Sold the Walther P22

Well, I hated doing it , but the time had come. I sold the Walther P22. If you recall, I purchased the P22 in March 2009 and used it to learn how to properly/safely handle a firearm and shoot. It was my very first firearm.

Ever since I picked up the P99 and then the T3, the P22 has sat in the safe. I was hoping that when I go to the range, the wife would join me and use the P22. No dice. As such, I decided I would rather sell it and have someone else enjoy the P22 rather than let it sit.

I placed an ad on the online gun forum I frequent and sold the P22 within 24 hours. Now with the funds, I'm hoping to pick up a bounce bag and use it to improve my JKD. If you don't know what a bounce bag it, here's a pic:

A bounce bag is great for places with limited space and/or no place to hang a punching bag. I'll be using the bounce bag to work my lead straight and lead hook kick with hopes of refining my mechanics and developing more power. So far, it's been hard to find in Los Angeles. I've gone to a few martial arts equipment stores and none have had them in stock. I would order online, but I'm not interested in paying $70+ for shipping. Hopefully, I'll find one locally soon.

Alumagrips for the Nighthawk T3

About 2 months back I took an advanced handgun class and used my Nighthawk Custom T3. I ran the following through the T3 during the class:

• 300 rounds of WWB
• 50 rounds of American Eagle
• 50 rounds of Winchester JHP

I had a failure to load within the first 10 rounds (which a quick tap and rack remedied) and no failures for the rest of the session. The T3 was wonderfully balanced in the hand and I could barely feel the recoil.

The one thing that bothered me with the T3 was the grips. My hands were very raw at the end of the session due to the aggressive checkering...not to also mention that the grips seemed to be a bit thick for me as I'm used to the slimmer grips of the Walther P99 and Walther P22. Well, I decided to change the grips and picked up a set of slim tactical Alumagrips.

The slim grips are slim!


The Alumagrips next to the stock T3 grips.


The Alumagrips installed on the T3.


Look how thin my T3 grip is now!

I absolutely love the Alumagrips on the T3! The T3 grip is now as thin as that of my P99. I feel as though I have a better hold on the gun and highly recommend them...especially if your hands are on the smaller side.

Basic Handgun 2 Class

I had the chance to take the Basic Handgun 2 Class with Greg Block on Sunday afternoon. Per the class description:

This is a great class if you have the basics and want to improve your accuracy and confidence to shoot well in a pressure situation. Emphasis is placed on improving the shooter's ability to make rapid multiple shots on both single and multiple targets at varying distances.

We spent the entire afternoon doing double taps on various targets. We started off on large silhouette targets then gradually moved onto smaller and smaller targets. When we were able to group our shots adequately, we were challenged with multiple 4"x6" targets (numbered 1 through 4) where we first had to identify the correct target (based on what the instructor yelled out), align our sights, then double tap that target.

Honestly, it was quite a challenge. Not only was I using the P99 for the very first time, but I was also using the Big Dot sights mentioned in the previous post. I shot fairly well, but noticed that I was shooting low. "Dotting the I" on the Big Dots can be tricky at first as I was trying to shoot too quickly without having truly "dotted the I." I'll need more practice, but once I get accustomed to targeting with the Big Dot sights, I should be fine.

As for the P99, it performed like a champ. The recoil was slight, the slide was smooth and the AS trigger is unlike any other that I've shot with. I think the P99 is one of the best semi-automatic handguns out there.

Near the end of the class, I was able to get side-by-side double taps - a first for me. The key was to keep my firing hand/arm fairly straight and to lean into my shot; by doing both, I was able to keep the gun steady in my hand and could fire the follow-up shot rapidly and accurately.

I have a few months to practice before I take Greg Block's Intermediate Handgun Class. I can't wait to hit the indoor range and improve my skills with both the P99 and P22.

Walther P99 Holster

Now that I have my handguns (Walther P22 and P99), I'm committed to getting the proper training so I can be a responsible gun owner. In early April I took a Basic Handgun Course (which I wrote about here) and will be taking follow-up courses over the next few months.

For the upcoming courses, a holster and magazine holder are required equipment. As such, I picked up a fairly inexpensive belt holster (roughly $15) off of eBay.



As you can see, it's an Uncle Mike's Kydex Belt Holster and it fit the Walther P99 perfectly. I didn't get a paddle holster as I won't be putting on and taking off this holster on a daily basis and I like the added "security" of having my belt looped through the holster.

I'm now looking to pick up a double magazine case. I'm leaning towards an Uncle Mike's Kydex Double Mag Case, but am open to others. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Review: Walther America Customer Support

As some of you may remember from a previous post, my purchase of the Walther P22 came with 4 magazines. The mags were all in good shape with 3 of them having a flat base and 1 of them having the finger rest.

As it turns out, Walther had upgraded the mags over the years to resolve a feeding issue with the earlier ones. It so happened that one of my flat base mags is an earlier magazine that was prone to feeding issues. On a whim, I decided to call Walther America's Customer Support number (1-800-372-6454 ) to see if they would be willing to exchange the mag. (Note: Walther America is really Smith & Wesson. S&W is the official importer of Walther firearms in the US and handles all Walther inquiries and customer support issues.)

I spoke to a nice gentleman and explained to him why I was calling. He advised that it would not be an issue to replace the mag. He asked that I send the mag back to them with a note regarding the problem and they would replace it for me. I sent the mag back to Walther America with my letter. In the letter, I asked them to replace the mag and also asked if it would be possible to replace it with a finger rest magazine (as I preferred the finger rest mag over the flat base mag and both magazines were the same price).

I finally received the replacement magazine today...and guess what? Walther America did replace it with a finger rest mag!



A big thumbs up to Walther America's Customer Support!

PS - The mag does have a bit of shipping grease on the follower and spring. I'll need to clean it out prior to trying it out at the range. I wouldn't want any of the grease to get onto the rounds and possibly gunk up the barrel.

Review: SKB Gun Bags

For those of you who don't know, SKB is a company that makes bags and cases to protect items during travel and storage. SKB makes a wide variety of cases - from cases for musical instruments & pro audio equipment, optics, and sporting goods to case for industrial applications such as for the military.

I knew that SKB made pistol storage cases, but it wasn't until I went to Turner's to pickup my Walther P99 that I realized that SKB also made gun bags. I actually bought one from Turner's, but subsequently returned it as I couldn't justify spending $32 on a single gun bag. Luckily, I was able to find the SKB gun bag cheaper on Amazon.com. In fact, I bought two gun bags:

• SKB Dry-Tek 9" Handgun Bag
• SKB Dry-Tek 12" Handgun Bag
  

The total for both SKB gun bags was only $6 more than what the single bag from Turner's cost. To boot, I also received free shipping from Amazon. Well, the bags came in today, so I thought I'd share some pics.



Here's the 9" bag that's going to hold the P22:



Here's the 12" bag that will hold the P99:



The SKB gun bags are extremely high quality. The gun bag is made of Dry-Tek padding to keep your firearms dry and it is double-layered to protect them from damage if you should drop it. Each gun bag has large zippers and a slide-through system where you can padlock the bag (as required in the state of CA when you are transporting your firearm in a vehicle). In addition, there are two exterior pockets - one on each side of the bag - to hold magazines and other accessories.

Overall, I would say that the bags are well worth the money. Sure, you can get less expensive gun bags; but if you already spent hundreds of dollars on your firearms, why not spend a little bit more to properly store your gear and know that both your firearms and gun bags will last much longer.

Walther P99 Slide Disassembly

Field stripping the Walther P99 is a breeze. It's much easier to strip and put back the P99 together than the Walther P22 as the P22 requires a plastic guide rod to put the slide back onto the frame.

P99 Field Strip


P22 Field Strip


Beyond the field strip, however, I'm at a lost. I really wasn't sure how one would get to the decocker, extractor, etc. Luckily there was a link from WaltherForums to the following video by Thorn on how to properly disassemble the slide of the Walther P99. Enjoy!

Review: CCI Mini-Mag HP & CCI Stinger

As I posted previously, I put 250 rounds through my Walther P22 and the CCI Mini-Mag HP's & CCI Stingers performed flawlessly. No jams, no fail to fires, no fail to ejects. Being that this was a .22, I was concerned about potential FTF's and rounds not loading properly, but my P22 ate up the CCI ammunition.



I put 200 rounds of the Mini-Mag HP's and 50 rounds of the Stingers through the P22. I can tell you that the Stingers do have more 'kick' to them - the felt recoil was stronger when using the Stingers. I mixed the rounds in the mag and whenever a Stinger was shot, I could definitely feel it. You could see it too as the flash from the Stingers was definitely brighter.

Per CCI's website, the velocity generated by a Stinger vs the Mini-Mag HP:

• At muzzle - 1640 ft/sec vs 1260 ft/sec
  
• At 50 yards - 1292 ft/sec vs 1104 ft/sec
  

The energy generated by a Stinger vs the Mini-Mag HP:

• At muzzle - 191 ft-lbs vs 127 ft-lbs
  
• At 50 yards - 119 ft-lbs vs 97 ft-lbs
  

I realize these measured figures are probably for a rifle, so the numbers will differ for a handgun. However, I definitely felt a difference with the Stingers.

As one of the YouTube videos I embedded on a previous post about the ammo for the Walther P22 suggested, I'll be using the Stinger as a self-defense round only. The P22 is rated for high-velocity ammo, so the Mini-Mag HP is just right for consistent use at the range. The Stingers are "hypervelocity", so I'm going to assume that it packs a bit more powder. At this point, I'm not inclined to shorten the life of the P22 by putting too much pressure through it with the Stingers.

This works for me as 100 rounds of the CCI Mini-Mag HP's at Walmart cost about $6.47, while 50 rounds of the CCI Stingers run about $5.47. For $1 more, I'm getting 50 more rounds and that just means more fun at the range.

Basic Handgun Class

The day finally arrived and I took the Basic Handgun Class offered by Greg Block at Burro Canyon Shooting Park in Azusa, CA.



The class was roughly 6 hours in length:

• 2 hours of lecture - Fundamentals of Firearms Safety, along with the skills necessary to properly handle a revolver and semi-automatic pistol; understanding of what a handgun will do, what it won't do, and why it works the way it works.
  
• 4 hours of shooting - Proper Stance and Grip, Sight Alignment, Sight Picture and Trigger Control; rapid fire/combat shooting with multi-target drills on life-size paper silhouette targets. Every student is required to shoot 250 rounds with their handgun.

I had the smallest caliber gun in the class with my Walther P22 shooting .22lr. Everyone else either had a 38 revolver (as provided by the instructor) or brought their own semi-automatics which were either .45's or .40's. In fact, when one of the instructors (there were 4 instructors for 9 students) pulled out my P22 to inspect it, his exact comment to me was, "Oh, how cute!"

Anyways, my Walther P22 was a champ. It ate up all 250 rounds (200 rounds of CCI Mini Mags and 50 rounds of CCI Stingers). All rounds fired flawlessly - no jams, no FTF, no FTE, etc. I couldn't say the same about the other students' semi-auto handguns: a few jammed, some needed lube half way through, one even got a squib. The cute Walther P22 was just fine....thank you very much!

All in all, it was a very good class. I learned a lot and corrected a lot of things that will help my shooting. The biggest thing for me was my sight alignment (I had a tendency to focus on the target immediately after having acquired the target via the sights) and trigger pull (where I tended to pull the gun slightly to the left when pulling the trigger). As the class progressed, I was able to slowly correct these issues and my shot placement improved to where I was either hitting the target or within an inch of the target.

If you're in Los Angeles and looking for a basic handgun class, I would highly recommend this class. It's well worth the money to pickup these fundamentals and I'm looking forward to my next range session to further hone what I learned from Greg.

PS - If you have never been to Burro Canyon, it's located in the San Gabriel Canyon of the Angeles National Forest. There is absolutely no cell phone signal/reception up there, so be prepared to be away from it all the entire time you are there. Restrooms are just porta potties; and according to the schedule on the doors, they are serviced once per week.

Walther P99 Joins the Family

Well, I haven't owned my Walther P22 all that long but I've already made another purchase - a Walther P99 9mm. Like the P22, I purchased the P99 used and got a good deal. Here are a few pics from the previous owner:



It's a 1st generation P99 from the early 2000s and in very good condition - relatively clean (a bit of specking on the slide near the decocker), barrel looked great, trigger was smooth, and it fit perfectly in my hand. As you can see from the pictures above, the slide is titanium and the frame is black. The P99 is truly the P22's big brother.

Now if I can just find 9mm ammo (in bulk) for range time, I'll be set! I don't take possession of the P99 for another week, but I can't wait.

Additional Goodies for the Walther P22

As I slowly get myself acclimated to handgun ownership, I'm starting to pick up items here and there for the Walther P22. Over the past 2 weeks I've purchased the following:

• Holster
• A-Zoom Rimfire Training Rounds
  
• Gun Slick® Roll - up Cleaning Mat Kit
• Small Shooter's Bag (not pictured)

I'm not going to conceal carry the P22, so I decided to get a plain holster that would fit the handgun with the attached laser. I picked it up from eBay for roughly $10. Now, if CA should ever decide that it would allow for open carry, I'm set. :-) (HA...like CA would ever allow for open carry.)




The A-Zoom Training Rounds have been a very useful tool. Rather than handle live ammunition inside the house, I can practice loading/unloading the magazines and simulate loading/chambering the P22. I picked them up at the local Turner's Outdoorsman for about $8.




The Gun Slick® Roll - up Cleaning Mat Kit I got from Amazon.com for roughly $25. I just figured that it would be easier to purchase a kit that had most of the items I would need to clean and keep my gun pristine. It's a nice little kit - it has most of the brushes and rods I'll probably ever need, cotton patches, a bottle of Gunslick Ultra Klenz Advanced Gun Cleaner, a bottle of Gunslick Ultra Lube Advanced Gun Oil, and a gun mat. The gun mat could be a bit thicker, but it should do.

The shooter's bag I got from a member of Calguns.net for $10. It's a small black bag that should hold more than enough ammunition for my purposes, has 6 outside pockets with velcro closures, and a shoulder strap. So far, I've been able to fit all my handgun items into it and still have room for more. It's a handy little bag.

The next item I would like to purchase is a gun safe. I don't like keeping the cable lock on the P22 and the gun case that came with the P22 isn't all that secure. I'm looking for gun safe that will hold 2 handguns as I have a standing agreement with the wife that I would own no more than 2 handguns. Any suggestions?

Walther P22 in My Possession!

Well, the 10-day waiting period is finally over and look at what I finally picked up!



That's right - the Walther P22 and all its goodies are finally in my possession! Here's what I got:

• A 'like new' Walther P22
• Walther Lasersight
• Walther Red Dot Scope Sight
• 4 magazines (each holding 10 rounds)
• Walther P22 Case
• Gun lock (not shown)

Here's a close-up of the P22.



As I stated before, this is my first handgun and hopefully not my last. I have my eye on the Walther P99 and figured the P22 would be a great first "training" gun. It feels good in my hand - not too big and not too small; the one magazine with the finger rest makes it even better. I'll have to see if I can get the finger rest plates for the other 3 magazines.

I plan to take a "Basic Handgun" course within the next few weeks to get the fundamentals down. Right now, I'm sitting on 450 rounds of .22lr for the P22 - 400 rounds of CCI Mini-Mag (for shooting at the range) and 50 rounds of CCI Stingers (for self defense). Of course, .22lr caliber doesn't have the "stopping power" that the bigger calibers do, but it will do...for now.

CCI Mini-Mag HP

According to the Walther Forums members, the ammunition of choice for the Walther P22 is the CCI Mini-Mag HP. We happened to pass by a Walmart and decided to drop in since some Walmarts do carry ammunition. I guess I got lucky because this store did have the CCI Mini-Mags on hand.



I bought the last 4 boxes on the shelf and now have a total of 400 rounds. This should last me a little while at the range! Each box was $6.47. The Mini-Mags are high-velocity, copper-plated hollow point rounds. They are 36 grain in weight and rated for 1260 feet per second (FPS).

Here's a short video I found on YouTube discussing ammunition for the Walther P22:


The clock is ticking down until I am officially allowed by the state of CA to pick-up my P22. I can't wait to try these with my pistol!


Update 4/11/09: Please view this post for a review of the CCI Mini-Mag and CCI Stinger with my Walther P22..

Future NRA Member (with a Walther P22)

As some of you may have read, I recently took the CA Handgun Safety Certification test in preparation of purchasing my first handgun. Well, I finally did it and purchased a Walther P22.

I decided on a .22LR semi-automatic pistol (rather than a bigger caliber, such as 9mm or .40 cal) as I wanted a smaller caliber pistol to learn the basics of safe shooting and marksmanship. The P22 felt good in my hand and would be something I could comfortably handle for long periods of time at the shooting range. It also helps that .22LR ammunition is less expensive than the other calibers; for example, a box of 100 high quality rounds of .22LR is approximately $6, while a box of 50 rounds of 9mm runs $13. This affords me more practice rounds to develop my shooting skills before moving up to the next level.

Here's a little preview of the P22:


I don't have the P22 yet as CA requires a 10-day waiting period before you can take any handgun home after purchase. However, I'm anxiously awaiting the pick-up date and have been busy looking at accessories for it. I'll definitely be getting extra magazines for the pistol, good ammo, a lockable gun case, and a cleaning kit.

I bought the P22 from a private party for $300 (plus $35 in transfer fees). It's basically a brand new gun and it came with the Walther laser and Walther scope. I got quite the deal as this entire package is over $540 new from the store.

I'll be sure to post pics when I finally get the P22 home.