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I just wanted to share some info about this process so other people can accomplish it in a few days, not the few months that it took me.
The short answer: Call Walther Firearms (who makes the gun for S&W) at 479-242-8500 and tell them you want to buy a CA barrel cap for their P22 CA. Remove the barrel cap on your non-CA M&P22 (that has the wrench slots for easy removal), then Loctite the CA barrel cap (that is completely round and smooth with no wrench slots) on it it's place. That's it. The only difference between the normal M&P22 and the CA model is the smooth barrel cap that is Loctite'd on at the factory.
A little more info: I tried for 2 months to get a M&P22CA barrel, but since S&W doesn't make the CA version any more, they don't stock any parts for it either. They actually have over 400 of the M&P22 CA's in stock at the factory, but said they will just have to take a loss on them since they're off roster here and no one outside of CA will buy one. I tried for 3 weeks to talk to a supervisor to get them to sell me the barrel off one of the guns they were going to have to get rid of, but no dice.
I finally called Walther as a hail Mary to see if they could get me a CA barrel (since they make the gun) and lucked out. The guy there told me that the only difference between the two models was that the CA model has a smooth barrel cap that is red Loctite'd on at the factory. They actually don't stock parts for the M&P22, but he looked at the specs and realized that it's the exact same end cap that Walther uses on the CA version of their P22. They had them in stock and got it to me for about $20 shipped.
One other thing: When you register it here in CA, you will probably get a call from the DOJ asking you to provide pics to show that it's not the threaded version. If they're not satisfied with that (which they probably won't be), you'll have to meet with a DOJ agent so they can inspect it and take their own pics.
Not a big deal, it takes about 5 min and they'll come to you (my guy met me in the parking garage at my work).
The agent that contacted me was actually extremely helpful and worked with me for almost 2 months while I tried to find a solution that didn't involve me selling the gun (this was before I found out that I could just get the CA barrel cap and was thinking about having the standard cap pinned and welded). He could have very easily been a dick about it and said that I had an illegal pistol in the state and ordered me to immediately get rid of it.
Hope this helps!
-H
The short answer: Call Walther Firearms (who makes the gun for S&W) at 479-242-8500 and tell them you want to buy a CA barrel cap for their P22 CA. Remove the barrel cap on your non-CA M&P22 (that has the wrench slots for easy removal), then Loctite the CA barrel cap (that is completely round and smooth with no wrench slots) on it it's place. That's it. The only difference between the normal M&P22 and the CA model is the smooth barrel cap that is Loctite'd on at the factory.
A little more info: I tried for 2 months to get a M&P22CA barrel, but since S&W doesn't make the CA version any more, they don't stock any parts for it either. They actually have over 400 of the M&P22 CA's in stock at the factory, but said they will just have to take a loss on them since they're off roster here and no one outside of CA will buy one. I tried for 3 weeks to talk to a supervisor to get them to sell me the barrel off one of the guns they were going to have to get rid of, but no dice.
I finally called Walther as a hail Mary to see if they could get me a CA barrel (since they make the gun) and lucked out. The guy there told me that the only difference between the two models was that the CA model has a smooth barrel cap that is red Loctite'd on at the factory. They actually don't stock parts for the M&P22, but he looked at the specs and realized that it's the exact same end cap that Walther uses on the CA version of their P22. They had them in stock and got it to me for about $20 shipped.
One other thing: When you register it here in CA, you will probably get a call from the DOJ asking you to provide pics to show that it's not the threaded version. If they're not satisfied with that (which they probably won't be), you'll have to meet with a DOJ agent so they can inspect it and take their own pics.
Not a big deal, it takes about 5 min and they'll come to you (my guy met me in the parking garage at my work).
The agent that contacted me was actually extremely helpful and worked with me for almost 2 months while I tried to find a solution that didn't involve me selling the gun (this was before I found out that I could just get the CA barrel cap and was thinking about having the standard cap pinned and welded). He could have very easily been a dick about it and said that I had an illegal pistol in the state and ordered me to immediately get rid of it.
Hope this helps!
-H
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