I have a friend who also ordered a pair of SW99's after attending an armorer class. One in each caliber (that was before they offered the .45 model).
Although he went to one armorer class, he generally brings his personally-owned guns to me for occasional inspection and service.
He shoots a lot. Not uncommon for him to shoot every day, or at least several days a week. He has his own range on some property and also works as a firearms instructor for his agency.
Anyway, last time I spoke to him he had fired more than 50,000 through each of his SW99's. (Remember when ammunition was lot less expensive?) I finally had to replace the sear housing block in his .40 S&W model because of a broken ejector (molded into the housing, which is a Walther part). The replacement housing block was covered as a warranty part when I ordered it. The SW99/990L's benefit from S&W's lifetime warranty, even the parts produced by Walther, instead of the standard Walther warranty period. Not bad service, huh?
I did have to replace a couple of other broken ejectors in SW99's. One was in another instructor's gun who used it as a loaner in classes he teaches and who has long since lost track of the number of rounds which have been fired through it. Oddly enough, his gun had the wrong caliber housing block/ejector installed in the gun. He said he bought it used, if I recall, so who knows how it ended up in that gun. he said it gave him, and countless, students, a lot of service before it finally broke, though.
The other one was in a SW99 .40 S&W which had probably only had a few thousand rounds, if that, fired through it. Sometimes things just happen.
I was told of a SW99 .40 S&W used at the S&W Academy as a loaner, and for which they keep a log of rounds fired. It was being kept as a test gun to check the long term endurance of a gun which was intentionally neglected from the perspective that it was not going to be cleaned, lubricated or otherwise maintained as recommended to all other owners.
Last I spoke to someone there, that SW99 had reportedly logged more than 75,000 rounds without any failures or maintenance repairs. Not too bad.
The 99 series is a good design. I like some of the features Walther incorporated into the gun.
The striker safety plunger is a block of steel that is pretty robust.
The locking block is large and beefy, and the locking block used in the compact model incorporates the frame rails in the block, instead being in a fixture molded into the front of the frame as in the standard size models.
The striker assembly can be removed and cleaned without having to deal with the extractor (although the decocker button and spring are connected to the striker assembly's installation and removal).
The extractor can be removed for cleaning without having to bother with the striker assembly. It requires dealing with 2 plungers, one of which is the striker safety block, and it feels as though it requires 3 hands in order to remove and install them the first few times
, It's not a fitted part, either.
The heavier magazine catch spring is also used as an optional (heavier) extractor spring on the standard size models chambered in 9/40, but in at least the SW99/990L compact models and the .45 model it's the standard part last time I looked.
The rolled steel pin used to hold the locking block is not easy to remove. It's installed with a press at the factory. Although armorers are trained to be able to remove the rolled pin during the class, I've spoken to at least a couple armorers who would rather return a gun to the factory for removal of the locking block. Understandable, since improper removal ... or inattention and a slip with the roll pin punch and the ball peen hammer ... could result in damage to the glass reinforced polymer frame (which is not as 'pliable' as some other polymer frames).
Unfortunately, removing the slide stop spring requires removing the locking block.
The rear sight base design can be a bit annoying at times because of the looseness of the captured plunger design used to hold it in the slide's dovetail. If the rear base has to be removed care must be taken to remove it to the left, instead of the right. If move to the right by mistake, the windage screw must be removed in order to remove the sight, and there goes your windage adjustment. The plunger snaps up and becomes trapped under the rear sight base. Annoying. I've known more than a couple of new armorers who made that very mistake.
I really like the ingenious way Walther incorporated a striker return spring into the striker assembly. This secondary spring keeps the striker from having unintended/excessive contact with the striker safety block. This sort of contact causes some degree of normal peening on the firing pin and firing pin safety plungers in Glocks, commonly referred to as 'chatter' during Glock armorer classes, and which is considered normal, to a point. Nice extra touch in the 99 series (as well as in the M&P series, too).
The sear housing block in the 99 shouldn't be disassembled. It's not recommended for armorers to disassemble it, either. Not necessary for one thing ... and a bit trick to reassemble for another. The SW99/P99 armorer manuals do show how to assemble and install the single action sear assembly into the block (the assembly being the single action sear spring and the single action sear). Installing it and inserting the sear pin into place requires some positioning to take the spring location and spring tension into consideration ... you have to hold your eyebrows and mouth just right in the process
... and it's not recommended for a normal practice. The manual even states
Sear Housing Block Should Not Be Disassembled!!.
So why does the manual contain some instructions to partially reassemble the block assembly?
Because if you remove the housing block and tip it to the left the sear pin will fall out and the spring and single action sear will jump out. Also, when you order a spare assembly it will probably disassemble itself inside the small plastic baggie during shipping and handling. BTDT.
Three are some other interesting bits of trivia and oddities, but I've probably rambled on longer than folks care to hear.
The 99 series in either incarnation ... P99 series or SW99 series ... is a fine service-type pistol that I'd offer failed (for whatever reason) to receive the appreciation it deserves in this country. There are always going to be the Walther brand enthusiasts who favor the P99 simply because it's a Walther. I happen to prefer the licensed S&W copy for several reasons, none of which are critical when it comes to simple range enjoyment, everyday reliability and ordinary pride-of-ownership considerations.
I've been told that Walther is presently devoting the bulk of its manufacturing capabilities to filling orders for P99's of various model configuration worldwide outside the US.
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