Walther P99

The P99 is the result of a collective effort involving many designers and engineers. Development for the P99 started in 1994, according to demanding German police pistol specifications. Walther examined every law enforcement pistol on the market and came to the conclusion that any new pistol designed and manufactured for the self-defense market would have to be lightweight and offered at a lower cost than its previous P88 pistol.

The Walther P99 is a completely new design that demonstrates the benefits of solid research. The light weight requirement for the Walther P99 dictated a polymer frame, but the Walther design team wanted more than a pistol with just another polymer frame, and they also wanted an exlusive trigger action that was not the duplicate of a well-known plastic frame pistol made in Austria (Glock).

For the grip design Walther contacted the man who makes the grips for the best international shooters in the world-Morini. To an Olympic champion there is nothing better than a Morini grip, but Walther didn't want an Olympic "glove grip" on its pistol. Rather, it wanted the most ergonomic grip available and it got an exceedingly good one. Additionally, the grip size is adjustable through installation of different size backstraps. This feature has a patent pending as do three other design aspects of the Walther P99.

The action of the Walther P99 is a recoil operated, Browning style, dropping barrel design. The pistol operates like a traditional double action/single action pistol, but with some major differences. The first is there are no levers, and there is definitely no slide mounted safety/decocking lever. There is a flush mounted decocking panel mounted on the top left side of the slide, and there is a slide release tab to allow the locked-open slide to close after insertion of a loaded magazine.

The slide fully encloses the barrel with the exception of the ejection port. The Walther P99's overall size and balance is comparable to the Glock Model 19. The P99 is only 1.14 inches wide, 5.31 inches high and just slightly over seven inches long. It weights 21.51 ounces without the magazine and the empty 10-round magazine is only 2.5 ounces.

The P99 has four independently working safeties: the trigger safety, the internal striker safety, the decocking safety and the drop safety. The decocking safety, as previously mentioned, is NOT a lever, but a plate in the top of the slide. An indicator protrudes from the back of the slide when the striker is cocked and pressing down on this plate in the top of the slide will decock the pistol. The cocking indicator will disappear.

The Walther P99 also has a loaded-chamber indicator that works with the extractor. When the chamber is empty, the extractor is flush with the slide. When the chamber is loaded, a red mark is exposed and the extractor is noticeably back from the outside shape of the slide. At night or in a dark room, the shooter's fingers can discern this difference and tell the shooter the condition of the chamber on his Walther P99.

The Walther P99 is striker-fired, NOT hammer-fired, but it was designed to give the "feel" of a hammer-fired double action automatic. Walther wanted a striker-fired system because under the German Police protocol striker-fired pistols only need 3.5 kg (8 lbs.) of force for cartridge ignition, whereas hammer-fired guns must demonstrate 5.5 kg (12.5 lbs.) of force. All of this translates into heavier or lighter trigger pull that would prove conducive to practical accuracy.

When pulling the trigger for the first shot on the Walther P99, the trigger travel is loooooong. It takes a while before it gets there, but the Walther design team felt this extra length on the first shot added to the overall safety of the pistol and made it less prone to a negligent discharge.

The first Walther P99 is chambered for 9mm, but models are available for .40S&W, and perhaps for .45ACP and .380 by the time you read this.

The long first shot, double action trigger pull takes some getting used to, but the subsequent single action trigger is short with absolutely no take-up. Additionally, it is smooth. This system makes for an extremely easy pistol to fire accurately. The single action pull is, without question, one of the best to be found on any factory pistol out there. The inherent accuracy of the P99 would appear from Frank James' (Combat Handguns Magazine) 250-round test session to do justice to the legacy of the Walther P-38, which he has found to be an extremely accurate 9mm pistol. Our .40 has a trigger set feature which allows you to reduce the trigger travel distance.

Factory literature lists the single action trigger pull at 4.496 pounds, but it feels like a three-pound trigger. It's that good. Additionally, the trigger travel distance is reduced to the point that you don't need hands like a simian to reach the trigger comfortably.

The pistol was designed from the start to be completely ambidextrous. The magazine release is similar to the one found on the H&K USP pistol, but it is far more subdued and , it its far less likely to release accidentally. Found at the junction where the trigger guard meets the frame, the dual mag release levers blend in with the trigger guard to the point nothing stickd up or below the trigger guard bow. Depressing either the right lever, or the left lever, releases the magazine and the operation is the same if the shooter is right- or left-handed.

The magazine, of course, holds only ten rounds for those pistols destined for sale to civilians in the United States, but for law enforcement and foreign sales a sixteen-round capacity mag is available. In Germany the police practice their training drills in eight-round firing strings, so magazines for police weapons are routinely designed to hold multiples of eight: 8, 16, 24 or 32.

Routine disassembly of the Walther P99 separates the slide, recoil-spring assembly and barrel from the frame. Note the three front sight blades and the two grip backstraps. The MecGar magazine holds ten rounds.

 However, the magazine offered to civilians in U.S. holds only ten rounds and it is built by Europe's foremost magazine manufacturer, MecGar. The upper portion duplicates the law enforcement body, but it is shortened to a ten-round length and the bottom of the mag is essentially an extremely long floorplate.

The grip features a changeable backstrap. The gun comes with the medium sized backstrap installed, there is a smaller one and a larger one which can be added to suit your hand size. >

The finish on the slide and other metal parts is Tenifer, and it is extremely corrosion resistant. Glock uses the same process, but unlike the Glock the Walther P99 is not parkerized after the Tenifer treatment. The Walther P99 sports a dull black finish.>

For sights the Walther P99 is equipped with an abbreviated ramped rear sight featuring two white dots. It is adjustable for windage only. The front sight is equipped with a single white dot, but each Walther P99 will be shipped with three extra front sight blades. The shooter can easily interchange sight blades to adjust his sight height for zeroing with his ammunition.

Take-down of the Walther P99 requires the striker be decocked. Remove the magazine and ensure the chamber is empty and clear. Decock the striker. Push down on the barrel catch tabs located on either side of the frame above the trigger. Pull the slide forward off the frame and remove the recoil spring assembly from the slide. The barrel can now be easily removed from the slide and no further disassembly is necessary for routine cleaning and maintenance.

Walther has not been a major player in the American self-defense or law enforcement market in the past few years, but this pistol and its engineering indicate those days are over. Walther has arrived and it is the first to design a pistol for the coming century.