also have a Browning Buckmark Camper that's been dropped, kicked, and serves as my main rimfire pistol during Bullesye matches. It's at least made out of Aluminum, you know something durable.

Ruger still makes variants of their MK III in all steel.

If you want all steel buy a 1911 and forget .22 entirely.
Oh wait, they make some of them out of aluminum too.. recycled pop cans, junk, they will fall apart...
Click to expand...

The trouble is, with the Walther, they really are just making it out of cheap crap. It's a great looking little gun, shoot that's why I bought mine when I had it.
 
Although I really, really dislike the Potmetal22, in all fairness it should be pointed out that the only P22s that seem to be fracturing about 3/4 of an inch from the front of the slide are the ones that have the "faux compensator"/muzzle device attached to them. (the 4.7" model)

The 3.4" barrelled (sans muzzle attachment, shorter barrel insert) models do not appear to be so afflicted. Of course, there are the reliability/ammo sensitivity/durablility issues that seem to run through both the 3.4" and 4.7" variants also. Every specimen that I have handled has had an atrocious, rough, gritty trigger pull that made shooting it a chore and sucked the fun out of plinking with it. Yuck.

I am happy to hear that there are those amongst us who've been able to find some level of satisfaction with their P22s, but I cannot justify spending money on a firearm of any type that is composed of :barf: Zamak alloy.:barf: Far too many issues with this particular offering for me.
 
the ammo is what makes 22 pistols like the mosquito and p22 run like crap. the cheap stuff has lots of weak rounds. when i use the mini-mags or stingers, the pistol is 100%. i've never had any failure on any of the 'strong' 22 ammo. but then, you can argue that for the cost of mini-mags ($7/100) you might as well shoot 9mm ($15/100).

the only time i really have any failure, is when i have a weak round, and that i can feel when the gun just kind of coughs over and rolls the bullet out of the barrel, rofl.
 
I ran about 300 rounds through mine today, with nary a problem... other than a couple of ftf's when I didn't push the clip in solidly. I don't expect them to feed properly if I don't get the clip in where it's supposed to be.

I had Walther look at my gun, and they completely rebuilt it because of a manufacturing defect that "chattered" the slide and gouged out parts of the slide that should have stayed smoothe. It had a nick in the trigger assembly that was gouging out pieces of metal every time it cycled, and now that this has been fixed, it's running great again. They gave me a new slide and trigger assembly.

Strangely enough, mine takes about any kind of ammo I feed through it, but it likes stingers and remington jhp's a bit more than most others. I would like to be able to get a bit better slide for the pistol, but it works fine with the zinc slide that comes with it. I doubt if anything other than an aluminum alloy slide would cycle on the gun considering it's only a .22LR cartridge, but it eats ammo like a pig, and until it gets so dirty it won't run, it just keeps on shooting... and it's only gotten that dirty after 1000 rounds or so.

I actually have more concerns with the field stripping of the gun than how it runs. It's a royal pain in the ass to reassemble, and seems to develop a mind of it's own sometimes when that's being done. I field strip all kinds of guns, and if you really want me irritated, let me clean this P-22 and my Makarov on the same day. They have just the right amount of quirks to make me crazy trying to get things back together.

As for the zinc issue, I'd like for the next designer to use something that will not destroy itself when something's off just a bit (like my trigger assembly was). I suspect that a carbon fiber slide would work just as well as the zinc one if it had a metal insert at the point of impact where the slide is driven backwards... so any of you guys out there who like to do "aftermarket parts"... here's an opportunity.

I love the gun... it's cheap to shoot, and for the most part, goes bang every time I pull the trigger. Since there's little or no recoil, it stays on target, so across the room, you could count on me putting 10 in your chest if you're not quicker than me on the trigger.

I know that everybody discounts the .22LR as a self defense round, but I've hunted all my life with .22 LR hollow points, and killed a lot of game with them. We even killed hogs with them, when my uncle had his farm... so they'll get the job done... and a chest full of them would at least have to hurt...:cuss:

The P-22's not my favorite gun, but it's one of them. Great little shooter.

WT
 
My girlfriend and I got one so she could have a pistol to learn on (and I just wanted it... like I want all pistols...). We have a few hundred rounds through it without any real trouble. There was one time with a remington thunderbolt where I don't think it had enough umph to kick the slide back enough to pick up the next round, but that was it. We put about 6 different brands of .22 through it and that was the only instance where there was a hiccup. It is an absolute blast and a great gun for a beginner. It looks and functions just like any other larger caliber semi auto, unlike so many other .22 semi autos...

My only complaint is the pain in the neck recoil spring. It is a real chore reassemblying it until you "get the hang of it"... but other than that I would recommend it based on my (albeit limited) experience... :D
 
The arguements about this gun being made of junk metal sound a whole lot like the arguements made about plastic guns when glock first came out.
It's a 22. it doesn't need the strength of a gun that fires a high presure round. Mine has been great once I worked through what rounds it did or did not like. And before anyone says anything, that can be said about any handgun made.
Mine is shot almost 100% of the time suppressed and works quite well. I rarely have any problems with it, and most of those come from it being dirty from being shot so much.
 
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