It's Here: Walther's Reliable Semi-Auto 22 WMR Pistol

Walther's WMP semiautomatic pistol could very well be the most reliable .22 magnum autoloader ever.

April 03, 2025 By Joseph Von Benedikt

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German engineering took Walther in a new direction when the company designed a .22 Magnum pistol. Rather than building a lightweight, super-capacity pistol that holds 30 rounds and weighs barely more than a pound—like its competitors in the .22 Mag. pistol department—Walther chose to make a .22 Magnum sidearm that holds “just” 15 rounds and weighs 1.75 pounds. Why? I’m spitballing here, but my guess is one word: reliability.

Walther’s two most significant competitors on the .22 Magnum semiautomatic pistol scene are KelTec, with its PMR30, and Smith & Wesson, with the M&P 22 Magnum. Both are lightweight and svelte, and they hold 30 rounds in their cavernous bellies. Walther’s WMP .22 Magnum pistol is not light, and it’s not svelte. However, it has a sort of big-boned elegance—it’s not clunky or ungainly. And it is not so lightweight that it feels like a toy. One could say it’s sort of the Desert Eagle of .22 Magnums. By the way, WMP stands for Walther Magnum Pistol.

Muzzle of Walther pistol with suppressor — The muzzle of the .22 Magnum WMP 4.90-inch-long barrel is threaded 1/2-28 for easy suppressor mounting. The pistol comes with a thread cap installed. (Photo Provided by Author)

Importantly, the grip of the WMP feels good in the palm. It does not have that “stick of firewood” feel so many large polymer-frame pistols have. And for its size, it’s quite responsive; it points and balances well. Most impressively, though, the WMP never once hiccupped or even threatened to malfunction during my accuracy and reliability tests, which is unusual for a .22 Magnum self-loading pistol. More on that later.

Features & Function

Fundamentally, the WMP is a polymer-frame semiautomatic of blowback design. The slide is made of aluminum, and its weight is strategically paired with a recoil spring of correct strength. Together, the slide and spring control and harness the recoil forces and energy of the fired cartridge. Like most modern semiautomatic pistols, the WMP features an optic-ready cutout in the top of the slide, and it comes with a couple of adapter plates for popular red dots: specifically, Trijicon RMR, Docter Optics, and Vortex Venom sights.

Up front the slide is deeply grooved, and the nose of the slide just behind the front sight is ported to reduce weight. Don’t let the appearance deceive you, though; the barrel itself is not ported. The racy styling reduces overall slide weight. The front sight is a fiber-optic version, square-topped and well-mounted. (I recently had the fiber-optic rod fly out of the front sight while shooting a different pistol I was reviewing; this one won’t do that.)

Walther 22 WMR pistol disassembled — Disassembly and reassembly of the .22 Magnum delayed- blowback-operated WMP are simple and easy. (Photo Provided by Author)

Aft, the rear sight is a polymer affair that’s dovetailed into the slide. It’s well-profiled and is adjustable for windage by drifting to one side or the other in the dovetail. And here’s where I found one complaint with the WMP: The sight isn’t tight enough. I can literally push it to one side or the other with firm thumb pressure. I have no doubt that the sight could easily be bumped out and lost during long miles on a trapline or a four-wheeler. Were the sample pistol mine to keep, I’d find just the right spot for the rear sight and then secure it with a dab of adhesive.

A well-configured rail in front of the trigger guard makes it easy to mount a weapon light. This is important in a handgun that’s very likely to be used on varmints at night on farms and ranches across the country. I attached a Surefire X300 to my test pistol to evaluate the feel and balance with a light attached. It’s downright likable.

As you’ve no doubt noticed in the photos, the WMP comes with the muzzle threaded and ready for a suppressor. The thread cap spins off cleanly, and my steel SIG SAUER rimfire silencer spun on easily. The pistol looks good and balances fine with the suppressor attached. Shooting with the suppressor was a different matter—but I’ll address that later.

Walther opted to use a very cool magazine release on the WMP. Dubbed the Quad Release, it has fully ambidextrous release buttons in the traditional positions on each side, plus a release lever incorporated into each side of the trigger guard. When the magazine is empty, just drop the trigger finger to the edge of the trigger guard below and press down—the magazine will drop free. The slide lock is ambidextrous. It’s a stamped sheet-metal affair located in the usual place—and there’s one on each side. The disassembly latch is the only control that’s not ambidextrous.

22 WMR ammo and a WMP magazine — Each WMP comes with two 15-round magazines. 10-rounders are available for states where magazine capacity is restricted. (Photo Provided by Author)

Each pistol comes with two 15-round magazines (10-round versions are available for states where capacity is restricted). They slide home smoothly and lock securely into the magazine well, which features beveled edges to help with fast reloads under pressure.

Disassembly is easy. Drop the magazine, lock the slide rearward, and rotate the disassembly latch a quarter-turn clockwise. Release the slide lock, allow the slide to go forward, and draw it off the end of the frame rails. Turn the slide upside down and remove the recoil spring, then the barrel. That’s all there is to it. Reassemble in reverse order.

Walther barrel with rubber bumpers — Each WMP pistol ships with a handful of spare rubbery recoil bumpers. They tame the rearward reciprocation of the slide and should be changed out when they show excessive wear. (Photo Provided by Author)

Interestingly, there’s a tough rubbery bumper locked into place by a clamp on the barrel assembly. Each WMP pistol comes with a little bag containing a handful of spares and instructions on how to replace the bumper with fresh ones. Apparently, the bumper helps tame the rearward reciprocation of the slide. I suspect this is particularly applicable when a suppressor is installed on the pistol and consequently the slide gets thrown rearward more aggressively. Walther’s literature suggests wear can become visible starting around the 200-rounds-fired point, and the bumper should be checked occasionally and replaced when wear becomes excessive. And yes, there’s a guide with diagrams instructing on what wear is acceptable and what is too much.

Enough tech specs. Let’s get to range performance.

Shooting Results

With three different .22 Magnum loads in hand, I repaired to the range and posted 3.0-inch target dots at 25 yards. With the afternoon sun glaring so that I had to squint and late-summer wind buffeting my back hard enough that it jarred my aim, I fired the WMP from a sandbag benchrest, lining up the sights as steadily as I could.

To admit that I was surprised at the pistol’s impeccable reliability may indicate that I’m a tad jaded when it comes to making semiautomatic .22 Magnums run. The smooth, fuss-free function of the WMP was wonderful. It chugged through magazine after magazine without even hinting at a jam.

Accuracy was good to very good, depending on the load. Hornady’s Critical Defense 45-grain FTX load took top honors, posting a 1.18-inch average for a series of three consecutive five-shot groups. Remington’s 40-grain PSP load posted a 1.40-inch average. Federal’s Game-Shok 50-grain JHP load averaged 1.52 inches, still darned good for iron sights in a sporty wind.

Walther pistol with suppressor and ammo — (Photo Provided by Author)

Walther’s trigger is a curved polymer arrangement that releases right at 4 pounds, 10 ounces, according to my Lyman digital trigger scale. Said trigger, by the way, is quite useful for accurate shooting but does have a rather long reset. Shooters who want to achieve best-possible rapid-fire capability with the WMP should plan on doing a bit of practice to master the reset.

With clinical testing accomplished, I gleefully spun off the thread cap and screwed on my SIG SAUER SRD22X suppressor. Made of titanium and stainless steel, it’s a tad heavier than some .22-caliber silencers but is magnum rated. I figured it would be right at home on the WMP.

Reliability-wise, I was right. Accuracy-wise, too. And the WMP balanced and pointed just fine with the suppressor as well. Unfortunately, it spit like a wildcat when fired.

Thankfully, I always wear glasses when I shoot, because the blowback from the first shot was so aggressive I felt like I’d been peppered in the face with a .22 rimfire rat load. After examining the WMP to be sure all was in order and I hadn’t had a baffle strike or some other anomaly, I gingerly fired another shot, hoping the blowback had been a one-off.

No such luck. Fiery particles stung my face so hard they felt embedded into my skin. After again examining the pistol to be sure all was in order, I gritted my teeth and fired three more shots, completing a five-shot, 25-yard group to compare with the others. It measured 1.52 inches and impacted exactly the same as the unsuppressed shots. And yes, particulates stung my face with every shot.

Accuracy of 22 WMR pistol — Accuracy proved to be quite good, averaging between 1.18 and 1.52 inches at 25 yards. Even more importantly, the WMP functioned 100 percent of the time with all rounds fired. (Photo Provided by Author)

As I say, reliability and accuracy with the suppressor were just fine, but if I were to fire it more with the suppressor mounted, I’d wear a ski mask and goggles to protect my face from the blowback. I don’t want to sound melodramatic, but it was that bad.

Thankfully, the pistol is a great tool without the suppressor. Candidly, shooting suppressed with a magnum rimfire pistol has more cool factor than practical value. Projectiles exit the .22 Magnum well north of the speed of sound, so even with a suppressor installed there’s still a sharp sonic crack.

As I sit here at my desk, I’m handling the WMP, turning it over in my hands and contemplating the wins and the losses. Wins are accuracy, easy shootability, and 100-percent reliability. (It’s the first .22 Magnum semiautomatic pistol in my experience to achieve that!) It’s super ergonomic, too. Losses are the not-quite-tight fit of the rear sight and the rather sparky blowback when suppressed.

Accuracy from Walther WMP — (Data Provided by Author)

The price, at $599, is right between the KelTec PMR30 ($510) and the Smith & Wesson M&P 22 Magnum ($649). Walther’s new .22 Magnum WMP is a fun pistol. It’s big and easy to shoot well. However, it’s much too big to use as a defensive pistol, in my opinion, as defensive guns occasionally need to be concealable.

The most practical use I can think of for the WMP is for work on a trail bike, four-wheeler, or snow machine. Topped with a good closed-emitter red-dot optic, it would make a terrific grouse-getter (where legal) and trapline gun. I’d stow it in a big holster with an enclosed flap and strap it to whatever machine I was riding.

I can’t restate adequately what a great advantage the reliability characteristic of this .22 Magnum pistol is. For whatever reasons, autoloading .17 HMR and .22 Magnum firearms are usually plagued with malfunctions. Not this one. If you’ve been hankering for a semiautomatic .22 Magnum pistol, that single characteristic is potentially reason enough to buy this one over its competitors.