Good thing we always wear glasses!


m gardner

Recommended Posts

We were up on the IPSC range this morning and the little woman was having fun shooting falling plates when I heard a very loud report and she shook her head and staggered back. She was shooting her little Walther P22 and it blew up. The top of the slide was missing and she had one little bit of brass in her face. There was a large ding in her glasses but she was none the worse for wear after we picked the brass out of her skin. Thank you Lord! It was high quality ammo and the pistol is in good repair and is her carry gun. The brass case is still in the chamber and the head was stuck in the steel part of the bolt face. Must be a good design because everything went away from the shooter. All I can figure is that the cartridge was loaded too hot. We are in the process of sending the gun and ammo away to get it replaced and they will determine what happened. I've shot lots of the same lot of 22's through my SIG conversion with no problem and many went through the Walther too. Maybe one in a million that got out. We'll see. Mark

walther blown up 2.JPG

walther blown up slide 1.JPG

walther blown up slide 2.JPG

walther blown up case.JPG

581c879c163b8_waltherblownup2.JPG.f4f6ce5af1749fd2d47acf7ce573ef10.JPG

581c879c2161a_waltherblownupslide1.JPG.57bed92d74e0b50d3218532bc7b51b57.JPG

581c879c34bf9_waltherblownupslide2.JPG.4945b7c7719c69a4a7f1a9929499f91f.JPG

581c879c48325_waltherblownupcase.JPG.b19be08bcb6bc99e2299f559505a2334.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks. We have an on site gunsmith and he couldn't find a bulge so I doubt it squibbed. I imagine we'll end up with a new pistol eventually. It's guaranteed for life. We shoot the best ammo and never get misfires from it. I could see if we used bulk packed stuff and had a misfire or if it was filthy dirty, but it had about 50 rounds through it since the last cleaning. She's shipping it tomorrow with the rest of the ammo. We'll see what the tech's say.

Mark

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Here's an update and conclusion on the matter of this pistol blowing up. The ammo manufacturer admitted fault after testing an extensive amount of the lot number in question. They found excessive pressure in several cartridges and will replace the pistol and ammo and have given us extra ammo and will cover all our expenses. They also thanked us for being patient and considerate. Over the years we've shot hundreds of thousands of 22's and experienced no problems that were a danger to us. It's actually a very safe sport and the ammo manufacturers deserve lots of credit for keeping it that way.

Mark

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.