<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by denfoote:
Mylhouse,
Carl Walther USA is the (evil) entity spawned by the unholy merger of a once fine European firearms firm, and Slick and Wesson.
[/quote]
This is not accurate. Carl Walther USA was set up after Interarms dissolved on the death of the owner. He left it to his daughter, who sold some of the inventory and the name to Champion Firearms Corp of College Station, TX. You can view the remains at:
http://www.championfirearms.com/interarms.html
The majority of the Walther inventory was sold to Earl's Repair Service in Tewksbury, MA, phone: 978-851-2656, fax: 978-851-9462.
Smith originally approached Carl Walther USA two years ago to make a licensed copy of the P99 for sales to the law enforcement market. This seemed a natural, as Walther has never targeted the American LEO community and Smith needed a good poly-framed gun to compete with Glock. The deal struck was that Walther would make the frames in Germany and sell them to Smith via Carl Walther USA, and Tomkins would buy stock in the new company (pretty much a standard deal in the import business).
Walther later was offered an importation deal with S&W (when Interarms folded) and they took it to allow them to continue importations while they jumped through the usual AFT and State Dept hoops involved in setting up a foreign arms distribution business. This was never anything but a temporary setup and Walther also set up an importation deal with Earl's Repair Service as a backup.
When S&W signed their agreement with the feds (17 March of this year), majority importations were directed through Earl, as Walther didn't want to get caught up in any legal wrangles with the feds. Earl continues to be a full-line, stocking dealer for Walther if you'd like to purchase from him.
As John Falk, Walther's rep in the US, dryly described it to me this morning, this caused something of a bottleneck in their distribution of P99s, causing the shortage that existed over the winter. Earl's a hard-working guy, but he's just one guy.
WaltherUSA (a different organization than Carl Walther USA, which no longer exists) was cleared by the feds last month to begin business in June. If you check the URL "waltherusa.com" you get a dead page - the only live link for Walther USA is still through Earl's webpage:
http://people.ne.mediaone.net/waltherusa
Beginning in June, the WaltherUSA shop will be open for business and importation of 9mm and .40 P99s will resume at full pace with their airguns, along with a "Fan Shop" for shirts and stuff. The PPK line will be discontinued by the factory as demand for that particular firearm has diminished with the introduction of other CCW arms by folks like Beretta and Kahr.
I've also asked John for a full text of the Walther statement on the S&W agreement, which should be emailed to me from Germany in the next day or so. They don't plan to go along with S&W.
So, here's the nutshell: Walther is not part of the S&W/HUD agreement. WaltherUSA is not part of S&W. Walther (both entities) will not sign the S&W/HUD agreement.
Tompkins does own stock in WaltherUSA. They also own stock in Murray Lawn Mowers (the principal brand sold at WalMart, and sold elsewhere as the MTD brand) and Airbus Industries. It that bothers you, there are several remedies if you wish to buy a P99:
1. Buy one of the Interarms-marked P99s, there are many still on the market. You can buy these from Earl, in fact, left over from the original inventory imported by Interarms. I saw one in a local shop, NIB, last week.
2. Buy a new P99 from Earl. When I asked this morning, he said he had "dozens" in inventory, on top of the remaining Interarms P99s.
3. Buy a used P99. There were 15 on gunsamerica.com when I checked today
Starting in June, Walther Germany will more than double the production rate of the P99 to meet the demand. Prices should ease a bit at that time. You can purchase one of these from Earl if you don't want to deal with WaltherUSA.
You can contact John Falk at Walther USA LLC, phone: 413-747-3443, fax: 413-747-3592 , for any other information.
I have no interest in Walther, the company, except that I own several of their handguns.
I own no S&W products and won't buy any until the company changes hands.
Regards,
Ken Strayhorn
Hillsborough NC
