P22 Problems

[Blue]

I bought a P22 new a couple months ago and I've been having problems with it. I've put around 400 rounds through it and had about a dozen jams. Seems like alot of jams to me as non of my other guns jam that often. The other day I was out shooting it and I'd get one shot in, but during some point of the recoil the safety switch was getting moved to "safe". So the next shot would be a no-go. This happend 5 or 6 times until the point of where the gun wouldn't fire anymore and now the hammer just flaps around when you pull the trigger. It's very loose. I sent it in for warranty repairs but is this common of P22's? I took the slide off and looked around but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. No obvious broken/missing parts. How long does S&W normally take to fix stuff like this? Couple weeks?

[Japsican]

I think youll find all you need to know about the P22 right here...

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=48

[glockk9mm]

Iv'e had a problem with mine too, mine fails to fire sometimes. Mabe once or twice every 20rnds, It takes a second trigger pull to fire the chambered round sometimes.

[Forever-A-Soldier]

First, check your ammo. The P22 is selective on the ammo it likes. Remington "Golden Bullet" is the one that works best. Did not like Federal ammo and other types of standard .22 LR. You MUST use hi-velocity .22 rounds. (Again, Rem. Golden Bullets work best for me.)

Other problems are loose barrel nut on the non-P22CA models. Also some of the early magazines caused some feeding problems.

Hope this helps.

F.A.S. Out

[rick_in_lb]

MMMM very interesting. I just picked on up last week and put 500 rounds in it in a couple of trips. Like the previous post said, IT DOES NOT LIKE FEDERALS. I use blazers in all my 22 pistols and rifles without any problems. Heck when Big5 sells the Peters I like those also, I think they are Remingtons.
Find the ammo that works and you will enjoy the P22.

[Blue]

The problems I was having with Federals. But when it completely broke down I was shooting Remingtons. It's really weird that the upper half of the gun seemed to fail at the same time as the lower half.

[mur]

First, check your ammo. The P22 is selective on the ammo it likes.Did not like Federal ammo

Well I hope this is not the case with mine, I pick it up Tomorrow and already
bought 500 rounds of federal

I guess I'll see....and report back

[Kruzr]

We had a P22 for a rental. Unfortunately it wasn't too reliable. We tried 4 different kinds of ammo but it still had jams and light strike problems. We finally gave up and sold it.

[vega]

Well I hope this is not the case with mine, I pick it up Tomorrow and already
bought 500 rounds of federal

I guess I'll see....and report back

I don't own one but I know some friends who have them. Try this ammo, according to them they have better results.

YMMV.

[rjb]

P22 fixes

This is well documented at rimfire central

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=48

thre are 3 problems that you will have to deal with sooner or later
1) selecting the right ammo (remington golden bullets) or cci mini mags
2) securing the saefty soit wont walk it self off (simple matter of tightening the roll pin and screw)
3) securing a screw on the right side of the action that holds the barrel to the action to keep it from from working it self out. You will have to remove the slide back the screw out clean it and locktite it in place.

the main thing with this zinc framed gun is to keep it as dry as possible so that abrasive materails (gunpowder residue) doesnt wear away at the moving parts

[Forever-A-Soldier]

rjb, thanks for that thread. I didn't know anything about the key-lock and cocking of the hammer would seize up the gun with no way to disengage it!!! (Without sending it to S&W).

I never use the key lock, so I've never had that problem... but it's great to know to avoid it!

F.A.S. Out

[PLINK]

As stated above rimfirecentral has all the info you need. You may want to apply some blue loc-tite to the threads on two phillips head screws also. I have a P22 with the date code AF (2005) and have about 1000 rounds through it with no failures of any kind. The only thing I did to it was use the loc-tite on the threads of the scews mentioned above.

I use Rem. Golden Bullets and Mini Mags. I have used a hand full of Federals in the past w/o any problems.

[schizrade2]

Seriously, use the Mini-Mags or Stingers. They work perfectly. Also strip the gun every 1-2000 rounds and clean it good. (ALL the way down) .22LR is dirty and it causes the gun to malfunction a lot. I have over 5000 rounds through mine and it is still as accurate as the day I bought it. Just keep everything screwed down tight when you use the CCI ammo and keep it damp with CLP and its all good.

Also it is super sensitive to bad mags as I found out. Even the smallest dent on the lips can cause annoying malfunction.

[ivanimal]

I bought one of the first ones and it is a jamomatic I only use stingers and it is fairly reliable. Sometimes, maybe if I clean it every shot, talk nice, pet it.......

[Blue]

Well I got my P22 back today and it appears that I somehow broke the mainspring........ It's all fixed now, hopefully it wont happen again! I'm gonna try shooting it again this weekend and see if it's 100% now or not.