Walther P22 vs. SIG Mosquito

ghostie

ghostie

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Here are some pics comparing the two guns. I'm going to add my thoughts on both pistols later, and maybe some more pics.

I know there are lots of other threads on these guns, but everyone feel free to make whatever comments you like!

My "Guns & Ammo" style composition :D
P22_Mos_Portrait.jpg


My modified P22 with a 106mm barrel:
P22_rightside_small.jpg


My SIG Mosquito. The black model with the threaded barrel is the only model being imported into Canada at this time as far as I know. The barrel is about 121mm. Breechface to the end of the slide is just shy of 101mm, so with some gunsmithing you could get it to look very similar to the U.S. model, where the barrel is 3.98 inch or something like that (about 101mm).
Mosquito_right.jpg


Size comparison between the two guns:
P22_Mos_faceoff.jpg


Size comparison of the grips:
P22_Mos_Grips.jpg


Size comparison with a Glock 17:
Glock_SIG_Walther_size.jpg


P22 with its big brother, the 9mm P99. Note that the P99 is a near perfect fit for my hand.
P22_P99.jpg


SIG Mosquito field stripped:
SIG_Fieldstrip.jpg


Walther P22 field stripped:
P22_fieldstrip.jpg


Walther P22 about 50% disassembled:
P22_disassemble.jpg


Comparison of slides (SIG on the top):
SIG_Walther_slides.jpg


Size of SIG Mosquito grip in hand:
Mos_Hand.jpg


Size of Walther P22 grip in hand:
P22_Hand.jpg
 
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I bought a P-22 from a CGN'r. It was a birthday present for my eleven year old son. He as small hands. I took him to a local fun shop and he handles a few pistols in 9mm and .22 but the one hel liked the best was the P-22. It just felt right in his hand.
I didn't have the money at the time so I traded a rifle for it. He thoroughly enjoys it. I took the barrel weight off and the shorter sight radius is still good. He doesnt' like the red dot sight so I didn't buy him one.
The pistol is small, light and accurate enough with the correct ammunition. Mind you, the barrel had to have a bulk pack of bullets run through it before it shot without any hitches like FTF. It functions very well with Stingers and the muzzle blast at twilight is impressive. With standard velocity rounds there is no flame whatsoever.
Everyone who shoots the little Walther love it. It is so small and cute and makes a good carry gun for some in the US.
 
Teapot said:
I bought a P-22 from a CGN'r. It was a birthday present for my eleven year old son. He as small hands. I took him to a local fun shop and he handles a few pistols in 9mm and .22 but the one hel liked the best was the P-22. It just felt right in his hand.
I didn't have the money at the time so I traded a rifle for it. He thoroughly enjoys it. I took the barrel weight off and the shorter sight radius is still good. He doesnt' like the red dot sight so I didn't buy him one.
The pistol is small, light and accurate enough with the correct ammunition. Mind you, the barrel had to have a bulk pack of bullets run through it before it shot without any hitches like FTF. It functions very well with Stingers and the muzzle blast at twilight is impressive. With standard velocity rounds there is no flame whatsoever.
Everyone who shoots the little Walther love it. It is so small and cute and makes a good carry gun for some in the US.
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I'll add my 2 cents in as well, as I've read up alot on these little devils and bought one, I'm just waiting for my ATT to go through before I can shoot her :mad:

Looks to me like you got one from a "good batch"

the "AG" on your ejection port states that it's a 2006 model, apparently anything before 04 is bad news.

Also, you have "A-Suffix" mags, A - for advanced... Walther tweaked them as the old ones had alot of trouble with the semi double stacking and rounds not being picked up during a cycle.

www.rimfirecentral.com has a pile of info on this gun, including an illustrated step by step on dissassembly and slight modifications recommended for flawless fireing.

These include

1) Stretching the extracter spring, to fix the problem with rounds ejecting into your face.

2) Polishing certain interals to prevent prolonged usage wearing.

3) Polishing and rounding off the hammer off slightly to prevent it from catching on the rear slide interals and creating the "walking safety" problem

4) Polishing the feed ramp to allow hollow points to feed correctly.

Yes this gun DOES require a few mod's to have it shooting nice off the bat, but after words, you've got a unique pistol, great for the wife to shoot (unless your wife has man hands :eek:

Like I said though, I haven't shot mine yet, I get most of the info from the net, and from a guy at the range I frequent, he has the prohib short barreled version, I've put about 200 rounds through it and it shoots like a dream.

Stingers are a ton of fun in the p22 I was stacking them every second round with federal champions and at 25 yards you could see on my target where the stingers landed about an inch higher... the muzzel flash from these puppies rivals some of the 9's at the club :D

Finally for those of you looking to get into the p22 but are worried about negative reviews online, just make sure you get a later model. I'll post a long review once mine is out and eating though bulk packs twice a week!

Seth
 
I haven't handled a Sig, but love my P22, it is small in my hands, it's like holding a toy gun, but it's fun, and my kids and anyone else i take to the range love's it......
Nice pics!!
Rob
 
Oh, i read all i could on rimfirecentral before i bought my P22 as well, and did some of the 'tweaks', so the little pistol wouldn't be expelling brass in my face.....!!!!!!
 
ghostie - can you please tell me how the hell you got that front sight in the P22? I've got it as well, and I can't get the little piece out, it feels like if I pry it anymore, It will break and I'll never get the sight in there. Can you tell me how you did it? Thanks in advance.

Very nice pics BTW. I'm very happy with my P22 aside from the grip size, never shot a Misquito yet.
 
Fonix,

Just take the slide off. Then take a screwdriver and push the sight off from the bottom up, i.e. from the inside of the slide. Don't gouge it but just use a strong pushing motion. The base of the sight has two prongs. Squeeze them together and push the unit in the hole.
 
Thanks for the pics Ghostie!

I don't have a handgun yet, but I was really eyeing up the P22 at my local gun shop. I would pull that barrel weight off right away as well. It's a shame that it's just a touch too short because it would look really nice without the added "tube" on the end.

I'm thinking that or a Norinco 1911, but I have good eyesight, so I don't need to make a .45 sized hole in the paper to see where I'm shooting. Or a .45 sized hole in the wallet for that matter!

By the way, the bastards at the store told me it would cost about $850. I'm thinking that is a bit of a rip off. Does that price sound "ish" to you guys?
 
I added two more pics to my earlier post.

buster said:
look forward to your article.

on the p22,how do you like the mag release?
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I don't mind the mag release. I find that you have to shift your hand use it, but it is no big deal. The mag release is not as tight as it is on the P99. The mags on both the P22 and the Mosquito are drop-free. The SIG has a huge button for a mag release, and, as is the SIG style, the button is right under your thumb when your hand is in the firing position. The Mosquito wins this point in the head to head.

Levi Garrett said:
Excellent pics man, thanks, I 'am shocked at the size of those:eek: Or do you have monster mitts? :D Great post:cool: Sig looks great
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I'm a bigger guy (6'3", 215lbs.) but I have average size hands. Glock 17, SIG 226, etc. are a good fit for my hands. Glock 19 is getting a bit small for me. Yes, the pictures tell the story... the Mosquito grip is about the size of a Glock 19 grip - when you wrap your hand around it there is no gun below your pinky, and your pinky is completely covering the front of the bottom of the mag. The P22 is freakishly small compared to pretty much every other gun still being imported into Canada these days. For some weird reason it feels too small when you just handle the gun, but when you are shooting (with both hands) you don't notice it so much. I commonly forget that I am shooting with the shorter of the two mags the gun comes with (the one without the finger groove).

Fonix said:
ghostie - can you please tell me how the hell you got that front sight in the P22? I've got it as well, and I can't get the little piece out, it feels like if I pry it anymore, It will break and I'll never get the sight in there. Can you tell me how you did it? Thanks in advance.
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You should be able to just push it up from the bottom with a flat screw driver or something similar.

IM_Lugger said:
cool pics... which is more reliable? I'm guessing Sig is more accurate? thanks
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Reliablity is heavily dependant on the ammo you use with these guns. With CCI Mini-Mags (smooth, copper plated .22LR round with more snap to them) both guns have reliability similar to most 9mm pistols. With regular lead .22LR rounds the P22 is not quite as picky as the SIG, but you will have some problems with both guns. With the P22 the main problem you get is "fail to fire" (which I think has to do mostly with a combination of weak/cheap primer in cheaps rounds and also the channel for the firing pin getting gummed up with powder residue from dirty ammo with lots of rounds fired), the occasional "fail to feed" (soft lead round getting caught on the way in), and once in a blue moon a "fail to eject" (sometimes a round gets stuck in the chamber - again I think this is cheap ammo related. I've never had this happen with a Mini-Mag). The SIG's problems are mostly of the "fail to feed" variety.

Both guns are pretty accurate due to their fixed barrels, but you are right that the SIG probably has the advantage on this count. The way I have my guns set up, the P22 has a 106mm barrel (4 inch plus 4mm for Canada), whereas the SIG has about a 121mm barrel (about 4.75 inch). The SIG is much heavier though. The SIG catalog says it is 24.6oz with magazine. The Walther catalog says that a P22 (3.4 inch model) is 15.1oz without the magazine. This makes the SIG "sit down" in your hand much better, whereas the little P22 can move around on you if don't concentrate on keeping it really still. I like the trigger better on the P22 though. The catalog lists it as 11/4 pounds, whereas the SIG catalog says 12.1/4.4 for the Mosquito. The DA on both guns is way too long and heavy to be used as anything more than a novelty shot just to see how long and heavy it is and laugh about it with your buddies. The SA trigger on both guns is good, but I prefer the lighter trigger on the P22 - awesome for rapid-fire fast shooting :D (but then you get that problem of the light little gun moving around on you :mad: ).

Rimfire said:
By the way, the bastards at the store told me it would cost about $850. I'm thinking that is a bit of a rip off. Does that price sound "ish" to you guys?
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Both the P22 and the Mosquito should be around $450-$550 brand new. A Norinco 1911 should be something like $350-400 bucks, but I believe there are a few different ones. Don't pay $850 for any of these guns.
 
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Thanks again for the info ghostie! At Last...

p22mw2.jpg



It's a shame we can't use the standard 3.4" on it, as I had a chance to buy one. Did you have yours shortened down to 4 inches?
 
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Fonix said:
Thanks again for the info ghostie! At Last...

It's a shame we can't use the standard 3.4" on it, as I had a chance to buy one. Did you have yours shortened down to 4 inches?
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Nice pic. I ran mine like that - with the 5 inch barrel - for awhile. I think that is the best thing to do if you don't want to go through the process of shortening the barrel. The "compensator" started moving on me the first time I took it out, and this seems to be the common experience of all P22 owners in Canada. You don't really experience the fun of this gun until you ditch that dumb compensator thing and move the front site onto the slide (which can be done in 30 seconds).

I had the barrel shortened to 106mm (just over 4 inches, minimum length it can be shortened to without re-registering the gun as a prohib) from the stock 5 inches (127mm). The work was done by Barry Jensen at Bits of Pieces in Delta (/www.bitsofpieces.com/). Cost was something like $70 plus tax. The only downside was that I didn't have the gun for most of last summer, as Barry is very busy and he likes to do his lathe jobs all at once.

There are two ways you could change it. If you look at the disassembly picture you will see that the barrel is a skinny thing, and then there is a barrel sleave (which is just a black tube with a notch in one end) that goes around it. One way of doing it would be to seperate the skinny part of the barrel from the chamber, then cut the barrel and reattach it to the chamber. You would then just have to cut the barrel sleave to the right length and put a new notch in it so it clicks into the frame of the gun. This way you would keep the stock "end cap" on the barrel and you could continue using the stock wrench to disassemble it. The down side of this is that it is more work, probably more risk (making sure youhave the barrel attached to the chamber properly), and if you cut the barrel from the back end, you will cut off most of where the barrel is marked "Walther .22LR", which some people want to keep.

The other way of doing it is the way mine was done. You don't have to seperate the barrel from the chamber, you just cut the front of the barrel off to 106mm, then you thread the front of the barrel with a lathe, and you make a threaded "spacer" thing that threads onto the front of the barrel and holds it tight with the barrel sleave (which also needs to be cut, but just from the front end, so it doesn't have to be re-notched). This way cuts off the stock front end cap, but it has the added effect of making the barrel look like a "real" 9mm-type barrel (it is actually skinnier though, it's probably more like a .32 or .38 barrel), becasue there is no "end cap" on the front. The way you tighten it together is - the spacer thing is notched on the front (like the head of screw sort of) and you can screw it in with a quarter or with any flat object that is the right size. I use a quarter and that works very well. When it is tighened up, there is no movement in the barrel or the sleave. It's really an ingenious way of doing it. Barry Jensen did an awesome job. I highly recommend this guy for tricky conversion jobs and stuff that requires some original thinking.

P22_disassemble.jpg
 
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Rimfire said:
By the way, the bastards at the store told me it would cost about $850. I'm thinking that is a bit of a rip off. Does that price sound "ish" to you guys?
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Yes, that is a huge rip-off. These guns regulary go in the $450 to $500 range. Buy it from Wolverine Supplies or P&D.
 
Great post and pics. There's a lot of interest for these guns and it seems the reliabilty issues are being sorted out. I didn't realise how small that P22 was! I'll have to look into the Sig a little more... It's funny how I can never get caught up on my wanted list for guns :)
 
Thanks ghostie - I'll go see Barre Jensen asap to get the front of it taken down to 106mm.

Too bad they had to complicate it and make the barrel inside a sleeve secured by the cap on the end. I had issues with that fake compansator loosening as well. Not too mention the nice scuffs it leaves on the barrels sleave.

Anyway, still a fun little gun, and I'll enjoy it more this way :D
 
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