[ARCHIVED THREAD] - P22 quality, reliability (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 10/4/2004 6:13:03 PM EDT
|
My grandson is wanting a Walther P22. I remember when they 1st came out there were a lot of complaints about FTF & other jamming issues. Have those issues been resolved in the later production pistols? I dont want his 1st pistol to be a paper weight. If you have expierience-comments with this pistol please post them. Thanks, DAVE 12/25 UPDATE Many thanks for all the replys & opinions. After reading all the posts Jason decided to hold off on the pistol, he bought a Swedish Mauser instead. He still wants a pistol, hes just not sure what hes going to buy yet. He likes my Buckmark & my stepsons Ruger. He did get to fire a P22 at the local range last week, the one he tried worked fine although several other people said theirs had been dogs. Thanks for the opinions, Dave |
|
I had a latter day version that was still a POS. After a trip back to the factory at least it started to function, but it was more worn than any other gun I have ever owned by then. The worst part of it is it groups at 10 feet like my other .22 pistols group at 25 yards, so what's the point of it? I don't use it much now because it so inaccurate. I picked up a Bersa Firestorm in .22 and it was a world of difference and fills the small pocket role nicely. I have .22 pistols by Bersa, Ruger, S&W, and even an another Walther, a TPH. My advise is don't waste your money on a P22. If he wants cool looks (which is the only thing the Wather P22 does well) get one of the new Ruger Mark 3s (I think that's what they call them). |
| I have had a P22 for a couple of years and have probably put 1,000 rounds of various types of .22LR ammo through it. Honestly, I have virtually never had a problem witht FTFs or any other malfunctions. I have read the problems others have had, but I haven't experienced them. I always clean the weapon thoroughly after shooting it and lubricate it with Tetra products. I also clean the magazines, although I wipe them as dry as possible to prevent build-up of residues. I;ve been very happy with my P22. |
|
A real piece of junk! Picked it up for my wife as a first gun to get her into the shooting sports..... Have had it for 7 months and have sent it back to the factory three times. Each time it has been gone for 3-4 weeks. Twice sent back to have it rebuilt due to EXCESSIVE wear in the slide and frame and once for a new barrel. The lands blew out... thought I was firing a musket it was so bad (factory replaced the barrel without even making a comment on that one). Anyway, have put 1400 rounds of "factory recomended CCI Mini Mag" through it. The thing started to eat itself after about 300 rounds and even after all the work, it still does the same. I even went to the trouble of calling the factory and getting their recomendations on which cleaning/lube products to use.. Didn't help! Mine has the new mags and still has the FTFeed and FTFire problems, so my thoughts are that this little gun has many more problems than just "old style mags. I have also had a lot of ejection problems steming from a faulty ejector, which was replaced on the last return trip as well. Bottom line, the gun has substandard materials that are poorly fitted and excessive wear/function problems due to this. You might get one that is somewhat ok if you don't shoot it much, but I wouldn't hold my breath. The pistol is made to look good and appeal to the female/new shooter, nothing more. As I'm sure everyone will agree, while looks get peoples attention, function makes a good pistol, not looks. I have talked with several guys at the local range who own the P22 and all agree that it was $$$ wasted. Make your own decision on this one, but for every one good report, you will find at least 10 bad. I would suggest the Bersa .22 which can be had for around $200 or the #1 Ruger MK II/III .22 The Ruger is a solid work horse with great accuracy (Have one of those as well with over 4000 rounds.. can't even tell it has been fired) It is a real tack driver. |
| I just bought a P22 four days ago, with the extended barrel and the fake compensator. After purchasing 500 rds. of Winchester JHP, I took it to the range and held my breath, especially after reading some of the reviews on it. 250 rounds later, I still never had a single misfire on the pistol, and it was shooting fairly decent groups at 10 meters. I really liked it because of the ambi. mag release and ambi. safety (I am a southpaw). I will say that mine is the latest version with all of the kinks worked out. The guy next to me had an earlier model (serial number starting with L, and no A marking on the mag) and was having all sorts of malfunctions. He was also cycling straight lead, that might have been causing problems. It is no match grade pistol, but I really enjoy shooting it, and would recommend a new one to anyone looking for a nice .22. |
|
Mine worked great the first two times out to the range. The third time was a kick in the pants. Failures to extract and to go into battery on almost every mag. I finally gave up due to safety concerns. The good news is the S&W/Walther service people are great. I explained the problem and they said send it back and we'll take care of it. I hope it's something simple like a weak recoil spring...... Regards, Gary |
|
This is confusing. I have had not one bit of trouble with mine with several thousand rounds through it. I run a Coastal can on it. It is the short barreled version. I have confirmed that I do have the "B" series magazines that are supposed to address some jamming issues. Bob |
| Mine works great! I put about 500 rounds through it before my AAC Pilot suppressor cleared. Now I've got another 500 suppressed rounds through it and only one failure to feed.. That was after 300 suppressed rounds with no cleaning. Anybody who's shot suppressed knows how much crap is blown back into the gun! It was so dirty that the trigger felt gritty! After I cleared the feed issue I shot another 50 rounds without problems. I've got four mags and have no problems. I've shot RBS subsonics, CCI Minimags, Remington hi-vel hollow points, Federal red-box 40 grainers, and Remington 40 grain standard vel out of it with no problems. Cycles with everything. I'd buy another one without reservation. P.S. If you've been kicking around NFA, get a 22 can. Way fun! |
I havent tried shooting subsonics through it yet, only the high velocity stuff. Ill have to try a few different types of ammo on mine this weekend. |
| A buddy of mine just picked one up today and brought it up for me to see how it was. I like the little thing we put about 300 rounds through it with no malfunctions of any sort. Accuracy isnt a problem in my book with this gun. We were shooting 4 inch groups of 10 at about 20 yards. Hell, I was thinking about going out and getting one too just to play with. |
|
oh... scratch that... found their pricing and some much more very "evil" looking p22's Look here www.kaehny.de/export/p22.htm |
| Anyone know what the "good" serial numbers are and which are the "bad"? I have L for the gun and A for the mags....haven't seen any problems yet but I just bought it yesterday and only put 150 rounds through it to get the sights lined up. I'll be pissed if he sold me the crappy model.... |
|
Vance's had the 3.4" models on sale for $ 219 which is pretty cheap. I ordered the Walther scope mount so I can use my BSA red dot scope. Hopefully, I will have the AAC Pilot suppressor this winter. Should be a whole lot of fun ! The only way I can get the suppressor is to incorporate as an LLC. |
|
I have one of the later models and have not had problems with it either. I like it. I have not shot anywhere near 1000 rounds yet. Reminds me of the Glock/KB business... I have a G30 that I have shot over 1000 rounds through with no troubles. I was in a class a couple of years ago and another student had his Glock KB with his handloads. Sounds like you take your chances on the P22...you get a good one...or you get a bad one. |
|
I wanted to also say that depending on how old and experienced your grandson is, you might consider something like a Ruger Bearcat. It's not an auto. It's a single-action .22 This is my daughter's first gun, although she has shot the Walther and my Browning .22 w/scope. I figured she would do well to learn slow, well-aimed fire, and good trigger control before popping off rounds with every squeeze of the trigger. I believe that kid's should learn first and foremost that handgun shooting isn't all about 'spray-and-pray' like they see in the movies and vid'games. Single-actions kinda reinforce that point 
|
|
Ive had my p22for less than a year the first time to range the barrel almost fell off after two mags, I have had feeding problems for almost every other round and after every trip to the range I can't get the safety engaged because the drift pin slide halfway out two one sideor the other.I also bought a SW99 compact in 40 and half of the good ammo I buy I'm afraid to shoot with it because the return spring is still not seated properly only the cheap ammo seems to work right |
|
just got mine about a month ago with the short barrel. right out of the box i striped it and tightened all the screws and the barrel. (some were kinda loose). serial number is LXXXXX and the mags are A series. i fired 100 rounds and cleaned it. fired another couple hundred rounds over the next few days and now i need to get more remington HV ammo. (this seems the most accurate and consistant... about 2.5" at 25 yards.) total i have fired ~800 rounds of various types of ammo and as of yet i have not had any problems except with the yellowjacket bullets (to be expected in an auto). oh, yea, american eagle ammo fired 11" groups from my pistol. most ammo i tried fired in the 4-5" range. my overall rating is an A-, is love this gun... the only reason it didn't get an A is because it does seem picky on the ammo as far as accuracy is concerned. |
No. You get a kit with a longer barrel and the fake clamp on thing. I have beamshot laser on mine that my kids use when shooting. I have never had a problem with it and only clean it about every 1000 rounds. I only use copper plated bullets. It has about 9 thousand rounds through it and probably needs a new recoil spring. |
| I took the family to the range today, and the gun that took the show wasnt the HK .45 or the Glock 19, it was the P22. My mom couldn't shoot it often enough, and my dad absolutely fell in love with it, to the point where he wanted to learn to field strip it when we came back home. BTW, my mom only has one hand and felt the P22 was very ergonomic, lightweight, and had very controllable recoil. Not a single malf. the entire time! |
| Well, I tried those two extra sivler mags marked "A" at the range today, and they didn't live up to expectations. The P22 wouldn't fire in SA mode continuously and right now I am trying to figure out what I can do dremel-wise to make them work. Any suggestions? |
How about trying warranty service? Since they are "A" series magazines, maybe they will replace them. It may be worth a shot. I am still waiting on normal capacity mags for this little gem. It obviously can hold way more than 10 rounds.  Bob |
what are you going to do when the loading plunger hits the top of the slot in the side and your bullets are just laying in the magazine? I can chop off a follower, notching out the slot smoothly so things still work is another matter. Bob |
|
I bought one a couple of weeks ago and have taken it shooting twice so far. The first time, I ran about 160 rounds of Federal jacketed through without a hitch. I cleaned it that evening, but it didn't look particularly dirty. Last Sunday, I ran a couple hundred more rounds through including some Aquila subsonics (plain lead). After about 20 rounds of subsonic, it started failing to feed, but it was pretty dirty. However, when I switched back to the Federals, it resumed flawless operation. So basically, it handles subsonic lead bullets fine as long as it's clean. This weekend, I'll finish off the 550 round value pack of Federals and we'll see how it does. I expect 0 problems. Serial number starts with "L" and all three mags are "A". |
I have read about people extending that slide slot farther to the top of the magazine. my Dremel tool should get here this weekend, so that might give me something to do. I can do quite a bit with a Dremel tool, to include smoothing out cuts. |
Let us know how it turns out. I am interested. Bob |
|
KY_Bob, Will do. The info is back in the office so it may be a few days til I can post it. I do know they were the "A" series magazines. The weapon would simply not return to battery reliably. I was using CCI Minimags to boot. I would experiance failure to return to battery about 50% of the time. I find that unacceptable. I have already moved to replace this weapon with an Advantage Arms upper for my Glock 19. The P22 was purchased as a training weapon for my wife. Sadly, it failed to meet even my minimum expectations. I rarely am critical of members of the firearms industry but the P22 is dog and Smith and Wesson should strongly evaluate their continued association with this product.  Regards, Gary |
I agree completely. It is a dog in certain configurations. What I am trying to nail down is in what configurations is it a dog. I am completely baffled, as I am sure you are, that there seems to be a 50/50 split betwen reliable and unreliable pistols. Thanks for all your help, Bob |
I don't know if it's just the "luck of the draw", but I got a good one a year and a half ago. I bought it with the GT Outback. My daughter, wife, neighbors, and anyone else that shoots it says it's their favorite pistol to shoot. Could be the suppressor or the LASER. I like it so much I bought a G22 rifle that I'm having Gemtech thread the bbl. for the updated (to Outback II specs) suppressor. 
|