Improving The Walther P22

The Walther P22 has some issues straight out of the box, however, with a little TLC this pistol can be a very fine shooter. A customer brought one into my shop right after deer hunting season complaining that he had never shot the gun after buying it and it remained on his desk for along time. The first time he put in a magazine to shoot it, it completely failed to fire, and he gave up on it. It sat for another year before he finally brought it to me.

I thought it was odd that someone would wait that long to try to shoot a brand new pistol and then wait again to have it fixed, but I guess there are those who can wait. Once I had a chance to look at this gun, I found the firing pin was leaving very light marks on the rim. After solving the firing problem, I went out on a very cold December morning and tested it. My repair worked and I told the customer to come and pick it up. He picked it up and left happy to try it out.

I didn’t think any more The arrows point to the three surfaces to smooth out due to contact with breech block and slide. Below center: Smoothed out and lightly polished firing pin. of it until he came back in February. Apparently, he had just tried to shoot it with his wife and now it would not cycle properly. Despite it still being below freezing temperatures outside, it was 30 degrees warmer than during my successful test. What follows is what I had to do to get this pistol to operate reliably.

For disassembly of the gun, check out Chick Blood’s "Disassembly and Reassembly of The Walther P22 Pistol" in the June 2009 issue. Firing Failures Lights strikes had me looking at the firing pin being too short as there is very little movement once the hammer hits it. Once the breech block was disassembled, I looked at the firing pin. There were very jagged edges along the outside were it had been stamp out. This was causing the firing pin to drag on the inside of the breech block.

To correct this, lay the firing pin down on 220 grit sandpaper and sand until a finger nail doesn’t catch on the edge. I turned it over and lightly did the other side as well, finishing with 400 grit and sanding in the direction of the firing pin’s movement. While I was at it, I also touched up the top and bottom where it make contact in the slide and breech block. With the firing pin and spring in the breech block, push it back and forth to feel if there is any drag.

You might have to touch up the slot that the firing pin moves in. The objective here is to make everything smooth while removing as little material as possible. Since you will have the breech block out, fix the extraction issue too. Jamming I had problems with both round nose and hollow points jamming. The feed ramp was not very smooth and I pulled the barrel of the gun and looked at it closely. Using a

Top 2. The other edge that needs some work. Bottom ceramic stone, I smoothed out the ramp and tested the smoothness by sliding around up the ramp by hand, just like the gun is loading it. During this testing, the round would occasionally catch just before going in the chamber. The extractor cut had left a burr on the inside of the chamber. A .22 chamber ironing tool swaged the material out the chamber so that around would drop in nicely.

I also knocked off the sharp corners on the side of the ramp to allow the rim of the round to slip on by. Extraction/Feeding There were two problems going on at the same time. The first was that the chamber was rough and holding on to the fired round. The second problem was the way the slide was catching on the hammer during cycling. Polishing the chamber with 600 grit sand paper superglued on to a wooden swab stick, making it into a flap wheel, worked well. A This surface needs to be sanded and polished. 2.

Round over this edge. Note how the hammer is only riding on the right side. quick and light touch was all that was necessary to make the chamber smooth. The second problem proved more complex. Put the gun together without the magazine, recoil spring, and guide. Pull the trigger and gently let the hammer down. Slowly pull back on the slide. As the hammer is fully cocked, you will feel the hammer catch. The same thing happens as it goes forward, sometimes stopping the slide completely.

The hammer is catching on the safety block and/or the breech block as the slide passes

No need to remove the casting marks as they are below the surface the hammer rides on. across it. The problem is mostly in the design of the hammer. There are two flat surfaces that meet with a sharp corner that then catches on the junction of the safety block and breech block. With the hammer removed, use a flat surface or a sharpening stone to radius the sharp junction of the two flat surfaces of the hammer that make contact within the slide.

It’s also useful to radius the sharp edge where the hammer transits into the thump ridges. Just put a radius on them because if you take too much off, the hammer will no longer cock when the slide cycles. Once there is a radius, smooth out with 320 and 400 grit sandpaper. Finally, polish with a ceramic stone. Take out the breech block and look at it. You should see where the breech block is riding on the hammer, possibly only on one side.

Lightly sand this with 400 grit and then polish, not trying to take all the marks out, just enough to make it smooth. Radius and polish the end that is in contact with the safe- American Gunsmith Reader Services 1.

ty block; just a small radius, so the hammer can pass by smoothly. Reassemble the gun and test the cycling of the slide against the hammer. It should be a lot smoother than it was before. Test by putting ten dummy rounds in the magazine and loading the gun. Pull the slide back and hold. Release and it should chamber the first round. Cycle all ten rounds through. More than likely it will not go completely forward until the magazine is almost empty. If so, the hammer still needs some work.

Glue some 400 grit sandpaper to a stick and use it like a finger nail file. Lightly sand the hammer in place on the gun and re-polish. Make sure the take down has not come back up, blocking the slide from going completely back. Test again. Repeat until all rounds will cycle. Other Items Since you will have the gun torn down to work on, check these other items. The trigger bow has ears that engage in the slide.

Look at the bottom of the slide and check to see if there is any damage in the forward part of the recessed slope in the area of the breech block. This is where the ears on the trigger bow touch the slide. If the ears are sharp on the trigger bow there will be a dent on both sides where it has been hitting. Polish the ears so they are smooth and not sharp. I did this with 220 and 400 Second, on some guns the safety block is higher than the breech block.

This can interfere with the slide coming back and hanging up on the hammer. With the breech block in the slide, lay a straight edge on the breech block and push it towards the safety block. It should not touch the safety block when the safety is in the fire position. If it does, grind down the safety block in the area where the hammer would hit it. Do this only in the fire position of the safety.

Reassembly Trick To make it easier to put the slide back on, compress the recoil spring on the guide rod and hold with your fingers. Insert the guide rod into the slide, holding the rod in place with your other hand, then let the spring go. Push the guide rod further in the slide and grip the guide rod on the outside of the slide. Then put the slide back on the frame. With the grit across both ears at the same time, and then followed with a stone.

Put a nice radius on them as this will help from doing any more damage to the slide. slide in position to drop down on the frame, hold the slide and frame with one hand. Push up on the guide rod and it will snap into place, allowing the slide to finish dropping down on the frame. AG