I took my six year old son to the range this past weekend, and we had a blast shooting my Colt model 22. The only problem was that my son's hands were a little small for the grip circumference, so he basically held the grip with his left hand, so he could shift his right hand forward to pull the trigger.
I am looking at possibly getting him a small .22 sometime in the (hopefully) near future, and the Walther P22 would fit his hands fairly well, I think. I will, of course find a way for him to try one before I buy, but I was wondering if any of you have experience with one and could give me your opinions. The internet reviews I have found so far are all accross the map, from "they're pieces of junk" to "they're wonderful little pistols ideal for a first handgun."
I appreciate any info any of you can give me.
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I've bought my Mom a P22 for Mother's Day 2 years ago. The pistol itself is wonderful, but it's not without faults. With non-jacketed ammo, it seems to have the most FTF. There are a couple of times that it FTE. I think this is due to the miniature of an extractor it has. Other than that it is light, it has a small grip (one that my Mom -small woman- can handle), and it is fun/cheap to shoot.
One thing that may reduce failure is to make sure that barrel nut is tighten. It does and will work itself loose after a range session or two, so keep an eye on it.
Can this gun make a great gun to start and practice on? Absolutely. Will I trust this gun for self-defense? Probably not.
Well... I let my son shoot a Walther P22 a good bit. I can tell you that you'll have to find ammo that it likes. With cheap stuff, it's a jam-o-matic, but on the bright side, he'll get lots of practice clearing jams. It'll toss a few empty cartridges down his shirt too First time my son got one down his shirt, he was dancing and arms/hands going every which way. I had sit him down and remind him that he had a gun in his hand After that, he was fine.
To put it simply, the P22 is fun to shoot and has the looks appeal for young ones, but it is an inexpensive gun, so I do not expect too much out of it as far as accuracy and dependability. Forget about those cheap lasers for the rail. They shift with every shot.
My brother bought one for his wife last year. Ive fired it a few times and consider it a nice trainer, but nothing more. It was a little quirky so it should not be considered for carry, nor for the inexperienced shooter without some supervision. Neither applies in this case as its for your young son.
I purchased a P22 for my daughter when she was six and started shooting. It has never failed.
A couple of thought on that age shooting.
1. Teach them the 4 cardinal rules and require them to recite them to you prior to shooting.
3. If shooting indoors, have them wear ear plugs and muffs. They don't need it for the .22, but for other shooters.
4. Closely pay attention to others around you. If the exhibit any unsafe signs get your kid out.
5. When they are shooting, stand behind them and extend your arms out and place your hands on either side of their elbows. This prevents them from swinging in any direction. If they get a hot piece of brass and do "the" dance, you can take control of the weapon.
6. Praise em.
*CHL Instructor*
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txinvestigator wrote:I purchased a P22 for my daughter when she was six and started shooting. It has never failed.
A couple of thought on that age shooting.
1. Teach them the 4 cardinal rules and require them to recite them to you prior to shooting.
3. If shooting indoors, have them wear ear plugs and muffs. They don't need it for the .22, but for other shooters.
4. Closely pay attention to others around you. If the exhibit any unsafe signs get your kid out.
5. When they are shooting, stand behind them and extend your arms out and place your hands on either side of their elbows. This prevents them from swinging in any direction. If they get a hot piece of brass and do "the" dance, you can take control of the weapon.
6. Praise em.
++++ on the Praise em, for following the rules as well as their shooting
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My wife purchased one for plinking and target practice as she "caught the bug" just recently, and with her very small hands the P22's grip fit like a charm. They include a couple grip back straps as well, so you can swap those out if desired. We did have to send it back under warranty the very week she bought it though (after the first ~120 rounds, the hammer spring broke). We got it back from Walther (S&W) a couple weeks later and it's worked great ever since, though we've only put about another 350-400 rounds through it after the repair.
I've heard on other forums that the P22 is particular about its diet, but we've found Remington Golden Bullet hollow points in bulk cartons not to be a problem. I've also heard that a lot of the feeding problems in the past had to do with the magazine, and that a newer style magazine (which has an "A" in its part number) is what you need to make sure you get, or pick up, if you buy an older P22 that has the old-style magazine. Out of the two magazines that came with it, we've perhaps have only had three FTF or jams so far (and two of those were before the hammer spring repair), but it's only now getting broken in.
As KennyLee mentioned, I've also read on some forums that the barrel nut needs to be checked often for loosening, but we haven't experienced that yet. It might cause more problems for those that purchase the P22 with both barrel lengths (swapping the barrels), but since we only have the shorter barrel if loosening occurs I'll probably just use a tiny bit of Loc-Tite or something to cure it.
Overall we've had a blast with that little P22. It's quite accurate at 15 yds. with the stock sights (3 front sights and a flat plug come with it... we swapped out the #1 front sight with the #2 front sight and left the rear windage-adjustable sight unchanged), and makes for a dandy little plinker.
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I'm with everyone else on the good plinker, but don't expect it to be a ruger or browning for reliability.
I had one that I used to teach a younster to shoot and he realy liked it, but we did have a few fte.
Also the other problem that I had was the way I gripped it would cause the mag to drop out. the under the trigger guard mag realse kept getting depressed by my hand somehow.
I would try to find a good used one and have fun with it.
Frankly, if it would fit his hands, I'd just get a Ruger Standard Mk.II and be done with it.
Best plinking auto I've ever fired, and 99.9% reliable for me (It HAS jammed once, a FTE IIRC. I think it was an underpowered round, IE, the ammo company forgot to put powder in the cartridge).
Now, if the Ruger won't fit his hands... The Walther could make an acceptable stepping stone to the Ruger.
My experience with the P22 has been good overall. Reliability has been near perfect with any type of ammunition I have used but I did have to send it back for repairs. It stopped firing in double action mode and would only fire in singer action. It had a defective trigger bat and was repaired in a few days. My only other problem has been that the front sight has fallen off before. I glued one of the extras it comes with and it has been fine since.
The accuracy 0-15yds is about the same as my center fire handguns. I normally use the federal 550 bulk pack and have gone through many boxes. I use it to practice with first with ~400rds then shoot 100 .45 in my XD to save money and reduce noise. It has never had a feed or extraction failure that I can remember.
Compared to a Ruger is not as accurate but for me it is just as reliable. They are considerable different in there intended use to me. The controls and shape of the P-22 closely match a normal centerfire handgun. Even the Ruger 22/45 is shaped and weighted differently than current model plastic guns like a Glock or XD.
If you plan to use it teach accuracy and safety I would have to recommend the Ruger. The P-22 with its DA/SA action, short barrel and light weight are not ideal.
The only problem was that my son's hands were a little small for the grip circumference, so he basically held the grip with his left hand, so he could shift his right hand forward to pull the trigger.
First time my son got one down his shirt, he was dancing and arms/hands going every which way. I had sit him down and remind him that he had a gun in his hand 
After that, he was fine. 
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