Walther P-22 range report.

[joel.favre]

I recently acquired an as new in box Walther P-22 for a good price and finally got a chance to take it to the range this afternoon for a little 4th of July fun. I am not sure which part of this is the better one. That I have a nice little P-22 that functions perfectly, or that it does so with Federal Bulk pack wally world ammo!
I did not have very high hopes for this little pistol since I had heard a lot of bad things about them. All the tales of jamming, ftf's and fte's had me kinda worried. Well, as I have discovered today, this is not the case at all. I used Federal bulk pack ammo out of the 550 round bricks and have to say that out of nearly two bricks I had ZERO ftf's, ZERO fte's, ZERO jams, no mifires, no issues of any kind.
Of course the moment I put some Aguila super match and Gold Medal Match into the magazines it wouldn't feed, the ammunition seemed to be to weak to push the slide all the way back. It would usually eject the empty just fine, but not have enough inertia to get all the way back and strip the next round into the chamber. I am guessing that this is because the Gold Medal and Supermatch are both subsonic (I believe).
As far as accuracy is concerned, I really wasnt shooting for accuracy ( I am not particularly good with a pistol anyway) so I cant give a sure report on that. I was able to hit my targets printed on computer paper quite easily from 10 all the way back to 25 yards, which is the farthest I shot. If I had to say I would submit that it is capable of around 3" at 10 yards with the ammo I was using and me shooting, so most likely better in better hands.
So really I guess its a good thing, this little pistol is a blast to shoot, my wife and son both love it and can handle it with ease. The fact that it prefers the cheap ammo makes it just that much better. To anyone looking at a Walther P-22 as a fun plinker definitely go for it, it is much more gun than I expected for the price.

 

[Mad Magyar]

Good report...Nice to read that a .22 pistol actually works fairly well. I had so many problems with another .22 pistol (name withheld to protect their image) that I just didn't trust those little "buggers".

 

[David E]

Mine works well, also.

Glad you like it !

 

[brabham78]

These forums can test ones patience at times - there so much BS and so little useful info. That is why its always refreshing to read a useful post like this one. I've been thinking about getting a P22 for doing some plinking with my daughter, and it's nice to read a real useful evaluation like yours joe.favre. Thanks.

PS- If you happen to try out some CCI Stinger or CCI mini mags in your Walther, let us know how it goes.

 

[Skinny 1950]

Check out the Browning Buck Mark Camper I have been told that they are not only good but great.

 

[David E]

Check out the Browning Buck Mark Camper I have been told that they are not only good but great.

I like mine, but I've had a few failures to fire with it. Mostly with Remington ammo, which I'm told isn't the quality it once was, so maybe it's ammo related.

I need to shoot it more!

 

[wally]

Mostly with Remington ammo, which I'm told isn't the quality it once was

Understatement of the year!

 

[swiftak]

Wanna see the blister on my chest where a hot .22 casing got stuck inside my shirt the other day? I think these pistols are a piece of S--t and I'm selling mine.

 

[fireside44]

Wanna see the blister on my chest where a hot .22 casing got stuck inside my shirt the other day? I think these pistols are a piece of S--t and I'm selling mine.

You should do a youtube review...lol

Well, as I have discovered today, this is not the case at all. I used Federal bulk pack ammo out of the 550 round bricks and have to say that out of nearly two bricks I had ZERO ftf's, ZERO fte's, ZERO jams, no mifires, no issues of any kind.

I had one, it worked well, and I traded it. I didn't have any real problems with it I just didn't trust the longevity of a ZAMAK constructed slide and such. Can't really complain though, it functioned, though the trigger left a little to be desired. Wound up making a straight trade for a vintage model 10. Them tactical guys just don't know better.....

All said though, the guy I traded it too has put about 3k down the tube on top of the 2k that I ran through it. Still functions like a champ.

Still, steel gives me greater peace of mind.

 

[danez71]

These forums can test ones patience at times - there so much BS and so little useful info.

Well, it was nice while it lasted.....

Wanna see the blister on my chest where a hot .22 casing got stuck inside my shirt the other day? I think these pistols are a piece of S--t and I'm selling mine.

So... a stray case extraction is your reasoning that the gun is a POS?

Could you please give some reasoning to support your statement?


It seems a A LOT of your posts are either in the Sell forum or are rants such as the Taurus rant that didnt pan out too well for you.

 

[joel.favre]

Check out the Browning Buck Mark Camper I have been told that they are not only good but great.

I definitely agree with that statement. My Buckmark (Pro Target 5.5") has been nothing but outstanding. I have had good function with all ammo (excepting Rem subsonics, big surprise ) and the accuracy is most certainly better than the Walther, but than again, it was twice the price as well.


As far as a hot casing stuck in your shirt Swiftak, while I can sympathize with that, I did not notice any extractions going in strange directions with mine. I will take a closer look for that on the next range trip however, thanks.

 

[joel.favre]

I had one, it worked well, and I traded it. I didn't have any real problems with it I just didn't trust the longevity of a ZAMAK constructed slide and such. Can't really complain though, it functioned, though the trigger left a little to be desired. Wound up making a straight trade for a vintage model 10. Them tactical guys just don't know better.....
.

I am not sure what Zamak is, it seems to be an alloy of Zinc, Aluminum, Copper and Magnesium from the little I read, but I dont think that I would be so quick to discount it only because of that. Of course I would never recommend using it in a situation where reliability was of utter importance such as a SD scenario (being a .22 and all).
And for the record if I had the opportunity of a straight trade for a vintage Model 10, mine would be gone in a heartbeat as well ! Steel trumps wundermetalplastics every day in my book.

 

[kokapelli]

I had one that was very ammo sensitive.

 

[fireside44]

I am not sure what Zamak is, it seems to be an alloy of Zinc, Aluminum, Copper and Magnesium from the little I read, but I dont think that I would be so quick to discount it only because of that.

Not really discounting it. I just figured I had 2k through it without trouble so I quit while I was ahead (or so I thought). I had a buddy big on autos and just threw it out there as a trade possibility and to my surprise and perhaps his detriment he agreed to it. Still, he is happy about the trade (as am I heh heh). Has brought a whole bunch of new shooters to the sport using that little pistol.

 

[David E]

Wanna see the blister on my chest where a hot .22 casing got stuck inside my shirt the other day? I think these pistols are a piece of S--t and I'm selling mine.

HOW is that the fault of the gun?

And if you think it IS the guns fault, then I'm glad you're selling it so someone else can get some good use out of it.

 

[atblis]

Steel trumps wundermetalplastics every day in my book.

I wouldn't dismiss polymer framed guns so readily and I would not lump quality polymer guns in with the P22. Glocks, HKs, etc. are quality guns designed to work ( and be cheap to manufacture). The slides, barrels, and other critical parts are made out of perfectly good steel. Zamak aka potmetal is simply cheap.

Walther is owned by Umarex, so it doesn't surprise me that they slapped the Walther name on a plastic potmetal gun. Umarex is not known for high quality guns. Now, Sig putting their name on a potmetal plastic turd does surprise me. Arguably they've been slipping for a while though.

Didn't we do this potmetal German gun thing already (and learned that lesson)? RG anybody?

 

[swiftak]

no, not just one stray piece of brass, failure to eject, brass in the face, and the screw always backing out iof the chamber area.
Why would brass hitting me in the chest not be the guns fault?

 

[searcher451]

Some folks have great luck with the P22; others, not so good. Some of it is the luck of the draw; some of it is not properly "breaking in" the thing (although you can argue that a decent pistol should require no breaking in whatsoever -- but that's another issue entirely).

If you decide to get one, two things:

1. Be sure to read the P22 Bible, referenced on the RimFire Central website and the Walther Forums:

http://www.waltherforums.com/showthread.php?t=10259

2. Be sure to run quality ammo through it, such as Mini-Mags -- especially during the so-called "break-in" period.

Well, one other thing: Good luck.

 

[KodiakBeer]

I have a P22 and it runs very reliably, but... it's hard to wring good accuracy out of it. The trigger is very mushy and the piece is too light for my personal tastes. It's probably very accurate in a ransom rest but, at least in my hands, it's not beer cab accurate past 20 yards or so. My experience is very positive, but somebody once said only accurate guns are interesting, and the P22 just isn't...

If you want something with real accuracy (for the same money) get a Buckmark or a slap a Ciener target conversion on a 1911 and you can wage war on beer cans well past the 50 yard mark.

 

[perch]

I shoot a P22 a lot. Remington golden bullet works ok but during the first 1000 rounds it failed to chamber the last round in the magazine nearly every time.

I ran a few hundred Federal Lightning round through it and it either FTFs so badly I have to pull the slide after every shot OR it fires fine. I'm not buying that again.

Both the CCI mini-mags and stingers work the best. They run clean every single time and have a really nice kick compared to the other 2 types of ammo above that make you thing you are shooting something more than a BB gun.

 

[KodiakBeer]

Weird... My P22 is one of the early ones so you'd think it would be more prone to malfs since the design was new. But, it ran reliably from the first with anything I put through it.

I'm not crazy about the gun and wish I'd bought another Buckmark or Ruger, but reliability hasn't been an issue.

 

[glove]

Good report. Mine has been 100% as well 5 years now, knock on wood.

 

[postalnut25]

I noticed the original poster said that he didn't have any problems until he used some lower powered ammunition. I have a P22 for my daughters, and in the owners manual it states you need to use high- or hyper-velocity ammunition for proper operation. With lowere powered rounds being used, it's no suprise that the functionality changed.

 

[DeepSouth]

I had one that was total junk, by far the worst gun I have ever held in my hand. It had every malfunction I had ever heard of and some I hadn't heard of, with every type of ammo imaginable. I sold it for about $150 loss and still feel bad that somebody has to own it now.

I will also say don't jump the gun, mine did decent for the first 1,000 to 1,500 rounds then she started going down hill, fast. By 3,000 rounds it was just an aggravating magazine feed single-shot.

 

[ThePunisher'sArmory]

I have a Sig Mosquito and my wife has a Walther P-22. Both work very well with Mini Mags and blazer ammo. I have not tried bulk yet simply because the mannuals suggest to break them in with Mini Mags. Only one failure to feed with the Sig and One failure to return to battery with the P-22. The slide did not close all the way on the P22 with one round and I got a back flash out of the ejector hole when fired. It kind scared the s@#% out of me but it works fine now. Keep them clean and they will work fine. I think half of the bad reports are from people trying to shoot 500+ round without cleaning. .22lr is dirty!!