The Walther P22
Every now and then, I get email asking me why I never recommend the Walther P22 pistol. Indeed, I see that my friend Peter 
has given it his recommendation in a recent blog article. The little Walther has many fans. They love the German pea shooter for it's size, and it's mimicry of the larger Walther P99.
For the record, I don't particularly care for the Walther P99 either. The P99 is not a bad pistol, I suppose it has it's niche with the transformer grip crowd as well as the James Bond fanatics who want the latest movie gun, but it never really stuck me as being anything special. It is a sufficiently accurate, and durable enough polymer 9mm pistol. That is all. The P22, however, is another story.
The Walther P22 is cursed with a zinc pot metal slide. The pistol had been on the market for approximately six months when the first reports of slide failures began to appear on internet forums.
Many opinions on the internet should be taken with a healthy dose of skepticism, but when corroborating photography accompanies the reports, and time and again, the slides are shown exhibiting failures in the same areas, it behoves the reader to take notice and pay attention.
The 22 cartridge is not a round that is reloaded. These failures can not be blamed on poorly loaded home brew ammunition. If a 22 round could be overcharged, it is still difficult to imagine an overcharged 22 round that could do this type of damage. Even if the shooters were firing round after round of Stinger ammunition, this type of failure should not have happened with the regularity that it occurred in the Walther P22.
Even if a potential purchaser wanted to ignore the forward slide failures, blaming them on the use of hyper velocity Extreme Shok killa gorilla ammo,
it is hard to deny that the subsequent cracks that appeared with frequency at the slide stop notch might be indicative of something else. That something else just might be a pot metal slide that would make a Lorcin look like a forged steel wonder gun.
Because of the regularity of these slide failures, and the potential for injury that could result from a chunk of metal leaving the frame of the gun under recoil and slamming directly into the shooter's face, I can not recommend the Walther P22 for anyone. Instead, I recommend the Ruger 22 line of pistols, or a Browning Buckmark. Either has a long track record of durability, reliability, accuracy, and a ready market for resale if the owner so chooses.
has given it his recommendation in a recent blog article. The little Walther has many fans. They love the German pea shooter for it's size, and it's mimicry of the larger Walther P99. For the record, I don't particularly care for the Walther P99 either. The P99 is not a bad pistol, I suppose it has it's niche with the transformer grip crowd as well as the James Bond fanatics who want the latest movie gun, but it never really stuck me as being anything special. It is a sufficiently accurate, and durable enough polymer 9mm pistol. That is all. The P22, however, is another story.
The Walther P22 is cursed with a zinc pot metal slide. The pistol had been on the market for approximately six months when the first reports of slide failures began to appear on internet forums.
Many opinions on the internet should be taken with a healthy dose of skepticism, but when corroborating photography accompanies the reports, and time and again, the slides are shown exhibiting failures in the same areas, it behoves the reader to take notice and pay attention. The 22 cartridge is not a round that is reloaded. These failures can not be blamed on poorly loaded home brew ammunition. If a 22 round could be overcharged, it is still difficult to imagine an overcharged 22 round that could do this type of damage. Even if the shooters were firing round after round of Stinger ammunition, this type of failure should not have happened with the regularity that it occurred in the Walther P22.
Even if a potential purchaser wanted to ignore the forward slide failures, blaming them on the use of hyper velocity Extreme Shok killa gorilla ammo,
it is hard to deny that the subsequent cracks that appeared with frequency at the slide stop notch might be indicative of something else. That something else just might be a pot metal slide that would make a Lorcin look like a forged steel wonder gun. Because of the regularity of these slide failures, and the potential for injury that could result from a chunk of metal leaving the frame of the gun under recoil and slamming directly into the shooter's face, I can not recommend the Walther P22 for anyone. Instead, I recommend the Ruger 22 line of pistols, or a Browning Buckmark. Either has a long track record of durability, reliability, accuracy, and a ready market for resale if the owner so chooses.
Labels: 22 Caliber Handguns, KaBooms, Walther
posted by Xavier at 6:41 PM
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