S&W 99

[walkin' trails]

Is the S&W 99 equipped with a DA/SA trigger? I'm assuming it does because it has the decocking button the top of the slide. You can tell if its cocked when the striker is poking out through the back of the slide - correct? Should not be carried with the striker cocked - correct?

I ask this because I have never had anything to do with those pistols, and don't recall reading much about them. Then recently I dealt with a shooter who had apparently been carrying the pistol for a spell, but did not realize it had a decocker. The shooter claimed to have been trained on Beretta 92s and supposedly understood the concept of decocking before holstering, or so said. I worked to convince the shooter that one should probably decock before holstering, but I don't know if it sunk in. I think the shooter was under the impression that all polymer striker pistols were like DA-only. Again, I've seen a few of the 99s but have had absolutely no experience with them.

 

[sniper47]

You are correct, there is an indicator that pops out, red color to show the gun is in cocked mode. If he carried the gun this way in a holster, he was endangering himself and others when the weapon was drawn from the holster. I have a SW99c in 9mm that I carried today. My daily ccw is a SW99-40. Great shooting guns.

 

[USMCGrunt]

I used to have a SW99 in .45ACP. There are 3 modes to the trigger.
First is completely decocked where the striker is forward and the trigger pull is going to be a long, heavy (and in my case, gritty and miserable) trigger pull.
The second mode is the traditional single action mode. Here you have the striker cocked, the striker pokes out the back of the slide and the trigger pull is lighter and shorter (although mine was still pretty nasty on my SW99).
The third mode you can go into is the Anti-stress trigger mode. Here, you load and decock as usual so the trigger goes forward. Now retract the slide slightly until the striker resets on the sear. Now the striker is cocked like the SA mode but the trigger pull is longer like the DA pull but has all that takeup with the resistance provided by the trigger return spring making it lighter until the trigger bar engages the sear giving you a lighter SA trigger pull. In this mode, the striker will be poking out the back of the slide as well.
I hope you have better luck with your SW99 than I did with mine. I never cared for it since its accuracy wasn't that good, the magazine release rubbed against my finger until I filed it down a little, and more often than not, the slide would fail to lock open when the magazine was empty. I would up using it as trading fodder later on. My only regret was selling it too soon as they tend to be more of a collectors item these days (at least the .45 ACP version) and would have been nice part of my .45 collection or at least have brought a better price.

 

[walkin' trails]

I thank you both for your posts. I now more than I did, and I don't believe this shooter knew about the third mode. The pistol looked like it shot well, but was one I'd had no experience with, and apparently the owner knew less than me.

 

[jake m29]

The S&W 99 is perfectly safe to carry in the "cocked" position. No different from a Glock or XD. When we were issued the 99 we didnt even mess
with the decocker.

 

[RKBAGUY]

The SW99 is based on the Walther P99. For more information you can go to www.waltherforums.com for everything you'd ever want to know about this gun.

I disagree with the post that suggests there are three modes. In my view there are really only the two, the third being only a way to get the gun into SA mode after decocking.

I carry a P99 daily in decocked (round chambered) mode, meaning there is an approximate 8lb trigger pull, as opposed to the roughly 4lb pull of SA mode. I would strongly recommend your friend learn the gun and get used to it before an unfortunate accident ensues.

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