Longevity of 9mm S&W 99c question.

My EDC pistol is a Taurus Millenium (not the pro) and it has served it's purpose well. It shoots Gold Dot 124 gr +p's close enough to poa and mine feeds and functions well.
The problem is that I have read enough anecdotal evidence as to the PT-111's supposed frailty to cause me to practice only sparingly with this pistol. I want a CCW that is tough enough for regular practice firing.
I enjoy the PT 111's size and weight and consider the 9mm S&W 99c as a very good replacement in size and capacity considering MY favorite mode of carry.
My question is for those here who have shot a 99c extensively (5000-10000) and can relate their experience with it regarding wear and parts breakage.

The 99-class pistols have been pretty reliable as far as I know. I have a Walther P99 in .40 and did have a sear block failure but I don't know how common this is.

Thanks Matt. I have a S&W 99 in 9mm but have only a little over 1500 rds in the short time I have had it and really like the 99.

Mine's been fine and I'm at about the 10,000 round point.

Mine required a part replacement due to a tolerance issue involving one of the Walther parts in the frame (trigger bar guide) early on, but otherwise it's been an outstanding compact 9mm. I've replaced recoil & mag springs periodically. I replaced the striker spring, striker return spring and the extractor spring at about 9,000 rounds, but not because of any functioning issues (just for preventive maintenance because I was doing an armorer inspection and figured I might as well do it while I had it apart and had the spare springs at hand).

I helped maintain about 50-odd SW99's and a P99 (issued and personally-owned guns) over the course of several years. Off hand I can remember replacing a small number of sear housing blocks because of broken ejectors (maybe 3-4), a couple of extractor springs (weakened), a couple of broken rear sight base plungers, a cracked slide end cap and a couple of bent slide stop lever springs (be careful not to snag the rear hooked end of the spring when cleaning).

My SW99 9c is one of my favorite 9mm guns for general training & practice. Accurate and reliable with any ammunition I've used in it.

I have a friend who owns a pair of full-size models (9 & .40) and a compact .40 model. He's fired in excess of 50K+ rounds through each of the full-size guns and several thousand rounds through the little .40 gun. I replaced a broken ejector (sear housing block) in the standard .40 at about the 50K point and a broken rear sight base plunger in the little .40 at one point. He's very pleased with all of them and continues to shoot and carry them. I just keep reminding him to periodically replace the recoil springs in them for as much as he shoots them.

FWIW, S&W recommends replacing the recoil & mag springs either every 5,000 rounds or every 5 years, whichever occurs first.

Although I carried an issued SW99 .40 for a number of years and own a similar full-size .40 model, I happen to think the 99 series is at its best when chambered in 9mm.

I have no plans to get rid of my 2 SW99's. I wouldn't mind picking up a P99 9c in the traditional double action design (what Walther presently calls their AS model) if the price were right some time.

Fastbolt, I have previously enjoyed your posts concerning the S&W 99's and I thank you for sharing your knowledge with all of us again.
Your post addressed and relieved my concerns and I too will be on the lookout for a 99c though the choice between a 99c AS or a 990L will be tough one.

De nada.

The 99c is a fine little 9mm, although I do have a personal preference for the TDA, or Anti-Stress, trigger over the 990L/99 QA. The 990L doesn't have the Walther slide's reduced size decocking button (or what I thought Walther started calling their 'field-stripping button'). That means the 990L has to be field-stripped by pulling the trigger on an empty chamber, like the S&W Sigma Series. The P99c QA can be decocked via the small button in the slide.

As long as good quality factory ammunition is used and the guns are kept clean & lubricated it seems the 99's are a fairly robust offering.

The slide stop spring used in the Walther version are less susceptible to inadvertent (meaning inattentive) snagging and bending than the one used in the S&W versions (being a closed loop end design versus the open, hooked end design). The S&W spring is stronger than the one used in the Walther, but we were told that it was really only developed when S&W was in the initial phase of trying to resolve the 'early slide stop' issues which occurred in the SW99 .40's (and which had been occurring in the P99 .40's, as well). As it turned out the solution was found to be in the magazine body & follower design, but S&W kept the stronger slide stop lever spring anyway. At least one agency which adopted the SW99's eventually had their springs changed over to the short/closed end Walther spring because their folks just couldn't seem to pay enough attention during cleaning to avoid snagging & bending the springs.

The other potential 'weak spot' is the spring loaded plunger which retains the rear sight base. Sometimes an impact against the rear sight can snap off one of the thin 'ears' which slip around the head of the sight's windage screw to hold the whole assembly in the dovetail. If S&W had decided to continue production of their licensed version I suspect they would have eventually changed their slide design to use a tightly fitted rear sight dovetail (which is what was hinted to us at one of the SW99/P99 armorer classes I attended).

Although there are still a number of agencies using the SW99, that number is shrinking as S&W is offering to trade the agencies out of the SW99's for new M&P's.

I always felt the 99 series didn't get the attention it deserved in this country, but that's probably because Walther never seemed all that interested in a high profile marketing campaign. I've also been told that most of Walther's attention is on production efforts to fill contracts for LE/Gov demand outside the US. Kind of the opposite of what Glock is doing, with about 80% of their production effort being sold in the US (according to info given in the last Glock armorer class I attended).

S&W is still providing support for their SW99/990L guns, and the Walther America part of the company is still doing well enough according to the last investor's report (and still provides parts/service for Walther guns). I've sometimes had to wait for 99 parts to arrive from Germany, though.

Like I said earlier, though, I really like my SW99 9c. A lot.

I guess I could probably add that my SW99 9c, 3913 & CS9 are the reasons why I didn't order a M&P 9c, and don't have any plans to do so. Although I feel the M&P offers several features and design refinements which make it an overall great gun, and arguably a further improvement in the plastic gun field, I simply find my needs well served by the other small S&W 9's I already own and use.