Walther P22- tuning a plinker

[boing-whap]

I have seen alot of negative feedback on the WP22 on this forum, I have one and have overcome some of the problems with mine, here is what I did:

Tune the lips of the clips using #600, this takes some time and work the inner edge as thats what the rim of the bullet rides against.

Polish the path the bullet rides to the breech using #600.

Disassemble the entire gun and tune (De-bur) every contact moving part with #600 paper, black in color. after the polish apply some oil but VERY
little.
When you have the firing pin out stretch the spring which will increase the protrusion of the rear part of the pin that gets hit by the hammer, this corrects misfires due to light hits of the pin.

I know alot of people think this model is junk, I have an old High Standard Citation, and the P22 will never be that gun, but after a tune it is a dependable plinker that can achieve some decent accuracy given its short comings.
I always use standard velocity ammo, never any hot stuff.

 

[22lr]

Mine works like a swiss clock, gags in all ammo I feed it. Always was like this. But then again I bought it very well used and myself put unknown number of rounds through it. Maybe 6000 maybe more. So mine probably tuned itself. Accuracy is another question. I think P22 suffers from being way too light and having thin ( really thin) barrel. If you have 6" barrel version with muzzle decoration - I think if that decorative extension had all cavities filled with led it will improve accuracy. Right now I am getting about 2.5 -3 inches groups from 20 yards while I know I can do about 1.5-2 on a good day with target guns.

 

[burmisdog]

Just received mine the other day, took it to Range for the first time. It was a nearly new purchase. I was somewhat disappointed in the small grip (bought online from Frontier), but liked the overall weight. Put about 100 rounds through with no problem other than the first of each clip seemed a little reluctant. Love the trigger and sights, and hopefully will get a little more accurate as I get used to it. Still like my Mark 111 target !

 

[b-wingpilot]

One should also move the front sight off the bbl weight, and onto the slide. This was one of the first things I did, as my weight tends to loosen up after a few hundred rounds.

 

[boing-whap]

Good Idea movuing the front sight

I have the "Target Model" which means it has the bbl weight, I bought mine used and it must have been ridden hard, however the tuning really improved the cycling. Changing the front sight was a great idea I changed mine today, makes sense as that weight does shift a bit, and 22LR if you are shooting that kinda group at 20 yards then I stand in your shadow, I'm more in the four inch on a really good day, that is tough pistol as far as accuracy goes, but thats what keeps me coming back though.