Walther P22

The Ruger or the Buckmark will feel a helluva lot better in your hand after the P22 is broken. Sorry...I just wouldn't buy one after hearing about all the problems. The Ruger is one you can pass down to your kids...the P22 not so much.

I think the P22 is a nice analog to a sub compact carry gun, but I'd like it a whole lot better if the safety didn't rotate the "wrong" way. Mine has been reliable and problem free. On balance, except for my old Rugner MK I, our Rugers on balance have been less reliable than the P22.

Buckmark is a great pistol but its not been 100% either developing a problem with the ejector causing a large number of stovepipes. It was easy to fix, however. All my Ruger pistols newer than the MK I have needed Volquartson extractors to be reliable enough to be fun.

as a trainer, the P22 is great

as a target pistol ... not so much

mine has had a few minor quirks and WaltherUSA (S&W) has taken care of them no charge, so long as your goal is a trainer pistol you'll be fine ... avoid the longer barrel model, the slide cracks seem to be more frequent with it and the extension adds nothing to the shooting but a lot to the maintenance procedures.

True, all guns will have problems and eventually fixed or dropped, but with my luck, or lack thereof, I'm not going to drop $400 for something that may be reliable. That new-ish S&W 22 or the Beretta Neos? they have a somewhat more modern frame, or IIRC it's a GSG 22 Glock clone, they have one in FWB under $400.

Might look at the S&W 22A and the Sig Mosquito while you're shopping.

My 22A does great and from what I've read is that most .22's seem to shoot one brand of ammo better over another brand.
Mine eats anything until it get dirty but Federal's never fail and they always go bang.

I have a P22 and I wouldn't buy another one at half the price.

I had one for over a year and like you I like the way the pistol felt and had very few (other than the occasional FTF or FTE) problems. However in the last year I have seen two out of three my range owner had (for return) with split slides.... One I would have classified as catastrophic; the owner of one P-22 was fortunate they was wearing glasses. I traded my P-22 off simply because I lost faith with the weapon staying together and not blowing up in my hand and maybe getting an eye; not to mention letting a new person shoot and have the thing go boom in all the wrong directions! Sorry just my experience.

Mine has been completely trouble free since i, its a 2009 model and has 3000+ rds through it, most issues have been with the 5" model with the slide slapping the front piece. Also they just redesigned slightly it is now the p22q. But yes in the later models most of the old issues it had were fixed. Might want to check out rimfirecentral there is a walther forum in there with people that speak with walther a lot and have helped them fix some of the early issues.

Mine is a 2006 model and after a MOUNTAIN worth of rounds through it I wore out the trigger spring. Smith sent me a prepaid label and I had the gun back in under two weeks. It's a great reliable gun. I STRONGLY disagree that the extended barrel adds any issues to maintenance, maybe a minute to the total field strip and clean!

Check out rimfirecentral.com, there are a couple guys on there that are the definitive experts on the P22 and that should answer any concerns you have about the platform

I bought my p22 in late march and have now put atleast 4000 rounds through it. Havent' had any problems with it, but now that I've started shooting the steel challenge competitions at my local range, I wished I would have got a ruger mkIII or 22/45.

I did just recently purchase a RIA 1911 tactical, which I'm thinking about putting a 22 upper on...

If I do that, the p22 is the perfect size for my 6 year old daughter..

I had a P22 for a while. It was a fun little gun, and I bought it for the same reasons you are considering it. It has the shape and ergos of a larger auto, and I wanted to use it for cheap training. I never had any malfunction issues with it. It did disagree with some really old Aguila, but I blame that on the ammo, not the gun. It ate everything else just fine, from high velocity CCI's to cheap Federal and Remington ammo.

As others have noted, the accuracy is not great and it's probably not going to be a gun you're going to be handing down to your kids. I ended up selling mine because I had a friend who liked it more than I did, and I gave him a good price on it.

I have experience with one Sig Mosquito, and that pistol had a lot of feed problems. I know n=1 isn't a very good sample, but it didn't instill much confidence in the design for me.

The Walther P22 was a gun I tried my hardest to love, but mine (bought new in 2010) was an absolute jam-o-matic. It would FTE without fail at least once every magazine even with CCI mini mags. I was embarrassed to even take it to the range, it says something when people say "no thanks" when you offer to let them shoot it. I got rid of it and never looked back.

Do yourself a favor and get the buckmark.

bigfatdave said:

avoid the longer barrel model, the slide cracks seem to be more frequent with it and the extension adds nothing to the shooting but a lot to the maintenance procedures.

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I have the target model. When you remove the add-on barrel weight and move the front sight back to the slide, it handles like the shorty but still has 1.6" longer barrel that translates to faster muzzle velocity and less muzzle flash.

A nice little gun. Mine has been totally reliable and simple polishing of the action has translated to a fairly crisp 3.5lb SA trigger pull. It still is a far cry from "real" target .22:s but it's concealable, very light and a much better gun than its questionable reputation may suggest.

coach z said:

I STRONGLY disagree that the extended barrel adds any issues to maintenance, maybe a minute to the total field strip and clean!

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yeah, except for the threaded fasteners you have to torque on to get the stupid weight from moving around, which wear out eventually. And the fact that instead of being all on one piece you're now dismounting and remounting the front sight every time you clean.
If the P22 was happy running dirty, it wouldn't be a big deal, but mine needs a cleaning every 3-400 rounds, and that silly weight wouldn't stay put after maybe five cleanings.
Walther fixed it and sent me the short barrel conversion (a blemished but serviceable short barrel kit for Zero Dollars) ... I've never even considered putting that silly fake compensator back on.

hq said:

When you remove the add-on barrel weight and move the front sight back to the slide, it handles like the shorty but still has 1.6" longer barrel that translates to faster muzzle velocity and less muzzle flash.

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Now I have been pondering that setup for a couple of reasons - I've been wondering if you'd get a bit more backpressure impulse to cycle the action with lower-velocity rounds.

Bersa makes a Thunder 22

I actually picked up a Sig Mosquito and have had no problems with it really. I'd suggest that over the Walther P22.

it wasnt GSG it was ISSC, the Glock clone, seems like it would suit you well, modern frame like a Glock but like the XD isn't?
good price and so far only complaints is people not finding the right ammo for it, like most 22 autos

http://www.jgsales.com/product_info.../4635?osCsid=aea315dd0d7ae7aac26a6620db866b1d

The P22 is the only firearm two of my smaller handed lady friends could grip properly and hold in a firing position for any extended period of time. I'm assuming that's not a problem for you, but just another added benefit of the tiny P22.

bigfatdave said:

Now I have been pondering that setup for a couple of reasons - I've been wondering if you'd get a bit more backpressure impulse to cycle the action with lower-velocity rounds.

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I have no experience with the 3.4" barreled version but my lightened 5" has been totally reliable. I have a habit of keeping my guns extra clean, but the P22 hasn't malfunctioned even during long plinking days when I've shot 1-2 full bricks of cheap std velocity ammo with my kids.

Reliable enough for a carry/backup purposes.

lightened 5" has been totally reliable

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well, I guess I have a project - find and install the long barrel and get some blasting done!

Mine only liked a few brands of ammo and I needed to carry a screwdriver with me when I shot it to keep the safety from falling off. Traded it and $75 for a NIB 18" 6+1 Remington 870.

Best trade I ever made.........

Mine only liked a few brands of ammo and I needed to carry a screwdriver with me when I shot it to keep the safety from falling off.

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Mine had the same problem.