Walther P22 and Federal Ammunition .22 Value Pack

[TheOtherOne]

I picked up a 550 Round Value Pack at Wal-Mart. It is "Federal Ammuntion 36 Grain, Copper Plated, Hollow Point". My Walther P22 can barely shoot the stuff. On almost every shot it will either not completely eject the case or it will forget that there is another round in the magazine and just close without feeding anything. The longest streak I had without any failures was maybe 3 or 4 rounds. This is my second P22 as the factory replaced the first one for free when the slide stopped staying open after the last round. Still, I've shot this one without very many problems in the past and I was using Remington Value Packs from Wal-Mart. This is the first time I've used the federal ammunition though.

Is it just my gun or are there others that have had problems with this combination?

 

[Plan-B]

I've had the exact same problem with that combo (P22 & Federal bulk ammo). In fact, my Smith & Wesson 22A does the same thing with Federal. I've shot through 3 boxes (1600+ rounds) of Remington bulk ammo in my P22 without a single hiccup.

 

[stumbler]

My PPK/s has in the manual that Stingers should not be used. Something with the length of the casing. I wonder if all walthers have the same chamber ize and those .22 with longer casings shouldn't be used. (Also saw the warning in my 10/22's manual)

 

[flinch]

Hello,

Ya never know, cause my Ruger II and Woodsman just love the stuff . P22 must need something hotter to cycle.

Thats just my opinion, I could be wrong.

 

[lyricsdad]

Shoot about 500 or so mini mags through it w/ a few boxes of Velocitors... Your p22 will break in nice, and you can shoot just about anything through it. I really researched on the p22 before I got mine, asked questions not really here but @ rimfirecentral.com and got great answers. Dont over oil it and it will be a good gun, I dont know how many thousand rounds I have fired through mine, I lost count lol. guns should come w/ a "odometer".

Then after you break it in, you should be able to shoot federals through it, golden bullets, winchester, etc.. I personally use federals like you are having problems w/. I just put them in my used mini mag boxes.

It could be your ammo too.. sometimes there is just a bad batch i was happily using golden bullets until i stumbled upon a box of 550 that had lots of rounds I had to double strike them before they went off. Since then I switched from remington to federal.

I used to use stingers, makes your gun wake up! lol sounds like a freakin 9mm or something w/ stingers! lol but the case was too long and it would hit the slide upon ejection and crimp. I also ran into loading problems w/ stingers. So i stopped using them.

If I want the boom I use CCI Velocitors. I have been told to lay off of them as the P22 has a weak slide and have been known to crack when using Velocitors, Stingers, and other "Hot" 22 rounds.

*edit* myp22 manual didnt say anything about stingers.... and the casings, it was something I found out myself.

 

[kart racer]

The only federal my p22 will shoot is the target ones.cci stuff works the best in mine.The federal bulk just won't run in mine..

 

[anapex]

My P22 has the exact opposite problem, it will feed the Federal bulk ammo but no the Remington bulk ammo. It really just comes down to the gun I think.

 

[donkee]

Federal red bulk sux! do yourself a favor and stick with CCI Mini Mags....

After the last time my son shot them, I won't even use them in the old romanian trainers. Bullet barely came out of the case, had to jam a cleaning rod down the barrel to knock them out.......

I "was" going to keep them for the rifles, but they ain't worth it.......

 

[possenti]

What lyricsdad said.

In my P22, the Federals do a little better. About 1 out of 20 will not feed. The round before it ejects, but the slide fails to travel rearward that final 1/16 of an inch or so to strip the fresh round from the magazine. It's just a nuisance now, but I expect it to perform better after break-in. I'm nearing the 500 round mark now.

I've heard people suggest storing the pistol with the slide locked back to compress the recoil spring a little, so the slide has less resistance on recoil.

 

[XLMiguel]

P22's, particularly new ones, have a marked preference for hotter ammo - MiniMags,, Stingers, Velocitors, PMC Zappers, etc. After 6-700 rnds, mine smoothed out and will shoot normal stuff OK, but still doesn't care for the cheap bulk pk stuff FWIW.

 

[SONICMASD]

it might be a pistol problem, because my Marlin 795 has shot over 600 rounds of the stuff with no problems, i had two stovepipes actually but whatever i'll accept that rate with rimfire ammo anyday, especially 9$ for 550.

 

[lyricsdad]

Yeah I think if you break it in properly, and clean it after each time, you'll be able to shoot the bulk stuff w/ no problem. I always shoot a box of mini mags whenever i shoot, so I shoot the bulk and the more high end stuff.. Everytime I go to town, I pick up a couple boxes of mini mags.

 

[9x19]

I shoot the Federal Bulk Packed ammo from Wal-Mart thru mine without any problems... FWIW

 

[SNoB]

I put an entire box of the fedral bulk through my p22 without any problems. Even worked at the range one day when I forgot to clean it from the last trip.

Could the cleaning method and lube enter into it? Ive used clp to clean it and tetra to lube it since I bought the gun.

 

[wally]

Our local Academy chain has been selling the 50/box, 10 box/brick Federal Champion ammo for less than the Federal bulk pack from Walmart. I've had no problem with in in my P22 or any other gun so far.

--wally.

 

[trbon8r]

I've got the same problem with my P22. I just bought it and it has about 400-500 rounds through it. The gun fed CCI Minimags great and I never had a problem. It fed Winchester hollow points great as well. The trouble started when I bought a brick of CCI Blazers. The gun will not shoot these at all. Every 2-3 rounds the gun fails to pick up a round from the magazine and all I get when I pull the trigger is a "click". I did have a couple cases stick in the chamber with the Winchester, but this was after about 300 rounds down the tube and chamber was probably dirty.

I hope this is an ammo problem and in the case of the Winchester ammo a case of the gun just needing a good scrubbing. Unfortunately I do have kind of a sinking feeling developing in my stomach that I've bought an unreliable POS. We will see.

 

[jonnyc]

I've put over 2000 rounds of Fed Val-Pack through my Buckmark with only 1 or 2 FTF. A second try fired both. No feed problems at all. It's not as accurate as CCI Mini-Mag, but not bad.
As others have said:
1. Longer break-in will show better results...eventually.
2. Your P22 might simply dislike this ammo, a problem with many .22s.

 

[Killians97]

Brand new P22

I have a brand new P22 with 5" barrel that I put the first 500 rounds of the Federal bulk through in a single sitting this past weekend. No failuers to feed, or fire. No problems what so ever. VERY happy with the performance. The ammo was about 4 years old. Will let you know next weekend when I run another box through it.
Killians97

 

[TheOtherOne]

Thanks for all the information. I'm glad to hear there are at least some others with the same problems. I took it out again today but this time I brought 100 rounds of Mini Mags and shot those first. It went through all 100 without a hitch... as soon as I tried the Federals though it was the same old problem. My record with it was four shots without any type of failure!

I'll just keep shooting mini mags for awhile and make sure to leave the slide locked open when in storage.

 

[TheOtherOne]

I've put 400 rounds of mini mags through it now and it shot all of them without a problem. Still the same old problems with the bulk ammo though so I don't know if it'll ever "break in".

I've noticed that I can get the slide to stick on the hammer though like in the picture below. Is that normal? It's not very hard to get it to do that, I just pull it back halfway and gently let go and it'll stick right on the hammer. I'm wondering if this could be causing the problem? Do you think it would be a bad idea to lightly touch the part of the trigger it's catching it on with a dremel?

 

[Soap]

Mine eats the 550 pack Federal like candy.