Picked up a Walther G22 Today

[perdurabo93]

My girlfriend just ordered a lefty one (she's a southpaw/left eye dominant) this week and it should hopefully be in this weekend. I plan on buying several types of ammo to test which one this rifle likes, but I am worried that the G22 will be as picky about ammo as the Walther P22 and I'll be stuck buying high priced "match" ammo like CCI Mini Mags and we wont be able to shoot the <$10/550rd bulk pack Federal or Remington .22lr ammo you can get at Wal-Mart or Academy.

I've also heard that the later generations of G22's are less picky about ammo that the first ones that were sold in the US. Any truth to this?

Can anyone who owns these tell me SPECIFICALLY which brands of ammo worked and which didn't? I'd especially like to know whether cheap bulk pack Federal or Remington ammo will work.

Also, has anyone seen these P22/G22 aftermarket magazine followers that add three more rounds to the 10rd mag?

http://www.magazineparts.com/

They claim that you get 13 rounds out of a mag with these installed, but they disable the BHO in doing do. Is it worth it? Do they actually work?

 

[General Geoff]

My G22 chews through Federal bulk packs just fine. It's all I've really used in it and my P22 (which has no problems digesting it either).

 

[RecoilRob]

My rifle has fed and fired everything I have stuck in it. Including PMC Target, Thunderbolt, Wildcats and different CCI rounds. Not sensitive at all and cycles well even with the standard velocity target ammo.

The 13 round followers looked inviting at first....until I looked into them a bit. Biggest problem for me is the loss of the button...which I call the 'loading button'. Tried loading several mags without depressing the follower with the button and found it much more time consuming and difficult than the extra 3 rounds were worth.

Depressing the button and dropping in the cartridges is so easy I don't miss the few extras. Just pick up a few more mags and shoot away!

 

[bwhite39]

here is a pic of mine a little dressed up.

 

[DirtyFrog1960]

G22 comments

I like my G22 a lot, but it is not perfect. I have been very pleased with the accuracy out to 50 yards (<2 inches), but the groups spread out a lot at 100 yards. On the other hand, firing from a bipod I can put 40 rounds in an 8" circle at 75 yards very quickly, which is a great deal of fun for about $1 in ammo cost.

Most of my competitive shooting is metal silhouettes, so I am mostly shooting CCI mini-mag (36 gr), which has an incredibly flat trajectory for the four distances that our rifle club uses for silhouette matches (25/50/75/100 yards). This ammo gives me more failures to extract than I like -- about 1 out of 20 rounds -- but it is worth it to not have to worry so much about estimating holdover as I switch distances.

I also shoot CCI Green label, CCI Stinger, Federal Match, and some miscellaneous stuff. The rifle seems happy enough with all of them, though some brands seem to have a lot of primer failures (especially the cheaper Federal stuff). About 1/3 of the time these will fire if you rotate them 90 degrees in the chamber. (I eject them and let them sit for several minutes before trying this -- no sense getting a hangfire in the face....)

I do not like the trigger at all. I am not comfortable with the dual-stage approach -- it goes against my safety training to pull up the slack on the trigger and then wait to fire. I am much more comfortable keeping my finger off the trigger entirely and then having a single-stage pull when I am on target. Several folks have reported good luck with replacing the trigger bar with a stiffer and slightly longer version, and that is likely to be my next project.

The rifle is currently equipped with the Walther laser (that I cannot see at all when I am at the outdoor range) and with a 4x (32mm) fixed magnification Nikon scope. I hacked an M16 bipod to fit on the front rails, since I don't have a lot of interest in tactical flashlights.

Important things to consider:
(1) I keep a plastic clamp in my ammo box to grip both sides of the receiver as I remove it from the frame for "deep cleaning". The plastic clamp covers and restrains both of the microscopic springs that love to run away and hide.
(2) Opposite the ejection port is a metal plate that covers the (unused) ejection port on the other side. This metal plate contains a tongue that projects horizontally into the chamber and is used by the bolt as a guide. Unfortunately, this plate can fit in place with the tongue toward the front of the gun or toward the rear. In both cases it fits into the groove in the bolt -- at least until you fire the weapon If you have inadvertently installed the plate with the tongue toward the front of the rifle, the bolt will slip off the back of the tongue as it retracts after firing. Gravity will then cause the front of the bolt to drop and the springs will drive the front of the bolt into the top of the next round coming up from the magazine -- bending the cartridge quite impressively. Fortunately there was no permanent damage to the rifle, and the rifle club keeps "dud" containers conveniently located near the firing line. I don't recall exactly how many cartridges I destroyed before I figgered out what was happening, but it was probably a dollar's worth of my hard-earned income.

My last comment on the G22 is that I have had trouble finding an easily repeatable eye position that I can quickly acquire when shooting in various positions (prone, kneeling, sitting, standing). The relatively large vertical distance between the bore and the scope makes repeatability critical for accuracy. I get the best results when I take a lot of time to reproduce a particular sight picture, but the effort involved takes a lot of fun out of whole process. Maybe a piece of velcro on the stock could attach to my beard and hold my head in the right place?

 

[Medusa]

I've played a bit with the rifle, as you can see - new optics mount makes shooting much easier, since the scope is in better place for me (natural eye relief), since making the pic I've also turned around the bipod attachment, since I have no use for flashlight on this rifle (for which mounting those 2 little rails are ment for on the bipod assembly)

 

[ec-10]

Opposite the ejection port is a metal plate that covers the (unused) ejection port on the other side. This metal plate contains a tongue that projects horizontally into the chamber and is used by the bolt as a guide. Unfortunately, this plate can fit in place with the tongue toward the front of the gun or toward the rear.

That is the ejector.


And yes it needs to be installed correctly for the rifle to function properly. Not that I would know anything about that. :banghead:

 

[bwhite39]

Medusa,

Who makes the scope mount on your rifle? I recently replaced my red dot with the walther scope that came with the rifle and would love to back it up with that mount.

Thanks,

Bobby

 

[Medusa]

Close up on the mount:

It's made by Walther, name is EM 22 optics mount, available with either 1 inch or 30 mm rings (mine in 30 mm), if you need to order the Walther's article numbers are 2706610 for 1 inch, 2706628 for 30mm. Approx mnfg prize is 46€ (50-60 USD).

Walther's G22 page You can see more accessories under the Produktzubehör section.

 

[Hoppy590]

anybody who is having dificulty in getting parts information from walther USA, i suggest you call the S&W shooting sports center in springfield (413) 846-6400
these guys are salesmen, shooters, company representatives, instructors, and RO's all rolled into one. im not saying they are going to know exactly what you need to know but they are probibly much better to deal with than some one who just sits at a computor.

 

[Birkke]

The cocking leaver spring on the G22

I was cleaning my G22 for the first time the other day, and even though I read the instructions, I still managed to make the bolt catch leaver spring fall out. :banghead: Now I can't figure out how to get it back into place.

Does any one know how the spring should be put into place? I would greatly appreciate any advice I could get.

 

[Medusa]

You just have to try and find the way. Most important is that the spong tension would hold the bolt catch down. I sticked one end through the hole in the receiver and held it with the finger from the other side and then threw on the catch. Just try and get the best way for you. Yeah it's annoying, I've already made a few replacements for that (even used a spring from floppy disk).

 

[Birkke]

Thanks

Thank you for your reply Medusa.

After a couple of hours of fideling with the spring, and at the point of dispair, I finally figured out how to put it back into place . The next time I'll be more carefull.

Cheers

 

[rich0372]

I played with one of these in the gun store today I thought it was pretty cool it had a scope and a laser. It acually felt really good holding it. They were selling it for $499.