Walther P99 pistol smiths?

[m4fun]

Anyone know or have any experience with someone who knows how to work on a Walther P99 trigger?

[Outrider]

I looked into what could be done about the trigger. It does smooth out a little after 500 rounds or so but it's still on the heavy side.

Some people have tried cutting springs and using lighter Glock springs but that was found to compromise the reliability. -About eight years ago, I was told plainly by a gunsmith who had been an engineer at Boeing in his previous career that nothing could be done to lighten the trigger barring a new kit.

That said, maybe something new has been developed. There's a Walther Forum where you might want to check what people have to say.

http://www.waltherforums.com/

[decodeddiesel]

Anyone know or have any experience with someone who knows how to work on a Walther P99 trigger?

Good luck dude. I have been looking for a good smith who will do a trigger job on my P99 for a year and a half.

I did the "how to make your QA trigger un-suck" on the Walther forums, and I also replaced the striker spring with a Glock 5.5# striker spring. Both of those helped, but the trigger is still less than optimal.

[JonInWA]

Try checking with Earl Sheehan of Earl's Repair; see www.carlwalther.com

Best, Jon

[decodeddiesel]

Try checking with Earl Sheehan of Earl's Repair; see www.carlwalther.com

Best, Jon

Jon, in the past I have heard Earl will do trigger work on P99s, but now he won't touch them, especially if it is a "S&W" gun . This is what I got back from him when I wrote him about a trigger job:

"Dear Sir,
We represent Carl Walther directly from Germany. We have all spare parts / pistols as you can see and order on our website: www.carlwalther.com . All of our products come from Germany.

Sorry but because we represent the Factory from Germany, we can not reduce / change the trigger design as this pistol already has a lower tension trigger than the normal AS pistol. Please advise.
Sincerely, Earl"

There's a whole lot of poop in that statement IMHO.

Here's how it is with Earl. He imports and sells "German" P99s for a little over $1000 each. Somehow these are "better" than the exact same pistol S&W imports and dealers sell for around $600. Unless you want to spend $400-$600 more on a "German" P99 (even though all of the proof markings on my pistol indicate it was made 100% in Germany) Earl believes you have a substandard gun and won't even talk to you about them.

My opinion? Earl can take his little alternate universe of reality and shove it.

[JonInWA]

Earl can be a tad on the expensive side, but I've always found his advice (and Walther knowledge/expertise) to be sound. I believe that Gun Tests (and possibly others) comparatively tested a German-made Walther P99 and a Smith & Wesson produced P99 concurrently, and found the German-made version to be significantly superior-I'll try to dig the article out of my archives and report back.

Best, Jon

[decodeddiesel]

Earl can be a tad on the expensive side, but I've always found his advice (and Walther knowledge/expertise) to be sound. I believe that Gun Tests (and possibly others) comparatively tested a German-made Walther P99 and a Smith & Wesson produced P99 concurrently, and found the German-made version to be significantly superior-I try to dig the article out of my archives.

Best, Jon

I'd say that charging nearly 2x as much as street price for an already expensive pistol is a bit more than a "tad expensive". What's the return on that money? Just so you're gun doesn't say S&W?

Jon, S&W does not "produce" P99s. They import them the same as Earl. All P99s are made in Europe, and some entirely in Germany. My pistol has all of the German proof stampings on the barrel, slide, and frame. It also has "Smith and Wesson, Springfield, MA" engraved on the slide as per the ATF regulations of imported weapons.

OK, Earl may be knowledgeable, but he certainly won't share that knowledge openly. His completely irrational disdain and disregard for anyone who doesn't pony up for his $1000+ "German made" pistol on the grounds that it is somehow better than the exact same German made pistol S&W imports completely invalidates anything the man has to say IMHO.

It's clear he is in the business of selling guns and parts, and not openly helping the P99 community. That's fine, it's a free country. Regardless though, if the OP does not have a Earl's Repair Service imported P99 then Earl isn't going to give him the time of day.