Walther P22 .22 cal 3.4 in barrel
I have only had the gun a week; I have about 500rounds through it already. I have been out shooting it 4 times now. I have found the gun to be very accurate, well balanced and fun to shoot. Of course this is not a target pistol and as a .22 it has limited range. I did run into a few speed bumps in finding reliable ammo for it. Now understand that I had knowledge of the temperamental nature of the WaltherP22 when it comes to ammo. I had read several reviews that mentioned this but also found an equal number that didn't.
I have shot the gun 4 times since I purchased it one week ago and the following is what I encountered.
The First time I went out shooting was the day I picked the gun up new from my gun dealer.I got the gun and drove almost directly to the firing range. Ihad a lot of malfunctions; failure to feeds, stovepipes, and one failure to eject. I was shooting Winchester’s "Wal-mart special" 500 round box. The bullets were standard velocity all lead hollow points. The gun was a bit dirty brand new in the box so I gave it the benefit of the doubt. I took it directly home, cleaned and oiled it.
The second time out I brought some CCI Mini Mags (copper jacketed hollow points), Remington 22 target (a standard velocity solid bullet, seems to have a coating on the lead), and the Cheapies I used last time. I shot 20 rounds each of the CCI's and Remington Target's with out malfunction and then switched to the Winchester's. I had no malfunctions with the Remington's and CCI's and minimal malfunctions with the Winchester's.
Thinking the good cleaning and oiling of the firearm assisted inthe reliable functioning of it, I went out the third time armed only with the Cheap Winchester's.Iwashoping to be able to shoot the cheap ammo because the reason I purchased the gun was for supper cheappractice.The Winchesterswere about 8 or 9 dollars for a 500 round box, the other two were 4 dollars for100 rounds each. I again encountered a great number of malfunctions and went home disappointed.
This morning, after working till 8am, I went out with some new Remington Golden Bullet .22 high velocity hollow points (they have a copper jacket and cost about $9 for a 550 round box). I had No malfunctions in the 160 rounds I shot and I couldn't be happier.
It is my opinion that it will shoot high quality .22 ammo reliablybut that it will also shoot jacketed high velocity ammo regardless. I think the lead bullets are too softand thestandard velocity rounds don't have the power to cycle the slide all the way to the rear to pick up the next round.
In conclusion, I would recommend this gun to someone for a couple of reasons. It is a "combat" pistol, for lack of a better term. By that I mean it is not a target pistol and is similar to many larger caliber semi-auto handguns. This Makes the P22 a good choice for someone, such as my self, looking for a good quality practice .22 for a reasonable price. Practicing with a center fire handgun can be cost prohibitive and this .22 is a good, cheaper alternate which is why I didn’t give up at finding an el'cheapo box of ammo that would fire reliably.