P99 and Ammo Problems

S

Sambonator

New member
Did Walther ever fix the problem they had with the P99 and certain types of ammo? Mine (which I believe is from the 2nd year of manufacture) has a problem with ammo where the bullet does not taper off immediately above the case. For example, mine won't work with Triton QuikShok ammo. The ammo fails to completely enter the firing chamber, and slide fails to completely lock forward.
Sam
 
My P99 came with 2 recoil springs..One for 115 gr. and the other for 124gr., and larger.I have never been happy with the trigger arrangement on my early GERMAN P99..Some day (I hope) someone will want an early model P99--9mm. and I will get most of my investment back.Till then I guess I have a right to complain.. :D Mine had the same problems as yours..
 
I've shot two of my P99s: One an early black with original split trigger, and one Military Green. I've shot ammo of 115 and 124gr from Winchester, Geco, Remington, S&B, Fiocchi, PMC, South African PMP and Speer/CCI. Both of my guns came with one recoil spring. ALL of my P99s came with one recoil spring. I've shot handloaded 124 and 147gr ammo.

I've never had a failure to fire, extract or feed with anything in either one of them. I had heard about problems very early with under-powered Winchester USA 115gr ammo. I understood that Walther (at that time imported by Interarms) would send a new recoil spring if you had the problem.

FWIW, the problem was very limited, and has since been alleviated.

Granted, I've never shot Triton Quik-shok in any of my 9mms, nor have I shot Corbon ;)

Regards,
James
 
The problem with my P99 is not the spring... its the barrel.
The rifling of the barrel starts too close to the firing chamber, so any ammo with a bullet that does not taper inward just from the top of the case does not chamber properly. With some force, I can push a Triton round manually into the chamber, but the bullet gets stuck in the rifling and I can't remove the round without a lot of effort. (note: I'm not firing the round...just placing it in the chamber and then trying to remove it).
Also, The spring is not strong enough to force the Triton round into the chamber all the way, either, so the slide fails to lock all the way forward...I have to then yank the slide back with considerable force to extract the round with the bullet stuck in the rifling.
I have no problems with Ball ammo, silvertips, and some hollow points that taper inward just above the case...its the ones with the straight edge just above the case that cause problems with the rifling.
Am I the only one with this problem?
Sam
 
You're the only one I have heard of with this problem. Have you inspected other P99 barrels to determine how far the rifling comes up to the chamber? I've never heard of a Walther barrel being out of spec, but there is a first time for everything. I think I would change ammunition brands.

H&K's are the only ones that I know of with a rifled chamber, and that is only on their rifles.
 
Slight correction: Fluted chamber, to help with extraction, and the H&K P7 series of pistols have it too.

I agree with Herr; Highly unlikely ALL P99s are out of spec, but you may have gotten a barrel that has a problem that slipped through quaility control.

Switch ammo. Speer Gold Dot 124gr +P are excellent and STILL on sale at www.miwall.com for $155 per 1000! Excellent deal.
http://www.miwallcorp.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=mwcorp&Category_Code=Specials

I don't work for Miwall, but I bought two cases at that price!

Regards,
James
 
The original P99s had a split trigger. You can see a picture of it here: http://www.tetragon.ca/p99/pg3.html See the picture directly under the title Magazine catch. The idea was that you had to engage the bottom part of the trigger fully with your finger to actually get it to move rearward. If it was snagged on something or if just the front top edge of the trigger was pushed, it wouldn't move rearward.

It eventually caused an anomolie when reassembling the pistol. You had to pull the trigger to get the slide disassembly catch to snap back into place. Earl's says that's "working as designed" and nothing to worry about. I agree it doesn't seem to affect the pistol functioning whatsoever.

It was something for the US market only apparently (they called it the "trigger safety") and was removed early in production, although I don't know exactly when. My P99 with the trigger safety is in the 5200 range.

James
 
Sam,
My P99 does it too, with Gold Dots. My P5 also has the same problem...with Gold Dots. The solution is: I don't try to load Gold Dots!!! Everything else works fine. ;)
 
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