walther p22 issue

**ckellyme3** · September 25th, 2010, 05:54 PM

recently bought a used p22 off of a member here. its a really sweet gun and had a chance to take it out to the range today. I shot about 3 50rd boxes of CCI standard velocity throught it. first is was shooting low and left and a quick rear sight adjustment changed that no problem. after a couple of magazines the first round would get stuck when trying to release the slide. i found that the first round was sticking up at an angle when loaded into the gun causing a jam. i could use my thumb to push the round back into the magazine properly. i also had a box of remington yellow jacket hollow pts. the issue was worse with them. im thinking its a mag issue but not sure. any suggestions?

**FCRPhila** · September 25th, 2010, 06:01 PM

Older p22's had problems. I don't know if your p22 is one of the older ones or not. However, the best mags for it are the ones marked with a "B" they're the ones that are in their "3rd gen" of production and most reliable.

**Daycrawler** · September 25th, 2010, 08:00 PM

Your mag lips may have spread out causing the round to pop up. You said you were pushing the round back down with your thumb. I have had luck rebending the feed lips down on mags that had problems. You can try using a pair of needle nose plyers. The other option is buying a new mag, however that means spending $.

**C27433** · September 26th, 2010, 04:02 PM

I owned a Walther P22 not to long ago. Sold it for just this very reason. I was told the Walther was the most reliable .22 LR on the market, and if that's what reliable is, I definitely don't want to see unreliable.

I fired the high velocity rounds to ensure that they had enough kick to handle the slide, and still the thing jammed up on me about 1 time in 25. The rounds appeared to "pop up" too high and jammed between the back of the slide and the top of the chamber. And yes, the problem seemed to be exacerbated by those Remington hollow points.

I meticulously care for my guns and clean them after each and every use, keep them well (but not overly) lubricated, and do just about everything that proper maintenance requires. It was a great little carry gun, but I sold it after realizing that I couldn't trust my life to something so unreliable.

**NShortino** · September 26th, 2010, 05:18 PM

I think I understand the problem you are having, and have had some similar issues with my P22, though not very consistently. After shooting the gun for a while, and especially if it hasn't been cleaned in a while, the first round sometimes jams up like you said. It's probably a magazine issue, though also might be from the slide releasing slowly due to being gummed up from extended use. I think the biggest problem is the mags being loose though.

For me this is a rare problem, and usually after extended use without any cleaning. I had mine out yesterday and had this problem once in 10 mags or so, but the gun hasn't been cleaned in around 600-700 rounds (I'm intentionally doing this to test it out) And this is with Remington hollowpoints.

That being said, the problem is annoying but not consistent enough to bother me and really easy to fix. Just pull the slide back and try to load it again, or drop the mag first if you're worried about it double feeding. For me the P22 is just a backyard plinker, so the occasional issue isn't a problem. If you are carrying it as a self-defense gun than I'd suggest looking for something more reliable.