How to Replace the Recoil Spring in a Walther P22

 

Walther P22 Recoil Spring Replacement
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This post is about why I had to do some work on my Walther P22 Recoil Spring.  It also shows how to replace the recoil spring in a Walther P22

I am a huge believer in repetition for any physical skill. If you want to be good at something you have to put in the time practicing perfectly. I have heard that to be a master of something you need to spend at least 10,000 hours practicing the skill. Dry firing can be a big part of that time block, but you will HAVE to get out to the range.

I haven’t won the lottery, or invented the next widget so spending 10,000 hours of range time is cost prohibitive shooting centerfire ammunition, but I since still have to practice I decided to try a .22 rimfire.

After hearing a lot of good things about the Walther I bought myself a P22. I was told that it needed a long break in period using premium ammunition and repeated cleanings in order for it to function properly. However, even after firing 500 premium rounds through the gun, I was still having malfunctions with the gun.

A weak grip is notorious for causing malfunctions, so I spent time looking into that.

Not the problem.

Early model P22s had a magazine problem.  The newer (marked with a “b”) magazines have a 1inch slit cut into them for the rimmed cases to stack.  This is also not the problem

Several internet forums state that bulk green box federal rounds are not powerful enough to cycle the gun…

BINGO

In my search for cheap shooting those 550 round Wal-Mart boxes of ammo is pretty much all I shoot in my .22lr caliber firearms.

Now, that doesn’t help me much – higher velocity .22 ammo is getting expensive – I want to shoot as cheaply as possible so I kept searching for a solution. A gunsmith friend of mine told me that they changed out the recoil spring in later designs of the Walther P22. The new recoil spring is lighter.

I had also read on the interwebz that “cutting a couple turns off the spring” helped – Now I am not willing to butcher my gun by cutting springs – but I am willing to try a new factory spring. I called Walther customer service, explained my problem, and asked if I could purchase a spring. They were very helpful and sent me a new spring at no charge.

The one I received was a bit longer than the original, but it had a lot more “give”.
I replaced the Walther P22 Recoil Spring and as the video shows I was able to rapidly fire the firearm without any malfunctions. I don’t have enough rounds through the gun with the new spring to say the problem is fixed, but I am quite pleased with Walther working with me fix the problem.

As a value added tip for following along this far I am going to tell you an easier way to reassembly the slide back on the frame without using the little tool they send you:

How to Replace the Recoil Spring in a Walther P22

  • Put the recoil guide rod in your palm(non-dominant hand), and insert the spring over it.
  • Compress the spring, once compressed use your thumb and forefinger to grasp the recoil spring and rod. Several inches of rod should extend past your fingertips.
  • With your dominant hand pick up the slide and push the guide rod through the hole in the slide.
  • Grasp the end of the rod with your dominant hand. Once you have a firm grasp (otherwise you will shoot the rod across the room), let go with your non-dominant hand.
  • The Compressed spring should be inside the slide, with your hand holding on to the majority of the guide rod sticking outside the muzzle end of the slide.
  • Guide the slide onto the frame, with the barrel inserted into the slide and slightly extended outside of the slide.
  • Slowly, and carefully release tension on the guide rod so that it retreats back into the slide. Once the guide rod is touching the frame wiggle it until it slides into the detent inside the frame.
  • Let go of the guide rod
  • Rack the slide
  • Press the slide down over the ears in the frame
  • Ride the slide forward
  • Push the locking bar back up
  • Function check the pistol

It takes some practice to do it this way, but it is a much simpler way of doing things.

Understanding the USE of Handguns for Self-Defense

The Gun Digest Book of .22 Rimfire: Rifles ·Pistols ·Ammunition

Why Prepare

Why Prepare
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Why Prepare?  Well, let me take a quick second to tell you why we prepare.

Monday I spent all day out in the woods for work, It was raining, and by the end of the day I was soaked to the bone. I am not complaining mind you, as a bad day in the field is better than a good day in the office, but by the time I got home all I wanted to do was dry off, warm up, and get a nice hot meal and brag to my wife how cool a job I have…

So as I am getting close to home my wife called telling me a tree fell in the yard, she said we still has electricity, but she was worried. On first glance it wasn’t that big of a deal, but as I walked closer I noticed that the tree caught my power line and did a lot of damage.

I was worried about the risk of fire and electrocution, as we had a tree crossing a power-line, into a wire fence, with the meter ripped away from the house and loose wires hanging free, all in the middle of a rain storm

I went into emergency mode, and told the wife to grab a set of clothes for the night and call the electric company as I turned the breaker off and checked the animals.

Luckily, as we have flashlights hanging from several doorknobs, and “go-kits” with a change of clothes medicine and a little emergency cash, emergency mode only lasted a few minutes.

We went up the street to the hotel, splurged on a nice restaurant meal, and the next day I called an electrician and the insurance company.

This was an unexpected problem, and rather minor, but by having a good general preplan, it made our life a lot easier, even though we never thought this particular event would happen.

This leads me to my final point. Plan A is a long, uneventful, and happy life, Plan B is a good rifle, and plenty of beans and bullets. We are not scared, because we are prepared. Prepping makes life easier, and if it doesn’t your doing it wrong.

Maybe you can see how it helps me and my family to have some level of constant preparedness.  If it does, maybe you can stop asking the question, Why Prepare?

Hurricane Season

Hurricane Season
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This guest post is courtesy of Joe Perko, Director of Field Services at Rapid Refile is a recognized leader in document restoration and recovery, vacuum-freeze drying, mold remediation and flood restoration services for businesses and individuals.

Avoid Document Restoration Needs: How to Prepare

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 and peaks between the months of August and September. About 10 named storms occur each season, with an average of two or three becoming major hurricanes.

 

How to Prepare for Hurricane Season

In addition to affecting coastlines, hurricanes and tropical storms can affect communities that are hundreds of miles inland. Hurricanes can bring winds exceeding 155 miles per hour, as well as microbursts (straight-line winds that shoot air downward), tornadoes, storm surges, floods and extensive damage. Flying debris and floods are often the most deadly, expensive and destructive results of hurricanes, especially when the storms move slowly through an area. Since it’s difficult to predict what the next hurricane season has in store, being prepared can help you stay safe and recover faster.

Before the hurricane season begins:

Make an emergency plan for your family and/or business. In this plan, include the location of a safe meeting place, important phone numbers, the location of community hurricane shelters and a map of emergency evacuation routes. Additionally, make a plan to recover and get back on your feet after the storm passes.

Prepare an emergency kit. This kit should include a radio, drinking water, food, clothes, blankets, medications, flashlight, pet supplies (if appropriate) and copies of important paperwork.

Know your area. Identify the areas of your community that are most likely to flood to determine the risk to your property.

Review your insurance policy. Sometimes insurance policies don’t cover water damage to homes and buildings. Review your insurance policy with your agent, even if you rent, to make sure you have enough coverage against wind and water damage.

Purchase materials to protect your home. If you don’t have hurricane or storm shutters for your windows, you’ll need to cover them with 5/8-inch marine plywood.

Manicure your landscape. Keep trees and shrubs around your home trimmed so they resist the wind better.

Scan important documents. These documents can include contracts, deeds to buildings, titles for vehicles, photographs, historical pieces, books, medical records and so on. A document restoration service can give you advice about saving important documents.

Restoring Wet Documents

Restoring wet documents after a hurricane or storm can be difficult to do on your own, especially if the weather is humid and there is a loss of power. One of the best ways to recover your wet documents is with the help of a document restoration service that uses vacuum-freeze drying techniques. This method includes the use of a chamber that blast-freezes wet documents and vaporizes the ice using precise pressure and temperature controls to prevent further damage. Vacuum-freeze drying is the ideal, highest-quality method to salvage wet books, photos, specialty or fragile papers and large volumes of books and paper.

Who gave you the right to take my Guns from me

 

Who gave you the right?
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I love Steve Lee and the Lees, my son grew up (and still grows up) dancing to “I like guns”, but while the Lees have some whimsical songs that are fun to listen to, they also have some very powerful ideals behind their music.

Steve Lee gives a monologue before the music video to “Who gave you the right to take my Guns from me”

His words give valuable insight into the core reason behind the assault on our Gun rights.

If we allow ourselves to have this crucial civil liberty stolen from us then we will have no ability to protect our other rights.

There is already a concerted effort to erode our other fundamental rights in t he name of state security.

It should be so self evident that we have a right to defend ourselves, our families, our country, and our way of life that gun control should never even be thought off – but as the video shows this is not the case because most people choose to love by feelings.

For me I ask – Who gave you the right to try to take my rights?  I know I did not agree to this.

Organizing your Community for Disaster

Organizing your Community for Disaster
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It’s a well-known idea in the prepper community that you cannot survive alone. Some folks may want to ignore this and try to get everything they could ever need, but prepping is not just about stuff. No single person can ever be totally self-sufficient – There will always be something you do not have the resources, skill or time to make. Heck even if you could, who will guard you when you sleep, shower, or well…

I think nothing is better preparedness than organizing your community for disaster.  It is not easy, and you can’t do it fast, but it is worth every bit of time you spend to do it.

I like to say (which gets me strange or knowing looks depending on who I say it to) – “You cannot shoot everybody”. To me a good plan takes into consideration your neighbors, to get others near you to prep and plan for their own disaster needs. It turns neighbors into allies rather than enemies. It gives you someone to work with and makes a community.

The problem (as I see it) is that while all sorts of government and non-government agencies preach disaster preparedness a similar amount (sometimes under the same czar) or agencies post bulletins telling people to look out for people that prep. If you just tell everyone you’re a prepper you will most likely get invited to less neighborhood cookouts than more.

My attempt to try to organize my community is by going slowly and trying to organize a government sponsored group. That way if it takes off I can slowly build trust in the community, gauge capabilities, and eventually approach the likeminded for a more comprehensive plan.

DHS has a program through Citizen Corps called Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT). A CERT team is a group of volunteers that receive free training in emergency response. They take classes on basic disaster response, light search and rescue, first aid, firefighting, and other needed response activities. The idea is that in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, CERT members grab their gear, meet up, and rapidly assess the needs of the immediate community. They can then report back to the local emergency management agency a list of needs and hazards thereby making response faster and more efficient.

Because it is government sponsored and relatively well known it is a lot less “threatening” to non-preppers. I imagine going door to door talking about bobs, SHTF, WROL, and storing ammo would not be well received in most areas. Going door to door talking about an enhanced neighborhood watch sponsored by FEMA to make sure nobody is left to fend for themselves after a flood or tornado is much less “non pc”.

So what I did was approach the County Emergency Management Director and ask him for support. He told me he thought it was a great idea, but that he has tried it before and did not get a good turnout for the classes.

I then made a flier with the information, what CERT was, that it was free, that it did not take a lot of time, and the benefits. I printed out 100 flyers and over a weekend my wife drove me around to drop them off. I was surprised at the friendliness of my neighbors, I received a very positive response in all but two homes – one was too busy, and the other very haughtily told me she did not think anything could happen, that the government would help if it did, and she did not want to waste her time (I told the wife to remember her – she gets no help if something does happen).

So I passed the fliers out – Part one – hopefully I will get a response. If not, I will continue working in the yard and being a role model for “urban homesteading” and “sustainable living”, if a disaster ever strikes maybe enough will remember my attempt to organize which may give me some credibility toward a response after the fact. Obviously that is not as good as having a local group pre-disaster, but its better than nothing.

I was careful not to mention prepping in my CERT conversations; I am less worried about OPSEC than someone like Mr. Rawles from survivalblog. That is because of my firearm classes who I am and what I am doing is on the internet, but I feel like most who read my articles would be the type to join a CERT team, so I don’t worry about them. However, I did not want to talk about my preps to those that live down the street, as I would not want them to get the idea to take what is mine (Unlike Dilbert, I have no protein bars), if they try, I cannot shoot everybody – They may get me in a rush, but I can turn a head or 30 into canoes…