Walther P22 Questions

[FPrice]

I just picked up a Walther P22 and it seems to be a fun little gun to shoot. It should be good for teaching newbies also. But two questions have popped up:

1. Does anyone else have real problems reassembling this pistol, mainly because the recoil spring bends a lot and gets in the way as you are trying to guide the slide back on the frame? Are there any tricks I should know?

2. The magazine spring seems to me to be a bit flimsy. It has worked okay so far, but is it durable?

 

[Doug Add]

I have had one for nearly two years now. I bought it, as you suggest, to teach my son to shoot a handgun.

1. Look in the parts bag. There is a small plastic cylindrical rod that you use to keep the recoil spring straight when reassembling. Place it in the hole in the slide and place that end of the spring over it. The recoil spring guide will push it out as you place the slide back on.

2. We have put several thousand rounds through ours and have had no issues with the magazines.

 

[FPrice]

Doug...

"1. Look in the parts bag. There is a small plastic cylindrical rod that you use to keep the recoil spring straight when reassembling. Place it in the hole in the slide and place that end of the spring over it. The recoil spring guide will push it out as you place the slide back on."

Duh. Yep, it's there. Such a simple solution. Turns out it was on the page after the instructions I was looking at.

Thanks for helping me out!

 

[petro]

I've had mine for almost 2 years...

and I love it. The only issues I've had are with standard velocity rounds. It definitely does NOT like Winchester Super X 22LR, very dirty stuff. Mine loves Stingers. I truly believe my working with this little gun helped me with my shooting mechanics. When I went to a certification course for armed security, I scored top of my class.

Shoot it often, it's a great little trainer gun...

 

[wally]

Mine loves cheap ammo! No problem with:

Winchester Wildcat
Federal bulk pack from WalMart
Remington bulk pack from WalMart
Remington Golden Bullet 525 pack from Academy
Remington Thunderbolt
Federal Champion -- $6.90/500 on sale at Academy and gives 2" 10 shot groups at 50 yrds in my Ruger 22/45 bull barrel!

Probably about 2000 rounds thru the gun now, only cleaned in once about 500 rounds ago.

I just wish the safety lever didn't rotate the "wrong way".

Take the lock key, set the gun on fire, and throw away the key! There is a failure mode that locks the gun up should it be manipulated while in the the S-lock position. http://rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40667 has the details!

--wally.

 

[kart racer]

p22

Thye are a blast to shoot-put about 300rds thur mine today.To help w/the overtravel of the trigger,go to home depot and but 5-6 #47 o rings and put on the trigger blade-it really helps.I've tried other #'s but the size wasn't quite right.

 

[NEtracker]

Great pistol. I picked one up at Four Seasons in Sept. 2002, and have put at least 2500 rnds through it. I broke mine in with CCI Mini-Mags. It now eats most std velocity stuff. Students seem to like it. Some have bought their own after the LTC process. I also have a few friends who have purchased the P22 after trying mine.

 

[GigaBuist]

FPrice, don't feel too bad about missing that plastic piece! I got mine and was going to meet a buddy up for an hour at the range figuring I'd pull it apart and put it back together in 30 minutes beforehand. Yeah, I had to call him up and delay it. Within 5 minutes I thought "why did they put this stupid plastic piece in here?" and "why don't they have some stupid plastic piece to guide this spring home for reassembly?!"

I'm not the smartest guy in the world. Figured it out a couple days later. I used an alan wrench to guide it home the first couple of times.

Fun gun, and unlike others I fed it two packs of 525 round Remington bulk pack crap without a hitch. Dud primers here and there, but everything else went fine.

 

[Doug Add]

FPrice, glad to be of assistance.

Mine doesn't like the Winchester Super X either. I have a nearly full box of the stuff in my closet. It didn't work very well in my son's 10/22 either.

We run bulk pack Remington Golden bullets through the P22 without a problem. We did run some Mini Mags through it during break in, but no problem with the cheap stuff since, except for the Super X.

 

[mfree]

I've had mine for roughly 3500 rounds. When it was new, the back of the chamber was milled so sharp that bullets could catch and dig in to it and hang the pistol up. I fixed that.

I removed the safety lock when I detail stripped it the first (and last) time. Getting it all back together was a chore but the key lock was easy, IIRC.

Mine eats *anything*. I've even shot some of the chewed up Federal Bulk that I used cycling it when I was fixing the edge of the chamber.

Too bad it's not more accurate. Watch for the sights getting loose and for the roll pins to start losing tension and backing out. That's about it, I s'pose

 

[hightech]

Repair History

I have had mind for just over 3 years now. I bought it to train students, especially women and children with small hands. It demonstrates SA/DA with manual safety real well. It like all ammo except for Winchester.
I have had to send it back for repair twice [2] now. First time failure to feed, loosing/movement of the roll pins, and failure of the safety lever to stay in the off position. Second was failure of the safety again and the hammer would follow the slide home making every shot a DA pull. S&W repair turnaround time were great and it seams to be working well now. S&W has replaced everything from the frame up between the two repairs. Watch your roll pins and keep it well lubricated.

 

[Doug Add]

My only complaint is what makes it so appealing to my son, the grip size. I wish it was a bit bigger, he likes it just as it is.

 

[Preacherman]

I have two of them. I use them for training disabled shooters: and for the past year or so, while forbidden to shoot centerfires because of back surgery, they've helped to keep my own shooting skills in tune. I think they're excellent guns, and much underrated. Sure, there were problems with the first production run, particularly with the magazines: but these are long over, and I think that current production guns are fully reliable.

Doug, do what I did - get two! One can have the small grip frame, and one the large. Works for me!

 

[FPrice]

Doug, do what I did - get two!

Reminds me of the old Doublemint gum commercial.

"Double your pleasure,
Double your fun,
Buy yourself two guns
Instead of just one."

 

[in0de]

3.4 or 5?

I am looking at getting one of these P22 handguns very soon and I am just wondering if the ones you guys are using have the standard 3.4" barrel or the 5" target model. Also, if anyone has used both, can you give any insight into the pros and cons of each?

Any info would be great!

-i

 

[kart racer]

3.4-5 in

ode,3.4 is more fun to shoot,the 5 inch is more accurate.you can put the small one in your jeans pocket and just about forget it's there.I guess the sight radius is so small on the 3.4 that the least little bit of movement effects the poi a good bit,although w/practice it's pretty accurate.great practice for self defense-not the best for a target gun.shot some some stingers thru it close to dark and watch the fire show.

 

[cidirkona]

Has anyone put that CP scope mount on theirs?

How's the action with subsonic ammo? Will it still cycle?

I'm going to be picking mine up in the next week or so... I wish class 3s didn't take so long to come home!!

-Colin

 

[in0de]

Re:

Thanks for the info Racer. Most of the guys at my local gun store also recommended the standard size instead of the 5". I started looking at this gun because I wanted something to do cheap target shooting with, so in that respect the 5" would work best. On the other hand, I really like the "feel" of the 3.4 and the simplicity that it offers when breaking the gun down since you don't have to remove the fake suppressor like you do with the 5". One other plus to the 3.4 is the ability to easily add a silencer, but I don't know if I'm really ready to drop 500-600 bucks on that. *shrug* I really like the "cool factor" of the 5" though.

ugh. I need to just make more money and buy both barrels.

-i

 

[NEtracker]

I started out with the 3.4", for a year, then swapped in a 5". The 5" does tweak out a little bit tighter groups, but it's not a target gun. And, yes, takedown can be a pain with the 5", and the P22 slide can get rather gummy after a brick or two, so you need to clean & lube.
I am now back to the 3.4" brl.
With the 5", I did have a Tac mount with red-dot configuration, but never got the ejection pattern quite right (tinkering with a file). Usually the last 1-2 casings would eject overhead vs. to the side, which ends up hitting the mount, bouncing back into the forward area of the fake compensator, jamming the slide. So, I dispensed with the mount. No issues without the mount. (no experience with the "CP" mount)

 

[cidirkona]

Since the "compensator" is fake, just a weight, and simply bolts on, can't you just use the 5" barrel and leave the weight off of it? Sure, it might look a little funny...

-Colin

 

[NEtracker]

Yes, you can, but you'll have a shorter sight radius, since you need to move the blade back to the original slide position.

 

[in0de]

Thanks for the info. Since you said the p22 isn't really a target gun, what would you recommend for target shooting? I'm probably still going to get the p22 just because I like the looks of it so much and the ammo is cheap as dirt, but I may end up getting another more well suited target gun down the road.

-i

 

[NEtracker]

Because I'm in MA, the only options are the Ruger MKIII 512 (or other newly approved Ruger 22), the S&W 22A, 22S, and Model 41. The Model 41 is way too pricey for me.
I have some range time with the 22A & 41, with good results.
I picked up a Ruger. It's very good.
Many in the pistol league circuit like the old High Standards.

 

[FPrice]

NEtracker...

Because I'm in MA, the only options are...

That may be true for new pistols, but if you make it a habit of prowling local gun stores you stand a good chance of finding a good, used pistol. Another source is GOAL. Every month they have a for-sale list of firearms donated to them.

I know it s*cks living here sometimes what with our "gun-friendly" AG ( ) but there is still a farly lively trade if you keep looking.

 

[cidirkona]

I always make a stop by the local pawn shop too... saw a Cetme in there once for $299... came back the next day to get it and kicked myself that I didn't put anything down on it...

-Colin