There are a few things about this pistol that seem to me to come from P22 discussion. Walther incorporated them into this pistol. The question is...why didn't they incorporate them into the Q model of the P22?
The pistol works fine, fit and finish is good. It points well, has good sights, is accurate. I will shoot it against a new P22 shortly and post the difference in groups if any. OK, some pictures and comments as usual. Did I mention.....this is a big pistol?
When the 1911 style safety is placed in safe it sure gets in the way of grabbing the slide by the serrations. The safety is higher up and farther forward and doesn't really feel like a 1911. The 1911 safety has much better thumb ergonomics in my opinion. But the biggest problem is the safety takes up a lot of room where you need to be grasping the serrations.
The magazine release button worked very nicely and very easily. The only issue I had was it released too easily as it sticks out pretty far from the grip. This is good for an easy thumb press but lay the pistol down on the release and it can release the mag. A little less protrusion would have been perhaps better.
That striker has a lot of facets to it's face. The ejector is seen just above the left side of the magazine.
Finally, they got the old chamber entrance mod down right. Notice the smooth chamfer from about 4 to 7 o:clock. And, they kept the polishing off of the thin chamber rim at the extractor cut. The extractor is at about the 2:30 position and not 3:00 like in the P22. Ejection is very consistent and with good authority.
The feed ramp is nicely machined. I have no idea why there is a square cut out of it. This would seem to make for a rough transition from feed ramp into the chamber but the pistol didn't have any issues here. I hand cycled several hollow point types of ammo and none of them caught on the lower edge of the chamber and there were no marks on the nose. Firing has been 100% to date. The ramp is very steep. Hand extraction is so smooth....it makes the P22 look kind of pitiful. The extractor performs it's job very nicely. There is a reason for this.
Look at the size of that Buffer...
Bigger than the O ring in the P22 mod...
The striker still drags down one side of the breech block though. Notice no safety drum for anything to hang up on. You can install the slide without a guide rod although you can still kink the recoil spring if you aren't careful. It is still longer than other firearms. The guide rod is metal.
Alright Walther.....we've been hollering about this for years. On this pistol you extended the bottom of the breech block just enough so that the rim of a round is securely held in place on the face of the breech block. This makes for excellent hand ejection and consistent ejection direction when firing. Why couldn't you have made a small change to the P22 breech face so a round would stay put on it.
And look at how that extractor fits.....nice and tight, short pivot. Must be from a Ruger or a Smith.
Anyway, this design works 100%. Sure seems like they could take all we've posted about the P22 and ejection issues and fix the extractor and breech face like this.
Did I mention this is a big pistol. Could have held 50 rounds in that grip. OK, there are some pictures for you boys and girls and this pistol fires and functions nicely. Did I mention it is a big pistol. It isn't mine, someone loaned it to me to see what I think. I think it's time Walther made a few more improvements to the P22, that's what I think. And, send me a new PPK/S to test for them.....uhhh.....with some ammo too. Lots of it.
M1911
Bob B.
Linear Mode
