Best ammo for a Walther P22

[Glockfan35]

What's the best ammo to run through a Walther P22? Everywhere I look, CCI Mini-Mags seem to be getting the highest recommendations. The only .22 lr ammo I have right now is Blazer. For some reason, I can't find anybody recommending this brand at all. Anyone have an idea as to why? My primary purpose for the gun is target practice and plinking. I got the Walther at the behest of some buddies for decent .22 target pistol. I also have some personal experience with it as I used this particular firearm in my CCW range qualification. So, I'm just wondering why the Walther is so picky in ammo selection.

[Jim243]

I'm just wondering why the Walther is so picky in ammo selection

It's not any more picky than any of the other 22's rifles or pistols. I would recommend that you purchase a small supply (50 round boxes) of whatever your store has on the shelf (Remington, Federal, CCI, Winchester) in whatever flavor they have and try them all through the gun, till you find the one brand that works the best (fewest FTFeed, FTE, FTfire and stove pipes).

That should be what you buy in bulk (a brick (550 or 500 rounds))

Jim

[SVO]

Federal Gold Medal Match

[Misssissippi Dave]

.22 pistols tend to be picky with ammo. There are many factors that can effect how well a given ammo will feed and how consistent it will group.

Federal Auto Match from Walmart seems to feed well in my P22 and groups pretty good as well. It costs less then the Mini-mags do as well. The Federal bulk boxes of 550 rounds do alright but I find I get more of them that might need a second strike to fire. Remington ammo in general give mine fits.

Yes, Mini-mags will shoot pretty well in most .22 semi-auto pistols. You can get good results for less money per round if you try different ammo to find what yours likes.

I have lots of Blazer ammo. Probably close to 2 cases of it. I use it mostly in the revolvers. I will shoot it in semi-auto pistols but when I do this I know I will have some problems.

The Federal Auto Match ammo comes in with 325 rounds in a box. The most common problem I have had with it is a light load and the round hit the paper lower then the point of aim. It cycles my pistols nearly as reliably as the Mini-mags do. It even worked well in one pistol that didn't like Mini-mags.

[Dashunde]

I always had good results with my P22 and those Federal bulk boxes from WalMart.
I always had bad results with the Reminton bulk boxes from WalMart.

[Slamfire]

I have seen several Walther P22's jam at the range. It is my opinion that stiff magazine springs slow the slide down. The pistols work fine when clean but within a few rounds the chamber is gummed up, the cases become hard to extract and magazine spring tension is always pressing on the bottom of the slide.

Rather than screwing up the magazine springs, something I think a bad idea, I have "fixed" shooters jamming issues by dripping lubricating oil on the cartridges either in the magazine or out of the magazine. I will put a drop of oil on cartridges in my hand, roll them around till they are coated, and load them. One hundred percent of the time the pistol functions all the way through the magazine.

I use whatever oil is at hand. Spray bottles of Rem Oil, 10W-30 weight from the truck, you name it.

Blowbacks are so sensitive to breech friction that Col Chin's book calls them "oil o matics".

[brabham78]

I haven't' read the responses to your original post, so I'm probably repeating what's already been said, but........ the ammo that will probably give you the best results in your P22 is the CCI mini-mag that you've already mentioned in the OP.

[srkavanagh6621]

For some reason with my walther P22 would cycle the cheap remington golden bullets perfectly. I had a little trouble with federal but not much. every .22 will have a little mis hap here and there but for the most part I found the Walther way less finicky than say a sig misquito.

[Brian48]

The prescribed CCI mini-mags have always worked flawlessly in my P22, but I haven't had any issues with with Winchester SuperX as well. I've found the P22 is really only sensitive with ammo that is a bit on the weaker side such as Federal bulk or are prone to be really dirty.

[9mm]

I ran a box of federal hp 550 through it a month ago, along with 100 cci lead nose.

[spanishjames]

I've had very good luck with "Federal Champion Target Copper Plated Hollow Point 36 Grain 1260 fps 525 Round Box"http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/12843-5.html. I can usually find it at around $22.00 from my LGS. Cheaper than Dirt had them recently for less than $20.00, but now they're out of stock. I've tried this round in my P22 after running some Mini-Mags through it, and to my surprise, it did just fine.

I've read that the Blazer bulk ammo is the same as the Mini-Mags, but it isn't copper plated. If you're just using it for plinking and target practice, don't be afraid to try different brands of ammo until you find one your gun likes.

[triumph666]

cci stingers

[Cheapshooter]

I have tried several brands in my P22. CCI Mini-Mags are of course excellent, but for the difference in price, the Remington Golden Bullets in the 525 bulk box, or 550 round boxes at Wally World have been my choice. Flawless feeding, and minimal duds.