orkan
Active member
I picked up a Walther P22 with 3 1/4" barrel today for $300. Its primary purpose will be to quietly dispatch vermin while coyote hunting, without alerting coyotes in the next pasture. Often I'll be walking to the next stand and I'll come across a coon, skunk, or badger. No need to raise [beeep] when I can just slip a few subsonics into his lungs.
It will also be nice to have along in the case that a wounded coyote needs some extra bullets and not have to tear up fur with another blast from the 22-250.
As you can see it is pretty small. It sure feels tiny in my hands, but that has not resulted in me being unable to accurately or comfortably shoot it.
The barrel on all these P22's comes threaded. (so far as I know) There is a thread protector screwed on from the factory, and they supply a little wrench to remove it. You can do a google search for "P22 thread adapter" and come up with all kinds of adapters that go for anywhere between $20 and $40. This will bring the threads up to 1/2x28, which is what you'll need for most any muzzle accessory, including suppressors.
Here is the safety in "fire" position.
Here is the safety in "safe" position. You can see how it physically blocks the hammer from hitting the firing pin. The trigger mechanism still works, but the hammer is unable to touch the firing pin.
The P22 has ambidextrous safety and mag release. The trigger will not operate without a magazine in the gun. Not sure why that is, but doesn't really matter. The P22 is double action so you can squeeze it off, or cock the hammer prior to firing. The DA is pretty heavy. Feels like about 12lbs. However, if you cock the hammer you get a crisp 4lb pull.
The sights are fully functional with the suppressor installed. They clear just enough so you can get a good alignment over the can. I had no trouble making accurate shots. The rear sight is adjustable so you can move your windage around. I don't see anything for elevation.
Its quiet. Not as quiet as my integrally suppressed 77/22, but then nothing else is either.
How quiet will depend largely upon your suppressor and the ammo chosen. The YHM Mite isn't known to be the quietest 22LR can out there, but its plenty quiet for my needs.
Its pretty accurate. I haven't put up a target and measured anything yet, but I had no problem holding the 6x6" head on my IPSC steel target at 30yds. The 3" barrel holds its own, and misses are the result of the shooter not doing his job. This was with federal bulk pack from wally world.
I've read plenty of horror stories about people and their "crappy" P22's and Sig Mosquito's prior to purchasing this. I went to the gun shop and fondled both. I wanted a light weight and small suppressed 22LR to make it easier to carry. The P22 is much smaller and much lighter than the Sig Mosquito. That, and the mosquito trigger was worse than the P22. Both felt like toys in my hand, so it was pretty easy to pick the P22.
I ran about 600rnds of ammo through it today. The majority of it was federal bulk pack from walmart. However, I did want to test some other ammo as well.
Ammo tested:
Fiochi Subsonic
Remington Subsonic
CCI Subsonic
CCI mini-mags
CCI 40gr round nose
Blazer
Centurion 22LR
Federal Game Shok 40gr round nose
Fiochi M320
Fiochi SM340
Winchester wildcat
Remington Yellow Jacket
Remington Thunderbolt
Winchester 40gr round nose
Winchester 40gr PP
Winchester 37gr HP
Remington Golden bullet
All of the above ammo cycled and shot just fine. This is quite possibly the most forgiving rimfire I've owned. It was all about identical in accuracy, and it all fed, fired, and ejected the same. Some of the weaker rounds resulted in a sluggish slide action, but they still functioned. All rounds fired were subsonic. Even the remington yellow jackets did not break the sound barrier. I attribute this to the 3" barrel. I ran 20rnds of each type of ammo. I did not have a single failure to feed, FTF, or FTE out of the entire bunch. Out of 250 or more federal bulk pack I fired today, a few failed to fire, but no more so than I'm used to with bulk pack. I simply cocked the hammer and hit them again and all of the 5 or so that FTF detonated on the second hit.
As you can see by the pictures, its not a clean situation when you are running a suppressor on a 22lr with this short of barrel. I did not experience any crap flying back in my face, so that is good. I didn't even clean this thing when I got it. I just took it out of the box, screwed the suppressor on, and started slinging lead.
I'm very impressed with this little gun so far. I've already killed a skunk and about 40 birds with it using federal bulk pack. I can see it becoming one of my favorite toys! When I walk up to that next coyote that is still alive, I won't dread the situation so much. I'll just pull this little mouse out of my pocket and slip one in his ear.
As you can see it is pretty small. It sure feels tiny in my hands, but that has not resulted in me being unable to accurately or comfortably shoot it.
The barrel on all these P22's comes threaded. (so far as I know) There is a thread protector screwed on from the factory, and they supply a little wrench to remove it. You can do a google search for "P22 thread adapter" and come up with all kinds of adapters that go for anywhere between $20 and $40. This will bring the threads up to 1/2x28, which is what you'll need for most any muzzle accessory, including suppressors.
Here is the safety in "fire" position.
Here is the safety in "safe" position. You can see how it physically blocks the hammer from hitting the firing pin. The trigger mechanism still works, but the hammer is unable to touch the firing pin.
The P22 has ambidextrous safety and mag release. The trigger will not operate without a magazine in the gun. Not sure why that is, but doesn't really matter. The P22 is double action so you can squeeze it off, or cock the hammer prior to firing. The DA is pretty heavy. Feels like about 12lbs. However, if you cock the hammer you get a crisp 4lb pull.
The sights are fully functional with the suppressor installed. They clear just enough so you can get a good alignment over the can. I had no trouble making accurate shots. The rear sight is adjustable so you can move your windage around. I don't see anything for elevation.
Its quiet. Not as quiet as my integrally suppressed 77/22, but then nothing else is either.
Its pretty accurate. I haven't put up a target and measured anything yet, but I had no problem holding the 6x6" head on my IPSC steel target at 30yds. The 3" barrel holds its own, and misses are the result of the shooter not doing his job. This was with federal bulk pack from wally world.
I've read plenty of horror stories about people and their "crappy" P22's and Sig Mosquito's prior to purchasing this. I went to the gun shop and fondled both. I wanted a light weight and small suppressed 22LR to make it easier to carry. The P22 is much smaller and much lighter than the Sig Mosquito. That, and the mosquito trigger was worse than the P22. Both felt like toys in my hand, so it was pretty easy to pick the P22.
I ran about 600rnds of ammo through it today. The majority of it was federal bulk pack from walmart. However, I did want to test some other ammo as well.
Ammo tested:
Fiochi Subsonic
Remington Subsonic
CCI Subsonic
CCI mini-mags
CCI 40gr round nose
Blazer
Centurion 22LR
Federal Game Shok 40gr round nose
Fiochi M320
Fiochi SM340
Winchester wildcat
Remington Yellow Jacket
Remington Thunderbolt
Winchester 40gr round nose
Winchester 40gr PP
Winchester 37gr HP
Remington Golden bullet
All of the above ammo cycled and shot just fine. This is quite possibly the most forgiving rimfire I've owned. It was all about identical in accuracy, and it all fed, fired, and ejected the same. Some of the weaker rounds resulted in a sluggish slide action, but they still functioned. All rounds fired were subsonic. Even the remington yellow jackets did not break the sound barrier. I attribute this to the 3" barrel. I ran 20rnds of each type of ammo. I did not have a single failure to feed, FTF, or FTE out of the entire bunch. Out of 250 or more federal bulk pack I fired today, a few failed to fire, but no more so than I'm used to with bulk pack. I simply cocked the hammer and hit them again and all of the 5 or so that FTF detonated on the second hit.
As you can see by the pictures, its not a clean situation when you are running a suppressor on a 22lr with this short of barrel. I did not experience any crap flying back in my face, so that is good. I didn't even clean this thing when I got it. I just took it out of the box, screwed the suppressor on, and started slinging lead.
I'm very impressed with this little gun so far. I've already killed a skunk and about 40 birds with it using federal bulk pack. I can see it becoming one of my favorite toys! When I walk up to that next coyote that is still alive, I won't dread the situation so much. I'll just pull this little mouse out of my pocket and slip one in his ear.
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