Long review Walther P22

[bigjim]

Review Walther P22:

I have searched in vain for five years for a pistol my wife could not only shoot but enjoy shooting as well. I have tried various pistols in calibers ranging from 22 through 45 acp.

Many were almost right but not just right. Some while they fit her hand were so inaccurate that they were not fun to shoot. Some shot very well but she could not operate the controls. Most autos were beyond her very limited hand strength when it came to racking the slide. Many had so many sharp edges my wife’s soft hands found them painful to use. Recoil is ALWAYS a problem. Almost all pistols are meant for larger males hands. After all we guys buy the vast majority of pistols.

But she wanted to learn….wanted to be with me. She wanted to be a part of this aspect of my life. I was willing to do almost anything to help her.

Then I saw a Walther P22. They grip is very small suitable for a small child or small stature female. The slide is very easy to rack because of its very light recoil spring.
The polymer frame is soft in the hand and devoid of edges that byte and pokes the soft hands of an urban female. The gun has all the controls and they are located correctly and function like a serious service pistol. This makes it a good training platform.

I bought the gun after reading about it a fair amount on the web. I learned three crucial things prior to buying this gun.

Older examples had problems. Make sure you get a gun with the L prefix serial number or newer.

The first generation magazines did not feed correctly. Make sure you get a magazine with the letter A in the part number etched on the mag.

They are ammunition sensitive. Before your turn this over to the new shooter go out and buy at least TEN (10) different kinds of 22 ammo. You will need to experiment to find a brand and type of 22 ammo that fires and ejects properly. All brands I tried fed well but many lacked the power to operate the gun or caused failures to fire due to a light firing pin strike.

Suggested Ammo so far: CCI Stingers, Remingtion Thunderbolt. CCI mini mag, Remington golden bullet. Aguila 60 supersniper subsonic.

OK results with Winchester 40 grain solids and Federal. Both of these brands had a few duds, enough to bug me.

Bad results with PMC ( all types), Winchester wildcats.
AMMO UPDATE 5-5.2004....PMC with the new RWS type primer compond work great!

Accuracy: Not world class. At ten yards I can keep the shots inside a 1 to 1 ½ inch circle. This is good enough to give useful feed back to your shooting and be fun to shoot.
Will hit soda cans out to 25 yards with ease. (once again good enough for the fun factor)

Trigger: Single action is good. Not GREAT but a solid good rating. The double action is very good. Both get better with use. This gun comes with a slide mounted safety that when engaged still allows the gun to function normally but blocks the firing pin. This means dry firing is ok. This is a nice feature for a 22 pistol. Even the double action pull is reachable with very small hands.

Sights: Very good sight picture. Not set up for bullseye that is for sure. However the sights are very easy to see and use. I would have killed for sights this good when I started out shooting. Windage adjustable rear sight and the front sight comes in three heights to adjust for elevation. I found the shortest sight to be perfect.

Weight: Just right for the gun with EXCELLENT balance. The pistol becomes a part of your hand and the recoil is very mild and pleasant. In fact it feels GOOD to shoot it. You just a get a nice little bump to let you know the gun fired properly.

Features: My wife’s pistol came with two barrels. A 5 inch and a 3 inch. The 5 inch barrel has something called a Stabilizer on the end that looks like a compensator but is not. It takes about three mins to switch between the two barrels. We have not even tried the longer barrel yet as it does add some weight to the gun, and the gun looks better to both of us with the short barrel.

How it worked out for my wife at the range: I have been dragging her to the range periodically for years. She has never fired more than fifty rounds of pistol ammo in one trip. She tolerates shooting to be with me. She does want to be a more active participant in her own safety and does want to shoot and shoot well. But in the past she has not enjoyed it. Today I brought 250 rounds of ammo I had tested to make sure it ran well in the gun. She shot all of that up and made me go buy her more from the range office. She fired 400 rounds today alone. She was able to load the magazines by herself. She was able to clear her own malfunctions. Comments like this is fun and I want to come back were heard more than once. Best of all she was developing confidence with the pistol and was able to deal with it on her own!!

Price: Full boat retail for the two barrel set is 369 dollars. Just buying the single barrel pistol saves you about 60-70 dollars. The pistol can be had cheaper if you shop.

Conclusion and over all rating on a scale of 1 thru 10 being the best.

Overall rating 9
Accuracy 8
Trigger 9
Ergonomics 10
Features 10
Ammo sensitivity 7
FUN FACTOR 10

For a fun pistol that a child or small female can have great results with and is about as cool looking as a 22 can get look no further.

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello, sir. Thank you for this very informative post. I found it very infromative as I've not tried the P22. It seemed like I was there with you on the range.

Best.

[Lofland]

Very helpful review. Does the P22 come with the set of interchangeable backstraps like the P99? I didn't notice any mention of that in your review, but maye I missed something.

[Haycreek]

Yes, it comes with inter-changeble backstraps. The Wather P22 is a keeper.

[mnovack]

My roomate and I have both been looking for new .22s for fun and as trainers for girls who are new to shooting and very sensitive to blast and recoil (not ALL, mind you -- it's easy to underestimate newbies). We've been eyeing these because they feel so good, are so reasonable, and have the Walther name behind them. I think you've settled the issue. Thanks.

I wonder if, once you find a very reliable load, they might be a defensive option for the elderly or very weak? A P22 in the hand must be better than a .38 in the dresser.

[MrMaeda]

Will be my carry gun until I can find something easier to rack the slide on thats a bigger caliber and still be able to put on target as fast. I have a hard time racking the slides. And I'm not a fan of revolvers. I have found I can empty the magazine into center mass in about 1.5 to 2secs. Groups getting smaller every time I practice.

[rbwayne55]

I have enjoyed my p22! I bought the one with the short barrel, as it works out to be less expensive when you buy the long target barrel later. There are quite a few accessories for this cute little shooter as well. A kydex holster made for the p99 fits pretty good. When I purchased mine there were not any holsters made specific for this gun.
I bought it for two purposes, one to get my wife involved in shooting, and two, for cheap plinking. You can buy 550 rounds for less than 9 bucks! And it likes those rounds the best. It is choosey about the ammo it will feed correctly.
I can shoot a dime at 30 ft. It groops decent for a pistol that cost less than 240. It does come with nice accessories, extra front sights, extra rear grips to accomodate different hands. It is a pleasure to take down, clean and reassemble. It take getting used to the mag release, and the mags,2, are easy to load. It is a fun gun to shoot.
I would reccomend one for varmits, plinking, and training the ladies and kids. Good little trail gun and not bad as a backup.

[robertmegar]

My girlfriend want to come shooting with me but I have yet to find a gun she likes. I initially wanted for her a walther PP in .22 but those are scarce! I'll showw her the p22 to see her impression and if she likes it I'll buy her one.

[Geno]

The lever safety on the slide tends to loosen and go on when you shoot. They are also ammo sensative so you have to experiment with different brands but overall I like mine.

[jtojr]

Very fun for all gun. Accuracy is good, very easy to handle, looks cool with the nickel slide, and priced low. It is somewhat ammo sensitive. It loves CCI MiniMag ammo. But I tried some federal high velocity ammo from Walmart and had all kinds of feed problems- not enough power to fully cycle the slide.