The Walther P22: Range Day Torture Test

A little while ago I purchased a Walther P22 Semi-Automatic pistol. I read review after review with mixed opinions on this pistol. Some reviews even called this pistol the worst .22LR pistol ever built. I have a vastly different experience with this pistol.

First lets start with the design of this weapon:

Design


This is the actual weapon purchased

The model I purchased includes a removable compensator, adjustable sights, ambidextrous magazine release on the trigger guard, a picatinny rail for mounting laser and lights, ambidextrous slide safety , magazine safety(won't fire without mag inserted). The pistol design overall is very aesthetically pleasing to boot.

The nitty gritty

I read so many reviews on this weapon. One of the biggest complaints is that this weapon does not do well with less than absolute Grade A ammo. So I did what anyone testing a weapon would do. I bought the crappiest, cheapest, dirtiest, lead round nose ammo I could get my hands on. Armscor 40gr LRD .22LR. Worst crap I ever fed a gun, even worse than steel case Wolf .223 Rem, and I bought 1000 rounds of it.

The next biggest complaint on the list that I was willing to address was the accuracy and the notion that somehow the accuracy suffered after 100 rounds, especially if the rounds were "dirty". So I decided to spend the first 500 rounds simply target shooting to see what kinds of groups I could get at 6 meters, 10 meters, 15 meters, and 25 meters.

For the purposes of setting conditions I thoroughly cleaned this weapon the day before and lubed it with Teflon wax spray lube and it sat for the night. Took it out this afternoon to an indoor range in my area and brought all of my cleaning supplies fully expecting this weapon to fail as soon as it got a little dirty.

I loaded the two ten round magazines that came with the P22 and set my first target at 6 meters. I aimed center mass and squeezed the double action trigger slowly. 11lbs later I let the first round fly and BAM! dead center hole right on the 'X' in the center of the man sized silhouette. Let the next 19 go at 4.7lbs and all fell within a dime sized hole.

I then placed the target at 10 meters. Same results.

At 15 meters the rounds began to spread to a nickel-sized group. Not bad for a .22 pistol.

At 25 meters the rounds were hitting at a half-dollar-sized grouping and I went for 40 rounds just to make sure I got my 100.

The spread is exactly the kind of performance you can expect from a .22LR pistol of any make. The accuracy was not degraded with all the fouling and lead residue in the barrel. I continued to repeat these results 4 more times with a total of 500 crappy, dirty, garbage rounds down range.

I then moved on to the real deal. I stopped shooting for accuracy and began trying to break the damned thing with the garbage ammo I purchased. I thought firing this 500 more times as fast as I could, getting it hot, and even limp-writing it would cause a failure..It had to.

Not one. I fired 500 more rounds through it at my new paper target as fast as I could. The spread was a little larger...About the majority of the man-sized target...Still within the silhouette. I counted 496 rounds within the black 4 outside the black where I had aimed for the head. It was about 3 inches to the left and spread about 5 inches apart. This test was performed at 15 meters. Not bad for rapid fire.

I did not experience a single failure in 1000 rounds of the most dirty and crappy ammo I could find. This turned out to be one of the best .22LR platform firearms I have ever owned. Maybe your mileage may vary. Who knows what these other guys are doing with this weapons. Perhaps the type of lube? Bad mags? I used the Walther factory mags it came with. Loved them.

I've tried to break this gun. To make it do what so many said it does. I couldn't get it there within 1000 rounds, and I don't think I could have with another 1000.

Based entirely on my personal experience, I recommend this weapon for a plinker, small game, and would even use this weapon for limited self-defense purposes.

Happy Shooting.

a reply to: projectvxn

No pics of your paper?

a reply to: projectvxn

Nice review.

Just curious as to how much it set you back?

originally posted by: TinkerHaus
a reply to: projectvxn

No pics of your paper?

I thought about it but the establishments name was all over it and I prefer to not reveal the places I frequent.

originally posted by: liejunkie01
a reply to: projectvxn

Nice review.

Just curious as to how much it set you back?

300 even on the firearm and the ammo cost me 87 bucks.

I had a p-22 and it was a great little pistol. Very reliable...accurate as you could expect with a 3.4 inch barrel. I've plinked some squirrel and rabbit with it. It is very easy to conceal. Based on what I've seen, a .22, with the right rounds, has plenty of bite to use for personal defense.

a reply to: projectvxn

About 4 years ago I was training kids and women and the small frame low recoil Pistol was a great tool. I to read all kinds of reviews both good and bad.. A friend of mine (Larry) who was a dealer and owned the gun range one day showed me two that had basically blown up in two separate customer's hands. He had sold both the pistols to customers and both were less than a year old.. Larry stopped selling them.

I suppose I had about 15,000 rounds through the pistol and I traded it in on another .22 pistol based on the 1911 frame. I liked the little pistol and even carried it as a pocket pistol a few times. But once I saw how they could blow and crack the top slider I could not in good conscience let women and kids shoot the thing. Again this was at least 4 years ago so their pot metal frames may have been improved.. Either way good write up and hope it serves you well.

a reply to: 727Sky

I too have heard of that. Have not experienced such a failure. The slides are made of a zinc alloy. Pretty strike resistant from what I have read.

If the thing cracks on me I will definitely post about it.

a reply to: projectvxn

Sorry to be a downer poster; like I said I liked the pistol but was afraid it might go boom and hurt some shooter who had faith in me to train them how to shoot.. I would assume the company had complaints and returns over the years so the engineering and metallurgical properties of the frame slider has probably been improved. If it had just been me shooting the weapon I would have probably kept it but, that was not the purpose it was purchased for.. Probably the best gun forum in the world is The High Road (THR) and no doubt you would find many threads about the Walther.22 both old models and newer. There are manufactures, operators, and trainers on that forum...Most know what they are talking about so if there has been a metallurgical change in the slider someone there would know it...

I have one of these, same iteration but no compensator. They have since redesigned the cosmetics, but I like this one just fine. Let me tell you my experience:

I bought one shortly after they came out and took it out to the AZ desert for some plinking. Absolute garbage - stovepipes galore, misfires galore. probably 1 out of 9 or 10 rounds I had to pull the trigger twice. The plastic front sight even popped off into the pea gravel and I never found it. When I got home I promptly fired off a terse but respectful email to S&W customer service explaining my dissatisfaction. They told me to box it up and send it in, they paid for postage, I think.

3 weeks later or so, I get a package from S&W. Inside is a brand new Walther P22. no questions asked.

I took the new one out and it worked FLAWLESSLY. It has yet to stovepipe, yet to misfeed, there is nothing wrong with it. I am not getting your kind of accuracy, but I chalk that up to user error.

As I recall, there was a manufacturing problem with early versions of the P22 that gave it a bad reputation but it was rectified. I can tell you that mine is a beauty and I will not be getting rid of it. Very happy.

a reply to: 727Sky

No need for apologies. I wrote this thread as a round count.

Apparently the slamming into the compensator can cause stress cracks after several thousand rounds. Depends on the gun apparently. You certainly gave me something to consider and I will inspect it regularly for stress cracks. Or I will have my buddy fabricate an aluminum slide for me which would likely solve the problem.

a reply to: projectvxn

500 rounds without a single fail to eject. C.B.'s eject sloppy...got hit in the face and arm a few times. High velocities eject smooth.
Now it is going to get cleaned. Wouldn't want to have to do that in the field. Overall a fine piece. 8 out of 10.

i have 3 p22 and a p380 i use them for CC classes i hold at my home once a month i clean them about every 5k rounds as we put alot around through one in a day with class sizes up to 30 people there will be a miss fire every once in a while but with a pistol that has had close to 1/2 a million rounds through it what would u expect i would never buy another type of pistol for my classes its easy to handle for the women and teens a like and cheap to fire there good guns period u can get a lemon with any manufacture but atleast they stand behind there guns and replace parts or the gun if there is an issue . re[;ace them every year or 2 ussually selling the older guns to students in the classes for close to what i pay for a new one.