Phoenix Arms HP22A

[asnider123]

Hi Satex, one more thing: it was kind of a pain the first time I disassembled my HP-22, but with a little practice, I can take it down and reassemble in about 20 seconds (in fact, I enjoy demonstrating it for my friends). I use the bottom of the barrel to compress the spring.

The only problem is that I am wearing the blueing off a little on the bottom of the barrel, easily fixed!! When my spare mag arrives, I will use it instead to compress the spring, problem solved.

Alan

[ivanimal]

Hi Satex, one more thing: it was kind of a pain the first time I disassembled my HP-22, but with a little practice, I can take it down and reassemble in about 20 seconds (in fact, I enjoy demonstrating it for my friends). I use the bottom of the barrel to compress the spring.

The only problem is that I am wearing the blueing off a little on the bottom of the barrel, easily fixed!! When my spare mag arrives, I will use it instead to compress the spring, problem solved.

Alan

Mine is brushed nickel, no such problem. Fast gun to take down for sure.

[tom_NM]

Regarding the company: as of 8:15 am (Pacific time) this morning, they were still open for business, because I called them and ordered spare parts.

Alan:

What phone number did you use?

I cannot find a working phone number for them. The two phone numbers I found either didn't answer, or were disconnected.

THANKS!

[tom_NM]

Phoenix NOT out of business!

I just talked to a friendly gal at Phoenix Arms who is sending the parts I need at no charge.

I'm flabbergasted. I've tried several times and either the number was not working or there was no answer. The gal says they close early, and do not answer the phones at lunch time. I must have hit them repeatedly during those times.

But the phone number (909) 937-6900 works just fine. It would be less confusing if there was an answering machine, and of course a web site would be nice.

But I guess there are some corners that must be cut to sell a decent little plinker for a hundred bucks or so.

Summary: company is open; phone works; lady is nice; she sent me my parts for free.

I hope they stay open forever.

Tom

[asnider123]

I just talked to a friendly gal at Phoenix Arms who is sending the parts I need at no charge.

I'm flabbergasted. I've tried several times and either the number was not working or there was no answer. The gal says they close early, and do not answer the phones at lunch time. I must have hit them repeatedly during those times.

But the phone number (909) 937-6900 works just fine. It would be less confusing if there was an answering machine, and of course a web site would be nice.

But I guess there are some corners that must be cut to sell a decent little plinker for a hundred bucks or so.

Summary: company is open; phone works; lady is nice; she sent me my parts for free.

I hope they stay open forever.

Tom

Hi Tom, I was gonna give you the same number that's the one in my HP22A owner manual.

Yah, they are very nice and helpful, don't you think? I'm with you, wish they had a website. Though if they did, they would probably get hacked and spammed unmercifully by the anti crowd out in Kali.

You can buy any part from them at cheeeaaappp prices (except for the frame itself).

[JayDeeSacramento]

I've had a lot of fun with this little gun. I recently bought the target barrel and extended magazine which drastically improved the accuracy. Other than the firing pin missing almost 1/3 of the time and having to recock it and fire I'm pretty pleased. For what it cost and what it's used for I don't have too many complaints.

[caldude]

JayDee,

It looks like you're new to Calguns - welcome! However, it's not necessary to add comments to threads that are almost a year old, even last month is old.

[DanHoman]

I just joined for the purpose of answering your post. I have had 5 (in total) Phoenix Arms 22HP pistols. The last one I bought for my daughter for her personal protection while she is away at University. I gave one to my wife as well. I LOVE these little pocket pistols. They have superior accuracy, have adjustable rear sights, are easy to clean, and are small enough to easily carry in a pocket. I can hit a soda can 10 out of 10 shots at 25 feet. (you won't need to be more accurate than that!) Phoenix arms ALSO is very good at keeping parts available. If you don't want to spend a small fortune,,, yet have a nice accurate, functional pistol, you can't go wrong with this little pistol. (KEEP IT CLEAN!!!) AS WITH ALL SEMI AUTOMATICS, CLEANLINESS IS IMPERITAVE!

[rino]

i love mine , i have 2 one with 5"barrel and they were jaming, i went to the factory and they re ramped the barrels for me as i waited and test fired them. at the time they were by the ontario airport. they did it for free and i have yet to have any more problems. the trigger is a little slopy but what do you want for 100.00

i think they are good for the price

[terry4130]

My Dad's been looking for one of these, anybody know where to pick one up in San Diego?

[bigthaiboy]

I have the nickel finish HP-22A. Paid a whapping $99 for it. Not one FTF/ FTE in two years. It's a fun little gun. My only complaint is the two safeties (one is the firing pin block) on it.

Just realized this was a necro-necro thread.

[zsjames]

Ok, so even though this tread is very post-mortem, I wanted to drop my two cents:
I decided to do my g/f a favor and clean her pistol. Heh. I'm used to my glock, and boy is this one a big pain in the *** by comparison to clean. she told me she always just cleaned the barrel and mag well, so I decided to field strip it and give it a good cleaning. Well, I've since ordered her a replacement recoil spring, and I'm contemplating just buying her another .22 altogether.
I shot her pistol the other day, and did come across it's user-UNfriendliness.
(safety issues w/slide and clearing a round mostly)
So I went looking for a fix. Now, not that I'd push another forum, but, over on firearmstalk.com (another forum) I saw this bit of info:
Gunsmokeer wrote:
"The Phoenix Arms .22 semi-auto pistol, which looks good and fits my hand well, and only sells for $125 brand new, is not reliable. And it has some really weird controls and safety features that have never been seen on any other handgun (and I hope they are never used again on any future guns, either).
(P.S. The Phoenix Arms Rangemaster is accurate. It's just not reliable.)

I agree that it looks good, it's accurate, inexpensive, fits the hand well, and the safety features are strange, unnatural and cumbersome. Take down and reassembly can be a real PITA too.
Out-of-the-box, the reliability isn't great, however there are some simple modifications that can be made to make this a much better performer.
I bought one of these on a whim about 10 years ago at a gun show. I wasn't worried about voiding the warranty because it was so inexpensive, I just wanted to make it work better, which I succeded at.
I first dissembled the gun and studied the mechanism to determine how everything interacted. The safety interlocks were the first area to be addressed.
I don't know who designed this ridiculous system, but he should be shot !
With the safety ON, you cannot pull the trigger, cock or lower the hammer or retract the slide. This is mostly normal but it gets strange when you take the safety OFF. In the "FIRE" position the magazine release is locked-out and the mag can't be removed (?). So you must put it back on SAFE first, but when the mag is removed, the safety is now locked on "SAFE" and the slide can't be retracted to empty the chamber (?) You can lock the slide open with the safety on and remove the magazine, but once the mag is removed you can't close the slide again until you reinsert the magazine (?)
This retarded system makes it very confusing and requires several extra steps, in a specific sequence, to unload the gun and make it safe, especially if you still have ammo in the magazine.
The mods I performed make this gun work in a normal fashion that's familiar to users of other semi-auto pistols.
The first thing was to remove the left side grip panel and the safety lever, then file off the lower left corner where it slips in under the mag release button. Now the magazine can be removed regardless of what position the safety is in. The next modification was to bend the magazine/safety interlock up and out of the way, so as not to block movement of the safety from SAFE to FIRE when the mag is removed. The slide can now be retracted with the magazine removed to enable clearing of the chamber, now the safety works the same way it does on any other pistol.
These modifications can be performed in about 15 minutes with a file and a small screwdriver.
DISCLAIMER: I am NOT a gunsmith or a Lawyer. If you choose to do this modification, you do so at your own risk. However, anyone with even the slightest background in mechanical engineering can study this simple mechanism and reach the same conclusion I did.

****
Now, I did the grinding of the safety/mag release catch, but I can't figure out which "magazine/safety interlock" to modify, so there is still the mag/slide issue to deal with.
Hope this helps to any and all that have this pistol.

[zsjames]

One more note...
I found a youtube video showing specifically where the mods are and why.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0ztkasr6PA&NR=1

[Ezzieq]

I Love My Phoenix!

My husband bought me one a few weeks ago. I love it. Its very accurate. It was shooting to the right just out of the box but the rear sight is adjustable. Mine is the BLUE ( aka all black) & the sights are a lil hard to see. I saw some videos on painting the sights with a nail polish or enamel paint, which I plan to do.

I was a a bit frustrated with all the safteys at first. I started shooting on a XD-9 and you kinda have to think backwards for this gun. It takes a bit of getting used to. I bought a few extra mags from the factory. I thought about modifying to get rid of them but it voids the warranty.

The slide is a smooth pull. With the XD I have alot of trouble with the slide. I can rack it, but when it comes to holding it open to lock the slide I don't have enough strength for it. No such problem with this gun, just remeber to lock open before you remove the magazine it won't rack without the mag.

It is picky when it comes to ammo. I started out shooting Blazer bulk ammo (brick pack), it jammed big time. I switched to Winchester brick pack (modified hollow point) it did much better. The best has been Federal brick pack. I have read some people use mini mags but its not recommended cuz it cause cracks.

I love to shoot it! Great for plinking. Great for Concealed Carry, which is why I got it. Its a lil heavy, but I use a In-The-Pants Holster and it stays put well. I have small hands even for a woman and it fits great in my hands.

MEN BEWARE: my husband did get bit with the slide. If you have overly big hands it is a concern when your helping your wife with this gun.

I just wish there was accessorizing available for this gun. I'll have to get creative with it.

[hefedehefe]

I had two once, one of them had the slide break so I sent it in and they gave me a new gun no problem, but they said to use only standard velocity ammo. Problem is that the standard now is high velocity about 1100 fps and it is harder to find, plus it didnt seem to cycle as well as the regular bulk ammo. I loved the guns though. Ended up selling both. One to my cousin and he loves it. He uses the high velocity bulk ammo in it and hasnt had any problem. I replaced the two with a gsg1911 which I love and eventually got a ruger sr22, but have to admit that those two little hp22's where more fun to shoot imo. And they look cooler and they were small and nice to hold. And the action looks cool. Oh, I am starting to miss them