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Hands down the best ammunition for your P22

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359K views 342 replies 131 participants last post by  Javbike  
#22 ·
Whatever works best for you is the best ammo for your P22. I''ve fired a lot of a number of em. My 2 cents, Stingers are too powerful although that is what Walther tests the pistol to 20K rounds with. They cost too much also. Federal bulk is marginal regarding enough power to cycle the slide. Remington GB 36 gr is the best bulk in my opinion. Target ammunition is expensive but more accurate if you just gotta get into a shooting match. M1911

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Federal bulk

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Remington bulk

And, I sometimes shoot a lot at one sitting and with no cleaning either. A number of times I've tested P22s that I have modded and continuously fired over 2,000 rounds with no further maintenance to the pistol and with no gun failure during the shooting. Dud rounds don't count against the pistol. Failure to eject, failure to close the slide, etc. do. I use Remoil for lubricant, blow off all excess and rub dry powdered moly on wear points. M1911
 
#45 ·
It's really pretty simple. P22s require a snappy round and with the light rifling prefer a copper or brass wash for keeping the barrel clean. Remington Golden Bullets work fine as the bulk priced ammo. Too bad a 525 round box isn't still priced at $6.95 as they were in 2006. Mini Mags would be my next step up the ladder.

I carry a Ruger LCP these days. The manual clearly states "do not use + or ++ powder rounds". It is still amazing to me to have people post questions and give advice along the lines of "do you think it would be alright to fire are dozen or so +P rounds to make sure they are reliable" or " I train with regular pressure rounds and then load +P for carry". What part of this do they not get? :confused: +P rounds in the pistol for carry and should they be unfortunate enough to have to actually draw and use their LCP, it probably would blow up in their hand with the first shot.

When you are carrying, you want your pistol at it's maximum reliability. Which leads me to Stingers. Not that the P22 is a carry firearm but this is a small, light weight pistol with mim'd and cast zinc parts. I'm suggesting that CCI Stingers and other hyper velocity ammo be saved for steel rifles and pistols and not be fired in a pistol that already has a well documented history of parts failures and many times from regular ammo only. M1911
 
#50 ·
Cheri81 said:
i just need to read the ejection mod and it will be perfect and love the quieter Q
Click to expand...
Ejection direction correction is all in the extractor. If you can't sort it out with the new style Wather ('07) style you might try sretching the extractor spring a bit or installing a VQ extractor. There is still a market for someone making a proper fitting one. Neither Walther or VQ tightened tolerances quite enough. Having said that, my LCP isn't so swift at ejection direction either. Plenty go straight up and land on my hand or head. And, the extractor doesn't grip the rim tightly there either. But, at least it is 100% in 3,000 rounds regarding firing, cycling and ejection. M1911
 
#53 ·
johncb76006 said:
Mine is happy with either the CCI MiniMags or the CCI AR Tactical.

Had a bit of problems with the extractor. Instead of stretching the spring I replaced it with stiffer spring of the same length and it works just fine.
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Just make sure you don't get it so strong that the tip of the extractor actually pushed the slide rearward a bit. That would leave the rear of your cartridge unsupported. When firing, blow back gasses force the case out. The extractor is used for manual unloading but it does play a very important part in causing the spent case to flip over the extractor tip for good ejection direction. M1911
 
#115 ·
cabbage said:
I just bought my P22 today and went straight to the range. the cci stingers worked well. Remington golden bullet, high velocity and thunderbolt worked well. as did cci mini mags. out od 300 plus rounds I did have a few fte's but I count that as being a new gun. the thing that bugged me the most was the slide failing to lock back after the last round. I realize its a magazine issue and will look into it further
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Could be a magazine problem...no follower button. Could be your thumb on the stop arm. Could be the stop arm not moving up and down freely. A very tiny spring holds it down, the follower button and much stronger magazine spring presses it up so it will engage the slide stop notch after the mag is empty. Or, the round might not be blowing the slide back far enough for the catch to engage the stop notch or the mag spring is too weak. Stretch it as a last resort. Insert empty mag and test for free movement first, pull slide back and make sure the stop arm is functioning properly to begin with. M1911
 
#126 ·
Bought a bunch of Federal 550 round, 36 gr, 1260 fps ammo the other day. $19.77 per bulk box. These are beautiful rounds, shiny brass, copper wash, and nice detailing on the working end. If only they had put some powder in them. They won't even come close to cycling my P22 with the two cut coils. So I cut another off....nope, then I cut another off....not there yet. I have spare stuff so I figured there is only one other thing that can be done......weaken the hammer spring. Got out my pull gauge, I had already lowered it from 8lbs to 7. If you get it too light you will get light strikes and I know of no method for perfecting just how to lower the springs strength accurately. So I pulled of the grip, got under the lower leg of the spring and wound it back. Still 7 lb. Wound it some more.....6 lb 11 oz. Wound it some more....oops, 5 lb 13 oz. Put the grips back on and loaded it up.

Pulled the trigger, the hammer landed.....nothing. Pulled the trigger 5 times before the round fired. I was pretty determined after all that work I was going to do some shooting. Pulled the trigger on the next one...it fired. A couple more took multiple strikes then the next 100 ran fine. They do have light strikes but they are firing fine. Slipped in a RGB and it felt like a .380 the recoil was so much greater. What's with Federal. I think these things are coming out the muzzle at about 120 fps. And way back I shot 2,000 to 3,000 of the blue box Feds at a sitting and those were about $6 per bulk box.

I was digging around the other day and found a couple of new hammer springs hidden in the drawer so I can start over if I need to but it's time to hit up Walther for some new exsperimenting parts anyway. Wish they had some RGBs to send me. I haven't seen one of those in over a year.

OK, RGBs are the absolute worst ammo on planet earth...don't anyone buy any and spread the word will you. They are radio-active too I hear. That should help a bit. M1911
 
#127 ·
Just sent Federal a lengthy request regarding what is going on with this ammo. It is Federal 750 which I don't see even listed at their sight. This ammo has a muzzle velocity of 1,260 fps and RGBs are rated at 1,280 fps. No way, this ammo is coming out of the short barrel at something far less than a RGB. I asked about powder burn rates, etc. Let's see if I get an answer. I wrote Remington one time asking what was new with their "NEW" RGB label. I actually got a reply. M1911
 
#129 ·
Walmart, my app showed "availability unknow" at five or six stores. That means the have them. I've never seen..."in stock". Anyway I walked in about 8;30 pm after working out because there was a store on the way home. Took a look at the .22 shelf expecting to see nothing as usual but there they were, over 100 bulk boxes. I was the only one there, got three. Could have come back early the next morning and gotten more or gone to another store but by then the hoarding network would be in full contact and on the move.

As a note, other folks bought the same ammo at other stores in other states and they reported prices as high as $24 for the exact same stuff. I don't know what is up with that. M1911
 
#132 ·
So I did a little shooting this morning and the weak Federals worked 100% with four coils clipped and the 8 lb hammer spring being overwound so that it was under 6 lbs. Strikes are light but apparently hard enough. Thought I'd test some Remington subsonics. They are more powerful than the Federal 750 in the Walmart brown 550 pack. In any event it seems you can modify the P22 to run about anything. I still have the O ring in there and the take down lever is suffering no damage. This is the old slide and I've still never cracked one.

I expect Walther isn't really too happy about folks tearing their pistols apart and you would have to if you were to install a weaker hammer spring. Walther is erring on the side of reliable ignition over the years. You know there are folks that don't clean and properly lube their firearms. Still, in this day where you can't be ammo picky I want to be able to fire these 3.6 cent rounds that seem to be coming in in large quantities. I'm pretty sure Remington got out of the .22 ammo business.....as much as people complain about them...I haven't seen one box in over a year.

Crete says when storing the pistol leave the slide back, hammer cocked to soften those springs. That might work but he just shoots the heck out of his and that softens them even quicker i expect. M1911
 
#133 · (Edited)
Got a reply from Federal, I must have gotten the politician in the group...:) I'll let you guys expound on these differences...1260 Fed muzzle vs 1280 RGBs....uh, 36 gr, lead, copper wash.....lubes????, primer???? M1911

James

There are several differences in the 36 grain RGB and the Federal bulk pack. Not only is the velocity different, but so is the primer, powder, bullet and bullet lube. In our experience some guns just perform better with some brands of ammunition, even when the ammo is similar.

Our .22 plant runs 24 hrs per day 7 days a week as it has for the past several years and is at capacity.

Thanks
Federal
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#138 ·
fawdon said:
My p22i have fed it 1-,2000 stingers and 2 remington bucket of bullets so far the Remington i used to smooth out the newness of the thing went great on them then i used the stingers boy are they fun to shoot with but the thing is you know the magazine stop on the left when you look in the chamber now it seems lose looks like its going back for some work .
You know I just read that back I have only had it 3 months no wonder its lose
Click to expand...
Magazine stop? The ejector on the left side is a bit loose. No issue there. M1911
 
#182 ·
Well....the price was right ten years ago...bulk box for $6. The price is not alright these days....but, what can you do. I've shot a lot of bulk RGBs and still do. A bulk box will run from O duds to four perhaps. One time I got two in a row that were duds. But, since this is a plinker....I don't care. The RGBs are snappy....not sure why other brands with similar specs aren't.

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Here is one shooting with no cleaning or lubing of a P22 and no stoppage allowed or the shoot ended. Dud rounds didn't count against the pistol...A P22 can be made to run pretty smoothly and that is a lot of spent cases on the floor.....Do you know how long it takes to load that many rounds? :p That is what wears your shootin' hand out....not pulling the trigger. 1917
 
#183 ·
Actually.....when I was a teen I paid $6 per 500 rounds back in about 1965. I preferred Peters high velocity for one rifle I owned. That same $6 equates to over $46 in 2017 money.....so, while not the bargain they were 10 years ago....I guess they aren't too badly priced. 1917
 
#194 ·
JakesTake said:
OK, I have to ask for some advice...I've owned my P22 for 5 years and have shot about 3,000 rounds through it. I completely disassemble and thoroughly clean it after every trip to the range, and it still WILL NOT perform well unless I use CCI Mini Mags or Remington Thunderbolts (trust me, I've tried them all). ANY other ammo causes at least one failure to eject per magazine, usually more. I've tried different magazines to no avail. I love this gun, but I'm at my wits end!! Does anyone have any ideas?
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We are full of ideas and if we don't know....we'll make something up. First off, what pistol do you have....two letter date code please and next how long is the stagger slot on the magazines. They come with a 3/8" slot which is no good and 1" slots which are good. And have you tried Remington Golden Bullets....not Thunderbolts. Thunderbolts are bare lead and can quickly foul the light rifling in the P22. Plated ammo is your friend here. Also, Federal and Winchester are on the weak end out of this pistol and probably all other short barrel pistols. I don't care what the box says velocity wise.....you can easily feel the difference...RGBs vs Fed or Winchester.

Failure to eject can be caused by a couple of things....weak ammo not blowing the slide back far and hard enough,, limp wristing....keep a firm grip on all semi auto pistols regardless of caliber and especially on .22s which are pretty wimpy to begin with. Next you need to scrub your chamber out. A round should easily drop in and drop out. If not...scrub it some more. You won't hurt it....made of hard steel. Lead is hard to get out. How about an inspection of spent cases...any bad scratches down the sides that might indicate something in the chamber causing the case to drag. Remember, in a .22 semi auto the spent case is blown out by hot gasses....not the extractor. OK, think about those. 1917
 
#195 ·
Make sure the barrel nut is tight and the two frame screws on the right side of the pistol. If they won't stay tight blue thread lock them after degreasing. I assume you extractor and ejector aren't damaged. The ejector fits on two pins but it is not a tight fit. Remington golden bullets are bulk ammo too....bottom of the line price wise but they snap right out of there really fast. Primer, powder....I don't know why.....I've asked. 1917
 
#196 ·
salamanderseven said:
The rear sight is a bit crooked and I was hitting really low at 20 yds with #4 front sight and 6 o'clock sighting. When I aimed to have my center bead on top of a previous splat mark my placement was good and repeatable.

Was using some graphite in the slide (from a pencil) as a lube.
Click to expand...
#4 is a tall sight and will make you shoot low at normal plinking distances. I use #2. The new pistol came with a #3 on it. The rear sight is only for windage adjustments. Will have to take it off if I get serious with shooting this one. I have a 5" model for serious shooting. 5/8" groups at 25M....the short barrel won't do that. Of course...off hand...I can't either....that was from a rest. :) 1917
 
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