Walther P-22 CATASTROPHIC FAILURE!

[Rod B]

During the 70's and the 80's, the German firm Erma made a lot of pot metal alloy rimfire firearms of all kind...

For the particular failure of this thread, a poor quality control might be the cause too... poor engineering or material mignt not be alone the reasons.

EX

I had an Ithaca '72 in .22WMR, it was made by Erma Werke & it did indeed have a receiver made of a zinc alloy (pot metal). I had no problems with the durability of this rifle.

Henry who makes a similar rifle also uses this type of metal & they enjoy an excellent reputation.

It would appear that engineering & quality control play a huge part in determining the reliability/durability of a firearm.

 

[R005t3r]

Good point. The .22LR round does not produce enough energy to reliably cycle a steel slide. Guns like P22 and Mosquito are a textbook example of form over function.

Please correct me if necessary. Is it not a combination of the slide's mass and spring resistance that regulates its velocity? I shoot CCI Mini Mags out of my SIG 22 Classic; plenty of energy for the relatively heavy aluminium slide. The pistol to buy if you want to go tactical. Otherwise, used Colt, High Standard and Browning are excellent and affordable steel pistols.

P22's are know for their POS construction. Stop buying them and Smith & Wesson will have to start making a decent pistol or drop the line.

 

[curtmg]

GSG has very similar, if not the same, material as the Walther. At least the one I held did. Made me not want one.

Negative. The material in the pictures is quite plainly white, whereas the slide where I removed metal from my GSG to install new sights, is silvery, which leads me to believe aluminum. It was also a fairly hard metal, and in no way brittle, which definitely further points to aluminum. I spent about 3 solid hours filing, if we were talking pot metal, I'd have been done in a matter of minutes.

 

[anchor3593]

I own and have owned many Ermas, and not one of them has had a "pot" metal frame or slide.

Zinc alloy is the metal that was used in the old cap guns - and referring to aluminum as pot metal is incorrect - even a front sight made of zinc alloy would not stand up.

Berettas such as the 948, 950, 71 etc. all use aluminum for the frame - as do the Ermas and others. Slides have never been made of zinc alloy.

I would suggest replacing the recoil spring occasionally - to prevent the shock of the slide hitting the end - which likely caused the stress break in this Walther P22 - which did have a million miles on it.

The spring is fully cycled at every shot - how many times do we expect our .45acp to cycle before we change the spring? 5000 ? This Walther may have cycled 5 or 10 times that. What would our 1911 do if we used one spring for 30 or 40 thousand rounds?

This gun has performed wonderfully, and it having lasting this long is a credit to it's maker - and is certainly not any reason for not buying and enjoying a Walther.

 

[USP]

Theres nothing wrong with pot metal(zamac) as long as you use enough of it. Theres a gun made over in Ohio called Hipoint and it had a big and bulky Zamac slide and it works fine with 9mm+P, .40 and .45. I've had one and my cousins have a couple of them and they have put a few thousand rounds through both with no issues.

I have see a few Hi Point pictures of guns that cracked or had massive slide failures. Granted the Hipoint brand is an entry gun that is border line disposeable, but Walther use to have a decent name behind their gear.

 

[tot-toth]

IMO, the P22 does not deserve to carry the Walther name. The P99 (just as many other Walther firearms) is worth every cent of its seemingly steep price tag, but I would not take the little cousin even if it was offered as a "Buy P99 and get P22 for free" type of deal.
It is simply not worth the aggravation when I have better choices in the same caliber and price range. Why do people still buy it despite having in front of their eyes a truckload worth of well documented failures? Is it because it resembles the P99?

Anyhow, let's see if the new P22Q (PPQ "clone") addresses any or hopefully all imperfections of the old version.

 

[Lonewolff]

Good thing no one was injured. I owned a Walthers .22 once. For about 500 rounds, couldn't keep it together, it would attempt to fall apart after every 50 rounds. Purchased a Ruger all problems solved

 

[Silverback]

Nothing new to me, it happened to a friend of mine too. The internet is full of pictures just like the OP's. From what I read that pistol was designed as a tear gas cartridge firing self defence pistol and adapted to fire 22 LR which aparently was a bad idea.

 

[dizzy]

@ Jahred.F

I have the pistol for about 8 months. I'm the second owner and I have no idea how many rounds the previous owner put through it. The gun has been made in 2006 according to the dude at Walther. Since I have it, I put close to 20000-25000 rounds.. YES around 25 000 rounds. I shoot it ALL THE TIME.

Don't get me wrong, it is a GREAT pistol.. it is just that s**t happen sometimes!! Even with what just happened, I would NEVER HESITATE TO BUY ANOTHER ONE. And also, if Walther tells me that it'll take more than 1 month to get my slide, i will buy a new one in the meantime. That's how I love it.. especially my wife!!

Why tempt fate? Love can be blind, cz might be a much safer choice. Glad no one was injured. Show your wife you really love her and buy a better gun.

 

[ripitup911]

@ Jahred.F

I have the pistol for about 8 months. I'm the second owner and I have no idea how many rounds the previous owner put through it. The gun has been made in 2006 according to the dude at Walther. Since I have it, I put close to 20000-25000 rounds.. YES around 25 000 rounds. I shoot it ALL THE TIME.

Don't get me wrong, it is a GREAT pistol.. it is just that s**t happen sometimes!! Even with what just happened, I would NEVER HESITATE TO BUY ANOTHER ONE. And also, if Walther tells me that it'll take more than 1 month to get my slide, i will buy a new one in the meantime. That's how I love it.. especially my wife!!

i agree with you 100% i have a walther and have also special ordered the military version as a second one because they are awesome pistols i also probably have around 20 000 in mine and haven't had any problems even with cheapest ammo i can buy since the first 1000 rounds so for $500 if it breaks after 30 000 rounds and it only costs $47 to fix it i still think its a excellent deal as long as no one gets hurt

i also hope gsg's dont have the same problem because i am getting one of those as well

 

[John Sukey]

Well I see nothing wrong with Zamac, ON NO4Mk1 buttplates!

 

[jacky]

So these pictures stuck me as odd when I first looked at them and I now know why. The front sight post is supposed to be on the slide extension piece on a Canadian version with the 5" barrel, yet in the pics it is back on the main part of the slide where it should only be if you are using the 3.5" barrel. Now, there is no way it came that way so someone has been fiddling. What happened here? Why this discrepancy?

This is something I would like to more about, Was the gun modified from the start, hence the reason why it broke ?

From my experience ( unfortunately I have some bad experience with guns blowing up ) it seems to me that when guns start breaking/ blowing up or becoming dangerous there is usually a reason other than the gun.... but you never know as there is always exceptions.

 

[Craig0ry]

IMO, the P22 does not deserve to carry the Walther name. The P99 (just as many other Walther firearms) is worth every cent of its seemingly steep price tag, but I would not take the little cousin even if it was offered as a "Buy P99 and get P22 for free" type of deal.
It is simply not worth the aggravation when I have better choices in the same caliber and price range. Why do people still buy it despite having in front of their eyes a truckload worth of well documented failures? Is it because it resembles the P99?

Anyhow, let's see if the new P22Q (PPQ "clone") addresses any or hopefully all imperfections of the old version.

The p22 fits nice for smaller handed individuals, Personally fired thousands upon thousands of rounds out of mine, Never FTF's, Eats any type of ammo you feed it, and its very accurate. Not saying the construction is top notch but its still a nice shooting gun.

 

[yan014]

Hi, on the pistol, you can place the front sight either on the slide or on the stabilizer assy. It originally comes on the stabilizer assy but can be easily pushed out with any screwdriver. You will also need to remove a little plastic plug from the slide to insert the front sight. The reason why, is that the only difference between the US and Canadian model is the length of the barrel, other than that, it's the EXACT same pistol, they put in a 5" barrel and the stabilizer assy to prevent 1.5" of barrel sticking out. No need to panic and almost assume that I drilled out a hole in my slide.... Haha

This is something I would like to more about, Was the gun modified from the start, hence the reason why it broke ?

From my experience ( unfortunately I have some bad experience with guns blowing up ) it seems to me that when guns start breaking/ blowing up or becoming dangerous there is usually a reason other than the gun.... but you never know as there is always exceptions.

 

[jacky]

Hi, on the pistol, you can place the front sight either on the slide or on the stabilizer assy. It originally comes on the stabilizer assy but can be easily pushed out with any screwdriver. You will also need to remove a little plastic plug from the slide to insert the front sight. The reason why, is that the only difference between the US and Canadian model is the length of the barrel, other than that, it's the EXACT same pistol, they put in a 5" barrel and the stabilizer assy to prevent 1.5" of barrel sticking out. No need to panic and almost assume that I drilled out a hole in my slide.... Haha

Well that is good news. When guns start to explode I relapse and pretty much have a small stroke due to a past experience.

 

[yan014]

Well that is good news. When guns start to explode I relapse and pretty much have a small stroke due to a past experience.

I'm sorry for almost giving you a heart attack!!! I'M joking!! Seriously, I would've never drilled a hole in my slide!!!