Second Chance for the Walther P22

OK, I admit that I have been as critical of the P22 as anyone. I owned one and I was less than impressed. You can read about what my thoughts were in regards to it HERE.

My younger brother decided to get one recently. I wasn't able to go out with him on his initial range trip, but I was surprised to hear later on that he shot about 300 rounds of Winchester Bulk .22LR through it with just a few malfunctions.

I had to see this for myself. So we went out and I had a chance to try it out. I was shocked. It was eating bulk Winchester and Federal ammo with ease. Sure there were a few failure to feeds, but nothing like I had experienced in the past with mine and others.



I was even able to let my 7-year old son get his first chance at shooting a pistol yesterday because of this P22. This is the reason I like the idea of one of these types of guns. Cheap training and good for teaching people how to shoot their first semi-auto handgun.

A few malfunctions in a .22LR pistol doesn't bother me one bit. I wouldn't stand for many malfunctions in a CCW or self defense pistol. Since the P22 is for training, teaching, and fun, I can tolerate a certain degree of malfunctions.

I am not sure if Walther made changes that make it more reliable now, or if this is simply a case of, some are lemons and some are not. Regardless, it has softened my disdain for the P22 and forced me to recognize that semi reliable P22's do in fact exist. I know. I've seen one.