Whatever happened to the P99?

[m39nut]

A few years ago I remember the Walther P99 arriving with a big splash. Since then I have heard very little of it. Was it that bad or just no advantage to the Glock or HK to gain any market share? Every now and then you see one in a gun store but nobody really seems to be interested in them.

[chilic82]

A few years ago I remember the Walther P99 arriving with a big splash. Since then I have heard very little of it. Was it that bad or just no advantage to the Glock or HK to gain any market share? Every now and then you see one in a gun store but nobody really seems to be interested in them.

Poor marketing, no aftermarket support,complicated trigger setup.Excellent gun, just never caught on.

[AngeredKabar]

They're still around. I'm sure you can order them or have them ordered. I think one of the new Magnum Research pistols has magazines that work with the P99.

[crazymoose]

They're fine pistols with a trigger that's very good by plastic striker-fired standards. I think they were killed mainly by the price point. Couldn't compete with Glock and the M&P on price, and couldn't compete with H&K for panache.

[GermanSynergy]

I had a P99 in 9mm years ago, and regret selling it. Very nice pistol, but it was introduced at a bad time (AWB, market owned by Glock for striker fired polymer handguns, etc).

[Army Chief]

I think there may also have been another subtle component at work in that Walther ultimately chose Smith & Wesson as their domestic marketing/production/distribution partner. This is not at all surprising, given S&W's presence and name recognition in the German market, but something was definitely lost in translation.

The SW99 was the stillborn child of this union, introduced at a time when there were many other -- and less expensive -- alternatives available. Whatever the P99 may have had going for it was compromised by flawed attempts at getting greater market share for the SW99 -- particularly within the LE community.

Had the timing of its arrival been different, or the marketing plan been more effective, the cachet of the Walther brand and reputation of the pistol may have carried more weight, but that didn't happen, and a very good pistol sort of faded into an unwarranted irrelevance as a result. Strangely enough, that has served to make them quite affordable, and while this might seem like an odd choice to some, I think I would still prefer a Walther to a Glock.

AC

[Robb Jensen]

Actually pretty nice pistols.

What's killed it for the last 2 yrs or so has been the Euro to Dollar ratio. A few years ago we were selling them for about $600. Now because the dealer price on these has gone way up we don't stock them but if we did they would be $750-800

[Zhurdan]

I've got one in 9mm. Nice shooting pistol. The ergo's are awesome, I really like the position of the decocker, and the trigger transition from double to single was easier to learn that that of a Beretta 92 for me.

I still shoot it, but these days, if I'm not shooting the 1911, I'm shooting the M&P.

[Palmguy]

Had one (a first gen 9mm AS QPQ) and wish I still did...it was a very cool gun. Great trigger.

That said, it was a little big for me to carry and yes mags are/were expensive. I think they are even more difficult to come by now.

[DBZ220]

I recently sold a current vintage P99QA. The "quick action" trigger wasn't too bad in my opinion and pretty close to a Glock. Customer service is currently handled via Smith and Wesson, and is excellent in my experience when I suffered a broken slide catch lever after 5k. It was an otherwise excellent performer. Only sold it to pickup more ammo for training classes I have coming next year. The SW99 on the other hand, has had it's share of problems.