TargetTalk

G'Day All,

Long time lurker, first time poster! Also the lucky owner of a lovely black SSP.

At least lovely that is, when it operates correctly. I am big into the ISSF events of Standard and Rapid, and truly love the way the SSP shoots. That is when it ejects properly. I get the occasional FTE where it will stove pipe, or sometimes fit perfectly in the slide horizontally, holding it open.

I have tried several different ammos ranging from Geco green, RWS C25, SK Std Pistol and Lapua Pistol King. The SK and Lapua have been the best so far, but even with those I still get the all to occasional FTE. I have put over 1000 rounds through it since getting it new, and I even run it quite wet with the ol' oil job.

One thing I note is what appears to be more noticeable score marks on the ejected cases, and research seems to indicate a chamber lapping/polishing might be in order. I'm just wondering if any other SSP lovers have experienced anything similar.

Cheers,

Stuart

Being as its a new pistol have you contacted Walther. Be patient they aren't the fastest email responders (have yet to find any company in Germany that is). Unfortunately as the psitol is relatively very new there are very few shooitng it so you probably wont get much help. What most likely will happen is we'll hear people complain about a gun they don't own and how they shouldn't have any problems when they are released (If you followed any of the MG2 threads you'll know what I'm talking about). I'll pm you with a contact name.

Shealey,

Congrats on the SSP! I've had mine now for about 8 months. Great gun!
Anyway, in the beginning I had a few FTE's. This was during a period of approx. 500 rounds. I attributed these to ammunition and/or limp-wrist. Again, this happened maybe 4 or 5 times in the first 500 rounds. As it stands, different ammo will affect how the pistol operates. I stripped the gun down and did a detail cleaning. After this, I experienced no FTE's with the right ammo. For me this includes the following:

CCI Standard Velocity (Practice)
Eley Sport (Practice)
PMC Scoremaster(Practice)
Fiocchi SM300
Fiocchi SM320
Lapua Midas
Lapua Pistol King
Lapua Club Extra
Sk Standard
Sk Match

Try a good cleaning (use the search option and look for a detail stripping of the SSP - it's an excellent posting) and use a quality synthetic grease. You can also try switching the buffer. Also, one of the US distributors (Earl's Repair Service, Tewksbury, Mass.) can probably help you. He is the Walther guru! Great guy and very knowledgeable. Good luck!

Rick

I know some happy user of SSP that do not experience problems with this pistol.

I saw the pistol but never had the opportunity to use it. What I well saw is that it is a very sophisticated, complex design.

There is also some pneumatic slider movement amortizing system on that pistol that can be adjusted. There is one small piece (a kind of screw) with an air escape calibatred hole in it that can be changed to do this adjustement (the pistol is I think delivered with two pieces with two different sizes of calibrated hole). This might affect the case is ejected.

Thanks all for the feedback. I know there are not many of us lucky few with the SSP. In fact I have not seen one other on the line yet here in OZ.

I have a feeling it is to do with the "cleanliness is next to 10-ness" factor, so time for a serious clean. I do a regular light clean after every 100 or so rounds, as a fair bit of crud builds up, and it starts to feel gritty.

Might shoot off an email to Walther, as well as seeing the friendly local gunsmith. And they are very few and far between here as well.

Anyway, down to the range tomorrow, as it is open again after the Christmas break, and the temperature is a more comfortable 24c, rather than the last few days of 40+

Cheers,

Stuart

Hi, Stuart,

You seem to be the first person to have problems with all the ammo you listed. My suggestion is to look at the buffeting plug. Make sure it is the right size for the ammo you are using. I think 2 different plugs are with the gun.

Walthers are noted for being fussy with how you load the magazine.
A friend of mine in Austria has a similar pistol, and he normally cleans it after every 500 rounds. It is very important for a new gun to be clean, and it should Not need to be oiled as much as some people do.

I am also in Melbourne, and I am competing in Castlemaine, and Warragul/Drouin Opens. If you are going to either of these competitions, you can meet me there. Come and make yourself known to me, as I cannot put a face to your name!! :)

If you are in MISC - talk to Tibor. He has a good knowlege. Otherwise try to make contact with Walther directly. Sometimes the guys are very co-operative!

Hope this helps.
Regards, Alex L.

Hi from Norway!

One question: Have you disassembled the pistol at some time?

If so - check that you put the two springs (the blue and yellow one) into the right positions, and not interchanged them. If one interchanges these two springs (which can be done without noticing, easily), it can lead to FTEs.

G'Day Alex,

I shall indeed be at Castlemaine. Can't miss the first Open of the season! I'm one of the many blue-shirts you see from the Springvale PC. Only a small-ish club, but we seem to do pretty well for ourselves.

After looking at some ejected cases more closely, and comparing to others from other 22's, I have given the chamber a bit of a polish. Some testing this week will confirm the theory. Have to get it ready for Castlemaine.

Cheers,

Stuart

Just as a follow up, if anyone else has been reading the saga. I did a bit of light polishing of the chamber on the weekend. That was a fun job in itself! And got down to the range tonight.

Results are so far promising. Put through a box of SK Std, and RWS C25, and also 20 rounds of the Lapua Pistol King. Use Lapua sparingly due to the cost!

And the good news is that there was not one FTE!!

Hopefully it will continue that way now, as it should have done from the begining.

Cheers,

Stuart

Congratulations on solving your problem. Had a similar one several years ago with my Pardini, also solved when Don Nygord polished the chamber.
Would appreciate it if you would describe your polishing process.

Good shooting
Fred