FTE Stovepipes after the first 100 rds. with my P99

The P99 I had locked the slide back every mag with rounds remaining. Until walther fixes the bugs it will be a second rate pistol.
Click to expand...

And yes everyone, Mr. Gloom and Doom has once again spoken on his dislike for the Walther P99. :rolleyes:

Pat, give it a rest, please. Do you ever have anything constructive to say about a firearm or ammunition that you don't personally own or endorce?

Never had a P99 in my hands.
Click to expand...

Then why would you even offer to comment on it? :confused:
 
And yes everyone, Mr. Gloom and Doom has once again spoken on his dislike for the Walther P99.

Pat, give it a rest, please. Do you ever have anything constructive to say about a firearm or ammunition that you don't personally own or endorce?
END

Oh I am sure hidding the truth about the unreliability of the p99 would make it go away. JMC I will tell everyone about the faults of the P99 until Walther makes it right. SO DEAL WITH IT. I have lots constructive to say about many types of guns including Sigs, beretta's, HK's, Kimbers, GLocks, Para's, and some others. Yes I have owned all of these. I will not praise or or degrade something without trying it. Not everyone is as happy with the P99 as you are.
PAT
 
Last week when I ordered 3 prebans from Earl I asked him point blank if he would do repair work on my new P99(I did not buy it from him) and he told me yes. I'm so impressed with mine I really find it hard to believe there are lemon P99, except those with s&w slides. Also I'd rather buy a genuine Walther recoil spring from Earl for $35 then a s&w for 1/2price!
 
355Sigfan rambled:
Oh I am sure hidding the truth about the unreliability of the p99 would make it go away.
Click to expand...
A blanket statement that you have no statistical evidence to back up. A simple perusal of the FiringLine yields results that there are far more people that are very happy with their P99s, than the vocal minority that have had problems.
I will tell everyone about the faults of the P99 until Walther makes it right.
Click to expand...
The faults have been fixed on the .40S&W since about 11/99. There have been no reports I've seen from anyone about premature slide back locking on the 9mm. Most have been FTE problems with 115gr ammo which has been beaten to death here. The P99 was designed to fire NATO spec 124gr ammo. Light 115gr loads may fail to function if pistol is not broken in as some have pointed out. I would again emphasize that I've NEVER had any problems with ANY ammo on my 2 P99s 9mms.
Not everyone is as happy with the P99 as you are.
Click to expand...
And apparently, not everyone spews as much negative retoric about the P99 as you do.

355SigFan chortled earlier:
The P99 I had locked the slide back every mag with rounds remaining. Until walther fixes the bugs it will be a second rate pistol.
Click to expand...
Did you try a different magazine catch spring (which was the Walther fix for this problem)? I presume this was on a .40S&W? How about new magazines? Again, Walther identified this problem within a year of introduction and fixed it.

Second rate? Ha. Why did Sig and H&K borrow features from the Walther P99 in their SigPro and P2000 pistols? Walther is a German Legend :D

Regards,
James
 
Greyhound Dog - My P99 Military (9mm) also had a problem with 115-grain ammo, though nothing like what you have described. In the first 400 rounds (all of it 115-grain ball) I had about a half dozen stovepipe malfunctions. I put another 500 rounds of 124-grain and 147-grain loads (ball, Gold Dots, Hydra-Shoks and SXT's) without any malfunctions. I then tried some 115-grain ball without any malfunctions. I never had any problem with the slide locking to the rear after the last round in the magazine was fired.

I suggest you give it another try with 124-grain ball ammo before sending it back. If you still get the same malfunctions you can include that information in your letter to Walther-USA.
 
Not everyone is as happy with the P99 as you are.
Click to expand...

Purchased my first P99 4 years ago (03/98), serial# 2xxx. 5000+ rds later and still waiting for the first malfunction.

When does the dreaded unreliability problem begin?

I am so unhappy with this thing I sold the jam-o-matic Glock and clunky USP to buy two more, another black and a military (both 9mm).

Why do these thing always happen to me??? :D
 
Gotta chime in here......
The ONLY pistol i've EVER had mechanically malfunction on me (actually my wife) was a Glock 19 during an OPS tactical pistol class, the trigger grew steadily stiffer until it finally locked down tight, this was on day one of a two day class, in windy dusty conditions. My Walther P99 shot flawlessly for the two days without any cleaning or additional lubrication. The Glock was up and running after a cleaning and some oil on the connector, but it still locked down.
As far as gun "problems" lets make a list.
Glock......KB's
Sig..........Rust, trigger spring
P99.........slide lockback
Beretta....slide failure
1911's......jams on HP ammo
CZ's.......extractor problems
and on and on and on..............
most of these are *almost* urban legends, a miniscule percentage of people have these problems, then next thing you know, its all over the internet that pistol XYZ is a POS, usually spouted off by one of those rare people who have the problem,
no manufacturer is perfect.
Deal with it.........
:rolleyes:
 
Greyhound, I had the same problems the first time I shot mine. I also used 115gr ammo and had the same FTEs. I'm going to buy some heavier weight ammo (124/147) and see how they work (the gun show's actually tomorrow :D). You may want to try heavier ammo and then go from there, depending on the results.
 
Response to Walther P99

I'm going to pick up so 124 and 147 Sunday and see for myself,
If their is no problem the I know its the guide rod and spring as many suggested,I ordered a g/r and spring assembly from S&W,
Should be here in a few days. Please keep in touch thru this post or e-mail and let me know what happenes with your P99 BTW
how old is your pistol? Mine was built in 1998

Thanks
Greyhound Dog
 
Mine has the AA date code, so I think it's a 2000.

I bought 4 boxes of Winchester 147gr today. I hope to have a chance to shoot within the next 2 weeks or so. Unfortuantely, working 40-50+ hours a week and going to Grad school at the same time doesn't leave a lot of free time...

Let me know how yours turns out if you make it to the range before then.
 
NMGlocker,

If you personally have experienced all of these problems, I would give up on most guns if I were you. :D

1) Glock......KB's
2) Sig..........Rust, trigger spring
3) P99.........slide lockback
4) Beretta....slide failure
5) 1911's......jams on HP ammo
6) CZ's.......extractor problems

In my experience with the above:

1) Never had this happen and I've owned 13 Glocks at one time to include 4/.40's which I have reloaded thousands upon thousands of rounds for.

2) Haven't owned a SIG. But, I have seen the rust problem w/the 226's that I seen. Wipe it down. This doesn't impair function.

3) Never experienced this and I own 3 P99's. They are as perfect as a mechanical devise could be right out of the box.

4) Had a 92F, Italian made. Excellent gun. Shot about every 9mm round that I could find thru it. 100% and the slide didn't fail. It had about 10,000 rounds thru it when I traded it off.

5) I've had more 1911 pattern guns than any other semi-auto. I've had stock and custom and inbetween. FTF on HP's is only a minor adjustment and most of the time not required at all. I have a 1911A1 that was mfg. in the '40's and is as stock as they come. Feeds any type of HP to include the Speer 200gr. HP (flying ashtray).

6) Only had one CZ pattern gun and it was a POS! A true CZ, I've seen many and have fired them, is a great gun.

My .40/P99 was mfg. in 2000. I have never experienced the slide lock back problem with mine. I have read that this was corrected on all guns in '99. ??

My 9mmx19's were mfg. in 1999 and 2001. Not a single problem with either with any of their 13 magazines. :eek:

I just replaced the recoil spring assembly and striker spring on my oldest 9mmx19 P99. I intend to test fire it with a couple hundred rounds of 124gr. Winchester NATO ammo before I even consider carrying it for real. ;)

Many people who experience a problem with a certain handgun platform automatically deem the gun a POS because they do not know how to diagnose or correct the perceived problem. Right away it's the guns fault and they badmouth it forever.
 
Greyhound Dog: Finally made it to the range last week. I fired 200 Winchester 147gr & 5 Black Talons (just to see if there were serious problems).

There were no jams/FTEs whatsoever. The only problems were on about 2-3 occasions the slide failed to lock open on the last shot and on 2 occasions the round failed to fire - however, I loaded these rounds in the mag later and they fired fine.

So it was definitely a much better showing with the 147gr ammo. Hopefully, you'll have the same results.
 
Years back I heard tell that Walther sent some of it's P99s out with a reddish colored target spring for 115gr and a light colored spring for 124 and above. Not sure of all the details. My 9mm has fired everything fed into it from the word go.

Like every firearm it has it's supporters and detractors. The bottom line is a matter of preference I think. The Glock has a notorious reputation for stovepiping when limp wristed. I never encountered the problem myself though.

The bottom line is possibly to agree to disagree as there is really no disputing taste! I also believe that every run of pistols contains lemons. It seems to happen with a great many things these days. I think the P99 is a good firearm with excellent ergonomic qualities. Glock and Sig are good as well. That is my .02 cents worth.
 
There were no jams/FTEs whatsoever. The only problems were on about 2-3 occasions the slide failed to lock open on the last shot and on 2 occasions the round failed to fire - however, I loaded these rounds in the mag later and they fired fine.

End

YOu sound like a gun writter. The gun did great and functioned 100% except for the 50% of the time when it did not work.
PAT
 
JMC said:
NMGlocker, If you personally have experienced all of these problems, I would give up on most guns if I were you.
Click to expand...
which was in reference to what I said:
most of these are *almost* urban legends, a miniscule percentage of people have these problems, then next thing you know, its all over the internet that pistol XYZ is a POS, usually spouted off by one of those rare people who have the problem,
Click to expand...
I think we are in agreement.
:D
 
355Sigfan

What the hell are you talking about???

I said there were no jams/FTE's (which there weren't). I then said the only problems encountered were the failed lock-open and failed fires. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say out of 205 rounds, 5 contained failures (although I think the failed fires are ammo-related). This nets a percentage of 2.44% failures. If you're math-challenged that's

5 (failures) / 205 (total rounds) =

2.44% failure rate.

If you're trying to be sarcastic, at least wait until the failure rate is actually 50%. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
 
Walther P99
I will be sarcastic when I want. And a 2% failure rate in a defensive firearm is not acceptable. Chuck Taylors glock went 140000 rounds with only 2 malfunctions that were corrected with new magazine springs. When the walther can do that then it will be worthy of respect. Also the fact that the round did not fire the first time but did the second time indicates a gun problem not a ammo problem. If the round was a dud it would not have fired at all.
PAT
 
I'd like to know what Chucky T. did to his Glock. Every Glock I've ever been around or fired has had something go wrong. And yes, I have seen a lot of them in IDPA competition that haven't worked right. By the way WaltherUSA says they have a P99 that has gone over 50,000 rounds with no problems. That was a few months ago, so I'm sure they're coming up on 75,000. Yea its not 140,000 but we'll se in another year.

By the way, I shot my 5000 rounds in my P99 last year. I used 170 gr. Laser Cast LEAD bullets and various FMJ bullets from 135 gr to 180 gr. I never cleaned the gun once. I finally cleaned it when the IDPA season was over in November. It never failed me once. And so far this year it is still going strong. (Although this year I plan on cleaning it)

P99
 
P99

I simply can't believe you on you glock statement that all you have seen have had problems. Glock has had lemons like everyone else but no more so than anyone else. I had a 27 that was not reliable. But I have had a 17, 31, 20, 21 that are excellent. The only P99 I had is a reliability nighmare. I have heard others have simular problems. Walthers in 9mm had the issue with not liking 115 grain ammo. 40's locked the slide back none are that accurate from what I have seen and read. I am sure that once the bugs are worked out the p99 will be an ok pistol. But it seems that the bugs are not yet worked out. I see them going the way of the sigma. It was priced about the same as glock for a while had lots of reliablity problems then the prices fell a bunch and then it almost faded off the map. If the Walther catches on great. It does have some good things going for it like the interchangable grip. Now if they could just make them go bang every time.

PAT
 
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