Does anyone have any experience with or knowledge of the SW99 in 9mm. I understand it was a joint effort between S&W and Walther. I am considering buying one at what seems a fair price but information is lacking and it concerns me due to this lack of information.

I seen this pistol on a magazine cover back in Australia many years ago and fell in love with just the look of it.
When I finally got my gun license here in the States it was the first pistol I wanted to buy. I got to the gun store, handled it, dry fired it a few times ... and then walked out with a H&K and a Sig.
For me the quality was not there. It felt cheap and nasty.

IB

Hello and Welcome to the forum,
I have a copy of the Standard Catalog of S&W 3rd Edition that has a basic bio of the pistol. You are correct that it was a cooperative effort between S&W and Walther. Walther produced the frames and lock work and then sends them to S&W where the slides and barrels are manufactured and then the pistol is assembled. I have never handled or shot one. They retailed for over $800 back in 2001. You may want to pose the question in the forum above this one, the Sigma and SD forum.

No longer made, not for a while. If you want one you gotta hunt down a used one ....along with mags. Ive seen them go from $300-$500 in my area. In the last year i saw 3 and one was a 45

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I own a .40 cal SW99, actually my second one. Purchased one new when they first came out but had to part with it eventually for financial reasons. Years later my new brother in law just happened to be in a similar situation and had one he was looking to sell. Jumped right on it. The trigger pull is a little heavy in DA but beyond that I have no complaints. It could be sentimental since it was my very first S&W ever but I still love shooting it.

What is a SW99 exactly?

Is there anything 'wrong' with the SW99 series...

S&W 99

SW-99 or Walther P-99 opinions ?

Walther P99 vs SW 990L ?

SW99 Question

Longevity of 9mm S&W 99c question.

Broken SW99C rear sight

There's more if you want to Search for them, but those are a sampling.

As an owner & armorer for the SW99 series, I tend to prefer the 99 series chambered in 9mm, as well as the standard (or original) sear action (what Walther presently calls their Anti-Stress model).

In short, Walther provided S&W with all frames, frame parts & assemblies. S&W manufactured their own slides & barrels, and Walther provided the rest of the parts for use in the slide (sights, striker assembly, extractor, safety plunger, pins, springs).

S&W engineers requested some changes in the frames (surface texturing, mag foot clearance, non-hooked frame tang, different accessory rail and some other minor revisions they felt would be beneficial to American owners.

When some early slide-lock issues were reported by users of the licensed SW9940's (full-size .40), S&W engineers helped Walther identify the cause of the erratic issue, which had also been reported occurring in earlier production P99 .40's (before the strategic alliance and S&W being licensed to make the SW99). The "correction" involved a revision of the .40 magazine body and follower by Mec-Gar.

My SW99 9c (compact) in the original sear action has long been one of my favorite 9's. It's DA & SA mode trigger pulls are better than those of my well-used 3913, and it easily rivals the inherent accuracy of my 3913.

The SW99/990L series benefited from some revisions and refinements during the time S&W was licensed to make them. of course, Walther has continued to make revisions & refinements within their own P99 AS series, as well.

Good guns.

The older plastic sight bases were a bit of a weak point, in a way. The "eared" top of the steel rear sight plunger could be damaged from an impact against the sight base. Easy to replace, as long as you don't try to remove the base the wrong way, trapping the plunger underneath the sight base. The front sights were secured with a pointed steel screw (to spread the lower open end of the plastic sight post, securing the post in the slide). It worked well ... as long as the sight post screw wasn't turned too many turns, causing it punch up through the top of the front post.

The slide stop springs used in the S&W licensed models have a hooked end (long story) ... which can be snagged during inattentive, improper cleaning practices. Don't do it! Replacing a damaged slide stop lever spring requires removal of the locking block ... which requires removal of a coiled steel pin (and a hammer & roll pin punch). Not something for the kitchen table tinkerer.

Parts can be expensive (Walther), and availability is whatever Walther wants it to be. I've waited for parts to arrive from Germany, upon occasion. Maybe now that Walther is becoming its own importer, they'll establish a larger presence and support pipeline.

The recommendation for recoil spring assembly & mag spring replacement when S&W was selling their licensed models was every 5 years or every 5K rounds fired. They didn't discuss a striker spring replacement interval back then (although S&W recommends the same 5 yr/5K rounds interval for their M&P), and nowadays Walther tells even its armorers that the RSA is a factory-only item regarding disassembly/servicing. Probably because the shorter, lighter spring in the striker assembly (striker return spring) can be damaged if removed/installed incorrectly.

The sear housing block is another factory-only restricted assembly for repair/service, BTW, although armorers used to be given instructions for partial reassembly ... because the sear lever pin, lever & spring could come out of the housing block if it were removed from the frame and tipped to the left ... or, I've received them where they came out during shipping. Having had to reinstall the sear lever, spring & pin in a couple housing blocks, as well as change the lower tube pin (due to a change in the 99 frame which affected swear housing block dimensions sometime after the early 2000's), I can see why they like to restrict servicing of that assembly to the factory.

No replacement interval recommendation offered for the striker assembly/spring in the last Walther armorer manual.

Anyway, like I said, good guns.

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer