VQ Extractor install

I could tell you the long history of this....I sent the idea to VQ and asked them to make an extractor based on what I had learned in meddling with some of the originals, filing my own, etc. Part of the problem is the long radius on the working end of the part, the head butting into the extractor channel and sometimes not allowing the stock or VQ extractor to reach in far enough. The fact that the breech face is fully open on the bottom in the P22 and a round can easily slip off the extractor. My latest extractor works pretty good....I note that the tip only reaches in appx. 1/3 of the rim width but drops all the way down as the slide and cartridge are moved rearward. Should the round be stuck due to a dirty chamber the tip will slip over the rim. I rarely manually unload but when I do, I press down on the nose of the extractor and that seems to help. If I were to file a bit of material off the head of my stock extractor it would reach in further. Someone here did that very thing. Walther changed the extractor cut on the QD pistols. I advised VQ of the changes but never heard from them.

You can also press down on the rear of the long extractor arm when you grasp the slide if you aren't careful. This can lift the nose off of the rim. The Q model slide is better in reducing this vs the original as the rear arm sits deeper into the body of the slide. Walther has corrected all of this on the PPQ 22 and Smith M&P 22. 1917

Here is a hand made extractor that is fitted so that it will fully grasp the rim and in the process even hold the round against the breech face. Ejection direction is very good with this fitment. As you can see the extractor has pressed the round slightly off center of the breech face. This is because the round isn't held centered in the chamber nor is there a round under it supporting it. If you look at the shape of the head you can imagine that the large rounded portion might rub against the chamber cut which might not allow the extractor to reach all the way in. This is what my current QD extractor does...the head hits the chamber and does not allow the tip to reach all the way in until the round/slide moves rearward just a bit. Changing the shape of the extractor head will allow it to reach in more. 1917

Ain't it the truth.....more wobbling and less and less rolling though.... Old....yepper.



A round sitting on a P22 breech face.



The view an extractor looks at. QD above. The rear of the chamber wall at the extractor cut has been removed at the factory allowing exposure of the extractor tip for access to the rim (if something like the head of the part banging into the cut doesn't get in the way). On my pistol the stock extractor only reaches in 1/3 of the rim depth with the slide closed. That isn't really a good grasp if the round is stuck.



The stock extractor (this is a revision of the original...redesigned about 2007) has plenty of reach...too much in my opinion which is why it does't do a good job of helping with ejection direction.



The VQ is a step in the right direction...but, they didn't close the gap enough.

It needs to be understood that as the round is shoved out of the magazine and into the chamber the rear of the rim must slide up under the extractor without binding.....rim-fire... That is pretty easily accomplished even on a tightly fitting extractor by doing as Ruger does and undercut the bottom of the tip so the rim can roll into place and slide up the breech face.



If you look closely you can see some of the details on one of my long ago prototypes. The top extractor. The one on the bottom is an original. In order to move the part rearward enough to entirely close the gap between the extractor I filled the exiting hole with JB Weld and then drilled another hole forward of it. That required me to then carefully grind away and reshape the tip so it just barely but reliably would grab a rim. The rounded portion is of no significance, just a result of the tool I was using. For some reason VQ kept the same circular cut...it isn't necessary for any function that I remember.

That modified extractor was undercut and fit pretty tightly against the rim. Ejection direction was good. I think I still have it....somewhere.



One I filed from a barrel wrench handle. Note the fuller face at the extractor tip...what I did was slowly take off material until the rear face of the tip would reliably grasp a round with no gap.

This kind of stuff is why I was able to give some direction to VQ on what needed to be done. If you look very carefully....you can see that Walther has yet again tweaked the end of the tip...it now has a bit of a double curve to help it reach in....but it still has too large a gap and it doesn't reach in properly nor is it sharp where the lip contacts the rim. My 2 cents on it all. Then, 1DogFish with his CAD skills and machine shop saw what we were doing and made a few... they were the best. Perhaps he will make some more one day. 1917



Found this picture. On top is an original extractor. In the middle is the second version ( 2007? ) where Walther changed the profile so that the tip would close up the gap a bit and on the bottom, one of my prototypes where I have adjusted the reach to be just right and undercut the now tighter tip to aid in the rim of a cartridge feeding up the breech face. I don't know what these extractors are made of....some type of mim'd steel, but they are hard. It takes a carbide cutter to work on them.