apechild

I've handled the P22 and I have to admit, I like the way it feels. I wouldn't mind a new plinker to shoot with in the back yard, but why not just get a nice little Ruger?

I don't know... I keep coming back to the P22.

Anyone here have any experience with one? Opinions? Recommendations?

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SuperMidget

www.packing.org

Search the forums for Walther P22.
This topic has been discussed many times. from my research, (I was looking at one for a first pistol for a while) they seem to get mixed reviews.

apechild

I did a search here and found nothing. packing.org? I didn't see anything there either...

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SuperMidget

http://www.packing.org/news/article.jsp/5418/
http://www.packing.org/news/article.jsp/7479/

Those were the two links I was thinking about. If you still have questions, register at packing.org and be specific.

Moonduck

Well made. All Walther products pretty much are. For a plinker, there is no reason to go with a small framed gun though. Rugers are excellent, as are a number of other full-sized rimfire guns (I own a Browning Buckmark and love it). For concealment purposes, it works, but .22lr is a bit weedy for self-defense.

Caveat: I've never fired a P22

SuperMidget

I have to agree on the buckmark. they are good pistols, but he asked about the P-22 and i pointed him to the only reliable source i knew of.

Moonduck

Understood, bro.

I've found that I can't really beat the Buckmark. I got it for less than $200 with tax and it has outperformed my wildest expectations for such an inexpensive gun. Great fun to plink with too.

SuperMidget

For the money, a Buck mark is the only way to go. Another good gun that has been fun to shoot is the Ruger Mark 2. Slightly more expensive than the buckmark, I really haen't noticed a difference between the two. The only other autoloading .22lr I have shot has been the Taurus P22. It is a fun shooter, but not very accurate. Between the accuracy and the trigger, very long pull DAO, it just isn't really worth the extra money.

123dsa

I have a buckmark and I love it. I had to do a little work on the feeder ramp to get it to feed the cheepo 22's everytime, but for the money you can't beat it.

LSD

apechild

Good info - thanks guys. Those links SuperMidget supplied were particularly helpful. I have to admit, my enthusiasm is beginning to wane.

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SuperMidget

Glad to help out. If you're still looking for a plinker, make sure you look into a Buckmark or Ruger Mk II.

Lebell

I would also second the Buckmark as just a great .22 plinker.

I don't have any experience with the Walther.

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vanbeast

The biggest issue I've heard of on the P22 is that the barrel nut tends to work itself loose. It's fairly obvious why this is a bad thing.

As always, I would recommend checking out [<a href="http://www.thehighroad.org" target="_blank">The High Road</a>]. There have been tons of discussions there about it.

basmoq

I've tried one, I love the feel, love the placement of the magazine drop lever, but overall find it an average quality gun.

turbodriven

Local shop has them on sale for $229 plus $45 for a barrel extension (fake suppressor). So I bought one and am picking it up on Monday (gotta wait 3 business days for the background check). Of the reviews and forums I've read it seems that the newer the build of the gun, the less jamming problems it has. Also that it specifically does not like cheap ammo. So as long as it's a new gun and you buy quality ammo I don't think it will be as problematic as everyone says. In any case... I'll let you know after Monday.

SuperMidget

please post a review. I would love to hear how the gun works and shoots. First hand info is always appreciated. Have fun and enjoy.

apechild

What SuperMidget said. I look forward to reading your review.

Also, I'm curious about the "fake suppressor." Aside from the inherent coolness or intimidation factor (depending on whom you ask), how and to what extent does it affect the gun's performance?

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Peetster

From the Walther web site, a bit more detail:



A suppressor is available, after you jump through the hoops required to purchase a suppressed weapon.

turbodriven

I haven't inspected it close up yet. But the primary reason I added it was because of the "cool" factor. However I can imagine that the additional weight up front might help stabalize the shot a bit more. After all the fake suppressor is just a solid chunk of aluminum. Also "IF" the extension is rifled it would help in accuracy as well I would think. In any case... it is irrelevant. I bought it because it looked cool on the nose of the thing. And I bought the P-22 because I wanted a handgun that I could shoot at the range cheaply. I empty my wallet with 9mm and my .45 rounds in less than thirty minutes. I wanted to be able to stick around a little longer without putting a second mortgage out to do so.

I'll put a full review here after I shoot some rounds through it on Monday.

Edit: here are some larger pics of the setup.

apechild

Silencers are illegal in my state (VT), but I think my neighbors would prefer if they weren't. I shoot in my backyard.

By the way, I checked out Advanced Armament's website. Makes for some interesting browsing.

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Moonduck

I had a Cobray M-10 years ago. 9mm SMG for those who are wondering. It was actually and accurate gun, surprisingly enough. It came with this enormous faux suppressor, for no obvious reason. I finally put it on the gun and found that all it did was give the off-hand a good bit more area to hold onto. Then I fired it for a while like that. It got right hot, ouch. Who would've expected that a foot-long 3.5" in diameter chunk of aluminum would get hot with combusitves being nblown through it, right?

Made me feel like a prize idiot when I thought about it.

apechild

TurboDriven - you didn't forget about us, did ya?

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turbodriven

Well I picked up my P22 yesterday and shot it at the range. Range fees were waived if you were picking up a new gun purchased there so I couldn't pass it up anyway. Note that my Fake Suppressor/barrel extension hasn't come in yet (should be here today) so my shooting review was of a standard P22 with no accessories. I did however immediately install the larger of the two 'rear' grip pieces in an attempt at largening the gun a bit to fit my hand better. The larger rear grip piece in combination with the included 'extended' magazine makes the gun fit almost perfect in my hands. The gun does come with 2 magazines, both ten rounders, but only one is fitted with the extended pinkie piece at the bottom. I wish they were both done this way. A shame since it's only a little piece of plastic on both. Oh well. It's important to note that both magazines looked to be exceptionally well made and both sported the "A" at the end of the serial number signifying that they were the newer style magazine. These are Walthers 'fix' to the jamming problem experienced in early models.

Now I think it's important to note that I have pretty small hands. Not girl hands but not huge either. If you have anything larger than an average hand size I would think that this gun would feel uncomfortably small. Especially if you are used to shooting larger frame handguns.

Everything else seemed to be exceptional quality for what was a $229 gun. The gun shop recommended I shoot CCI stinger ammo and had them for $5.95 in 100 counts. These were FMJ and hollowpoints. I couldn't see why I needed hollowpoints but for under .06 cents a round I figured what the heck. I'm still getting 3 shots for every 1 shot I'd spend on my usual 9mm rounds. So I load up my first two magazines of ten each. Note that I don't usually stack a full magazine plus the 1 in the chamber. With packages of 100 rounds and a 10 round clip I like the easy math of 10 rounds per load. It's important to mention that because some reviews said that it they had a hard time feeding the 10+1 configuration. Something like the 9th round would jam or something. More on that in a second. With the 10 round bursts I unloaded 160 rounds with not a single jam or problem of any kind. Absolutely perfect. I was amazed as well that the report of a .22 out of a 3" barrel was surprisingly loud! Even though I was still being drowned out by the hand cannons next to me, the P22 had a much beefier report than my Ruger 10/22 rifle does. Shorter barrel equals more pressure exiting the muzzle, I understand, but it surprised me none the less. Ok, so far so good, so for the sake of this review I decided to load my last 3 clips (33 rounds plus 7 left over) in at a 10+1 configuration. All three clips with the chamber loaded worked flawlessly. Still not a single jam. I am very pleased at this point!

Accuracy is what is to be expected from a 3" barrel. I shot at 10 yards with decent success. I am no marksman so accuracy may not be the 'guns' weakness if you know what I mean. I was shooting mostly 8" groups at 10 yards with a few stragglers outside of that. No complaints at all from me there. It wasn't all together different than what I shoot from my 9mm out of a 5" barrel.

Some of the features I noticed about the gun I'll mention here. Since the gun does have a pretty small frame, the ergonomics are not perfect. The safety I found hard to reach with a simple thumb flick. Also the slide release was a bit stiff for just a quick thumb swipe to chamber a round. I ended up having to pull the slide back an 1/8" and releasing it to go forward. Maybe this is on purpose? My 9mm releases with simply the lever? I also noticed that with the clip removed the gun is basically dead. For instance, my last three rounds I tried to just hand feed a single round into the chamber, close the slide and fire. Without the clip in the gun it won't function. No big deal just interesting to note. Field stripping the P22 is a pain. Nowhere near as easy as my Taurus PT92. I can strip my PT92 and reassemble it in the dark in under 15 seconds. With the Walther, you better have all the tools and a few minutes with plenty of lights.

That's it, I was going to take a few pictures but I won't have the chance to until tomorrow. So in the interest of time I decided to post without pictures. If anyone has any questions let me know. Sorry for being long winded. Overall I recommend this gun highly. I will say go and touch it in person to see if it's too small of a frame for your hand first though. And it can be bought new for $229 so don't get ripped off. When I first looked at the P22 it was in the glass case for $350. I was about to walk out with a "yeah right" look on my face when the salesman told me they had them on sale for $229. So always ask!



Edit : I got ya ape, hehe

apechild

Great review, turbo - thanks for taking the time to write it.

It seems as though the P22 is an excellent gun. As with any gun, it has to feel good in the hand in order for the shooter to be comfortable with it, but that's the sort of thing you can figure out with a quick visit to your local dealer.

That said, the complexity of its design is somewhat of a turnoff for me. The more parts there are, the more things can go wrong. If you're lazy, impatient, or just plain clumsy, you can quickly make a mess of things while stripping, cleaning, and reassembling the firearm.

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Moonduck

Erm, no offense, but those group numers sound awful. Is that your experience with other .22's? Most people that I've taken shooting tend to shoot far better with a .22 pistol than anything else. I've successfully used them as teaching tools to help friends overcome a number of bad habits (flinching, leading, bad trigger control, etc). They're really useful as a confidence booster usually, as the inherent ease of shooting makes the .22 pistol very easy to be accurate with.

I realize that you admit to not being a marksman and that you say that you perform similarly with your 9mm, but I really would expect better performance from a .22, turbodriven.

Franly, the last time I got 8" groups at 10 yards, I sold the gun at a loss just to get it out of my possession.

turbodriven

No offense taken.

Keep in mind that (1) there was a guy shooting his .44 magnum (hand cannon) in the stall next to me. Everytime he fired a concussion wave hit me. (2) I was more concentrating on putting rounds through it and seeing that it wouldn't jam. (3) I wasn't braced at all... this was standing with two hands and new unfamiliar sights. and (4) It is a 3" barrel. I'm not shooting a competition with a bull barrel and a scope. A three inch barrel with iron sights does have limitations.

In any case... with my 9mm as a home defense gun 8" groups unbraced and in semi rapid fire will be more than sufficient to do the job it was intended. Trust me... if I propped myself against a brace, steadied all my shots and the wire my target was hanging on wasn't swinging violently downrange, I'm sure my shots would be much tighter.

EDIT: I just pulled a ruler out for curiousities sake. Remembering my target last night I would say my groups were more in the 5" - 6" range. My eyeballs haven't been calibrated in a while sorry. I was thinking 8" was a smaller diameter.

SuperMidget

thanks for the review man. As I am sure it was nothing but torture Glad to hear that most of the problems with the gun have been fixed. Have fun and stay safe.

Moonduck

Thanks =)

[qoute]Keep in mind that (1) there was a guy shooting his .44 magnum (hand cannon) in the stall next to me. Everytime he fired a concussion wave hit me. (2) I was more concentrating on putting rounds through it and seeing that it wouldn't jam. (3) I wasn't braced at all... this was standing with two hands and new unfamiliar sights. and (4) It is a 3" barrel. I'm not shooting a competition with a bull barrel and a scope. A three inch barrel with iron sights does have limitations. [/quote]

I can certainly understand distractions. Frankly, I'd rather have them, as any Real World scenario wherein a firearm would be needed would likely come with unpleasant distractions as well (bad lighting, adrenalin rush, terror, high heartrate, etc).

As to the gun, I don't even own a scope on a rifle, let alone a scoped handgun. I see no reason to put a scope on a handgun except hunting, and for hunting I'd rather use a long gun. As to rifles, I just don't go for scopes usually. I have rings installed on a .30-06 that I own, but haven't found a scope that let's me still use the iron sights. Bottom line for me is that iron sights are far more reliable than scopes and far more likely to be on anything I carry, thus that is what I train with. (Sorry for getting off tangent into a scope rant. I just think that too many people rely on them instead of building good shooting skills without them, then learning to use scopes to hone good skills to a razor's edge)

[quote][b]In any case... with my 9mm as a home defense gun 8" groups unbraced and in semi rapid fire will be more than sufficient to do the job it was intended. Trust me... if I propped myself against a brace, steadied all my shots and the wire my target was hanging on wasn't swinging violently downrange, I'm sure my shots would be much tighter.[b][quote]

I would hope. 8" groups may do the job on a target giving you a full deflection frontal target, but it won't do the job on an assailant in profile, nor will it allow you to deal with partial cover. Not terribly important for civilian shooters lke us, but it is so easy to improve your accuracy beyond 8" groups that there is no reason not to work on it.

Honestly, there really are a lot of good techniques out there to improve your shooting. If you are interested, let me know (here or PM) and I'll see what help I can provide informationally.

5-6" is much better. Frankly, 5" groups are about minimal acceptable accuracy for a back-up gun in my estimation. I can accept poor accuracy from a short-barreled gun in theory, especially if the sights are poor quality. Then again, I've got a snub-nosed hammerless .38 special with ramp-front and groove-rear that prints consistent 3.5" averages at 10 yards out of the box, so it is not impossible to squeeze accuracy from small guns.

Let me stress again that I am not giving you grief for 5-6" or even 8" groups, just asking for confirm. Well, asking for confirm and offering info if you want it.

Oh, the gun I mentioned, for those who might be interested, is a S&W M-640 hammerless (so it is double-action only, or long, heavy trigger pulls only if you are not familiar with the designation) with Pachmayr grips. I have no explanation as to why it is as accurate as it is. Even friends of mine that don't like revolvers find this one shoots like a dream.

Turbodriven, if you don't mind me asking, how old is that Taurus? If it is late 80's production, it may very well just be a dog of a gun. Their QA was very spotty, turning out great guns one day and utter shite the next. Buddy of mine had one of their revolvers chambered in .357 magnum built in the 80's. I consider myself a pretty good shot and I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with that gun using a tripod. (Neither could anyone else) He took my advice, ditched the gun, and replaced it with a nice used Ruger. He's much happier now, and can actually hit what he aims for.

turbodriven

I bought my Taurus in 97. It's actually been a really nice gun. I've shot over 3000 rounds through it and it's NEVER jammed ever! Like I said though... I'm no marksman

Here are some pics of the P22 with the Fake Suppressor that was sitting on my doorstep when I got home. If anyone is interested a guy on Ebay sells them HERE . He seems to be top notch and mine was delivered in under 5 days of auction close.

Moonduck

I have VERY happy with Taurus since about the mid 90's. They've worked extremely diligently on honing their manufacturing and QA process to the point where they are making fairly good firearms for the money. I would not choose them for precise accuracy competitions, but then again Taurus makes combat type firearms.

Actually, to be fair, they're revolver line has gotten to the point where the accuracy is good enough for hunting, so it would likely be good enough for silhouette and other revolver competitions.

MrFuzzy469

A few people talked about Browning Buckmarks. I have one, my dad has one 3 or 4 of my buddies have one. They are great!!! I would suggest a Buckmark.

blockmaan2000

Hey, turbo, finger off the trigger! Anyway, nice looking pistol. How's the trigger?


block

kel

Is the P-22 the same size as the P-99 or smaller?

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apechild

smaller

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Skwerl. Its wuts fer dinner.

bench41

The whole reason I didnt buy one was due to the heavy trigger pull. Seems too excesive for my needs.

blackhawkcycles

well i bought the new p22 2 weeks ago.gun felt great in the store. was all excited about trying the gun. bought a good quality 22 h.v.round. tried to take the first shot and it jamed.thought it was because the gun was new.fired 100 round more threw it without a problem. 12 yards with a 3 inch spread and no adjustments. took the gun out 2 more times. each time the gun jambed up at least once in 100 rounds. this is not acceptable to me. this gun shoots great and is alot of fun.i hope there is a solution to this problem. i did try remington and cci ammo also.any suggestions

2sheds

i find a true single action trigger (like on a ruger mark i/ii/iii and the buckmark) to be more to my liking in a target/plinking pistol than a double/single type trigger as on the p22.

of course, ymmv.

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saigon1965

I would of love to have a P22, except here in Kalifornia , they are banned due to the barrel being threaded. WTF?

turbodriven

I can't understand why that would be a problem

cd45

I bought one with the 3.5 inch barrel. I like the way it feels, looks and shoots.
I am able to keep the groups inside the size of a snuff can ar 50 feet. That is good enough for everything that I will do with it. I have found that it really likes Aguila Sniper Sub Sonic ammo. It just started shooting the cheap Federal ammo reliably. Good Luck.