Walther P99?

They've been brought up in numerous threads on this forum and are still brought up fairly often. Fishbed77 often mentions them.

It's a solid pistol with a long standing design that has been both copied and licensed by a number of companies. I find it to be one of the best ergonomic pistols I ever owned. It also has a very nice DA/SA trigger.
 
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I keep a P99 AS 9mm as my nightstand gun. The P99 is really the only striker-fired polymer gun that I've ever had much interest in. I particularly like it's true DA/SA capability (increasingly difficult to find in modern pistols). Honestly, I'm really not sure why it's never become more popular other than not being as heavily marketed as it's contemporaries.
 
What is it you would like to know? :)

Popularity is probably marketing. At the time, Walther USA didn't exist and Smith & Wesson was the importer. It's not hard to imagine pre and post M&P, S&W would have less interest in marketing a great gun for their future and current gun. It's also not a stretch to say that this is entirely a problem of Walther not marketing it too.

Very slight changes made from when it was released. Either gen2.5 or 3 depending on who you ask. Almost all cosmetic.

There were three US variants for a while: Anti-Stree (DA/SA/AS triggers), DA, and QA (8lb heavy trigger with a decocker into a dead trigger). The QA was replaced by the PPQ in the US.

Interesting notes: The P99 was the first with replaceable backstraps. The AS trigger is drop safe even without a trigger dingus because that larger back of the trigger acts as the dingus.

Trigger: The trigger is the half a pound lighter in SA than the PPQ. The PPQ RAD came out much earlier than the US PPQ and was just a simple switcheroo of the P99. The P99AS probably has both the best DA/SA trigger of any DA/SA I've owned including hammer triggers.

Almost no aftermarket stuff for them, though one could argue nothing is needed to be changed. A Glock #6 spring can be used to reduce pull weight.

The P99 grip is more rectangle than the PPQ which is more oval. The real detracting aspect of the P99 is the darned hump in the grip ala Glock. Same designer believe it or not (and Steyr).

Finally, the flip is more pronounced on the P99 than a Glock. However, I believe you are more accurately and still faster get back on target with the P99. In my opinion it feels better, has an far better trigger, and is more accurate rapid fire than a glock. It is larger than a G19 though. One thing I would agree Glock wins.
 
I carried a .40 P99 in the late 90's & early 00's. At the time I resented being told that if I wanted to work for that dept, then I would have to purchase that particular sidearm. I really wanted to dislike it, and tried like the dickens to get it to fail at an instructors school. The silly thing just kept on working regardless of never having been cleaned. Eventually I came to really like it and even started cleaning it. That's the #1 sidearm I wish I never would have traded off. I think it's time I get one in 9mm.
 
Does anyone own or have shot a Walther P99?

https://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog...796325+P99+Anti-Stress+Mode+9mm+15rd+4+Poly+G

I was amazed at how cheap they can be had. These have been around since the 90s from my research yet I almost NEVER hear anything about them. They seem to be virtually unknown in this country.

Thoughts?
Well if you want the compact version or a fullsize in 40 s&w here are some for $339 plus shipping if you are interested. https://shoot-straight.com/product-tag/walther/page/2/
 
I agree with what the others have said. For the longest time, it was the best kept secret in the polymer handgun world. I've had the .40 first gen for about a dozen years. Great ergonomics, buttery smooth A/S trigger (best I've experienced), and the reliability factor has been 2nd to none, it just keeps going. They are without a doubt a bargain at todays prices.
 
I've replied and posted within a number of Searchable thread topics on the SW99/P99 pistols on this forum in recent years.

I own a SW9940 (standard size .40) and a SW999c (compact 9), both of which are what would be called AS (Anti-Stress) mode 99's by Walther. Carried an issued one for a few years, and as a LE firearms instructor, logging many thousands of rounds downrange through it (and mine).

The 99's have benefited from a number of revisions and refinements over the years, some of which are more obvious (cosmetic) and some of which aren't easily seen by someone not familiar with the workings of the guns. At least a couple of these revisions mean that some parts (like the sear housing block assembly) are not "interchangeable" between older and newer models. A change in the shape and size of the SHB body was one change (requiring a corresponding change in the inner design of the frame), and then when Walther engineers later changed the trigger bar guide from a post, to an "adjustable" lever. The SHB and the frame were changed to accommodate this revision.

Early in their partnership with Walther, S&W engineers identified a problem with the .40's, which was an infrequent and unpredictable occurrence of early slide lock back (with rounds remaining in the magazine). We were told (in one of the armorer classes) that after careful study of different aspects of the gun, S&W high speed imaging revealed that sometimes recoil might cause a lateral wiggle/displacement of the top rounds in the mag, which might hit the slide stop's inside tab and cause the slide stop to engage the slide's stop notch, locking the slide back with rounds still in the magazine. They told us that once this information was passed along to Walther, it was subsequently resolved by Walther having Mec-Gar make a change to the magazine bodies (and the followers required a revision because of the change in the mag body). Problem solved. (This wasn't an issue with the 9mm guns, or the later SW9945 & SW990L45, BTW.)

The 99 series was, and is, an excellent pistol in many respects, and certainly one which deserved more attention than it received. I remember S&W putting some full page ads in some gun magazines in the early 2000's, but it wasn't being pitched very hard against their primary 3rd gen pistols, which were selling well, but becoming increasingly expensive compared to plastic guns.

I was told that as the end of the 13 year Strategic Alliance between Walther and S&W was coming due to expire, both companies were looking to go in different directions. Walther finally decided to open its own importer in the US, and S&W had been involved in a secret 4 year project to design a new "flagship" plastic pistol line of their own, making some substantial changes to the plastic pistol frame concept.

They also introduced a mid-priced plastic pistol line, intended only for commercial sales (the SD), which would have a price point between the Sigma and the new M&P. They eventually decided that having 3 separate plastic pistol lines was a bit much (and probably confusing to the public), so they more or less folded the Sigma and SD together, making a new budget line for the frugal buyers just looking for a standard single-size plastic pistol available in either 9 or .40, and put their attention to the expanding the higher end M&P.

Walther has been making more of a footprint in the US, but it remains to be seen how aggressively they'll go after share of the lucrative US market. It might even be interesting to see if they stick their toe in the American LE market share.

In this new age of "one consistent trigger pull" marketing, the ability of the handgunners of yesteryear to operate both a DA and SA trigger of a revolver, and then the DA & SA trigger modes in the "traditional double action" pistols which entered LE and military use in earlier decades, seems to have fallen by the wayside. (Traditional Double Action, or TDA, for short, is the formal name for what's usually known as DA/SA among gun owners.)

I've sometimes heard the TDA pistols referred to as "the thinking man's gun", usually meaning the more skilled and experienced shooter (who isn't a 1911 user, which is another dedicated "group" ;) ), long after Cooper nicknamed the TDA guns as "Crunchentickers". Potato, Potahtoe ...

If someone likes a TDA pistol, the AS version of the 99 series offers an excellent variation, with very smooth and consistent trigger pulls in both modes.

I won't put the rest of my experiences as an owner, users and armorer for the SW99/P99 in this thread, but you can look for the older threads and browse them, easily enough.
 
The P99 is great. For a full-sized or "duty" gun, it is both relatively compact and low-snag. The decocker and magazine release fit flush to the firearm. The paddle release actually rides into most holsters, giving it unparalleled protection versus a button release. It was an early innovator in ergonomics but those innovations still hold up. The trigger is good but there is something more to say there. Being a striker-fired gun with DA/SA functionality, the trigger feels different. I can't quite describe it but I like it.

Having shot them in both 9mm and .40 S&W, I'd definitely recommend the 9mm. The P99 is light and easy to carry for what it is. As a result, it doesn't mitigate recoil as well as some other full-sized guns. That's no big deal in 9mm, which is comfortable enough to shoot all afternoon in the P99. The .40 version is just a bit snappy for my tastes.
 
The P99 is the gun that I've chosen to equip my wife with... which aught to tell you how I feel about them.

Honestly I'm not a huge fan of the trigger (I actually like a heavier trigger) but she likes it and the gun is 100% reliable. We have 3 of them, and I'd buy another.
 
P99AS and PPQ M1 here. I'f I'm being honest I like the feel of the P99 in the hand a little better but the PPQ shoots better for me.
 
best handgun out there

I carry a P99AS 2nd gen at work with a TLR in a safariland holster. My department allows us to carry pretty much anything and my goal in life has been to introduce other shooters/officers to the world that exists outside of GLOCK. The P99 has an amazing trigger, top notch ergonomics, and is reliable as hell. There is nothing I don't like about that gun.
 
I just recently got one from Buds. This was my fav platform in the mid 2000s, and I have owned several. I have been without one since around 2010 or so. I just got a new one from Buds. It is in my carry rotation.

I actually shoot it better than any other gun. At 15 yards in a dark indoor range - the 1st shot went dead center in the target.

Love that it is DA/SA, but striker fired.

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P99c AS here. It has the best trigger I've ever felt in a poly 9mm.
Even better than its younger brother the PPQ? I am thinking of getting the P99c AS as a slightly smaller companion to my PPQ. I really would like to spend a few hours shooting the P99c, but from what I have read, it's great. And yes, I did consider getting the PPQ Compact, and have decided I'm not going that direction.
 
The P99c AS in single action mode is a full pound lighter than the PPQ's pull. I personally can notice it. So yes, slightly better trigger than the PPQ.
 
Even better than its younger brother the PPQ?

They are different, but both are excellent - both are smooth and crisp with a very short reset. The P99AS has an approximately 1 lb. lighter trigger pull in single-action mode than the PPQ's trigger, and that is why many prefer its feel.
 
One caveat about the P99 AS trigger is that it's fairly long and has a two-stage feel if you're shooting your first shot in Anti-Stress mode. In AS mode, it feels a lot like the trigger of a typical old-school military bolt rifle—a long initial segment with light resistance, then a short segment of heavier resistance, followed by a distinct break. On the first shot, the PPQ trigger is a lot shorter, although it breaks a bit heavier as others have discussed.

OTOH if you're firing a follow-up shot from reset, or decocking and firing the first shot in DA mode, this is a non-issue. It's just a quirk of the AS mode.
 
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