S&W 99

[RRH]

My son is looking at a S&W 99 compact. The gentleman has one in both 9MM and .40 caliber if I understood correctly. They are both "new old stock".

I would appreciate any opinions so that I can pass them on to him. I don't think that I have even seen one before other than an older magazine article or two.

Also, what would be an acceptable price?

Thanks for your time.

 

[makaadict]

I cant speak for the compacts,but I love my full size .40 S&W99, also I have a Walther P99AS both have the same trigger.

 

[10mm Sonny]

I had a SW99 in 9mm. A very excellent shooter. I kind of regret selling it. But I did get a P99 to replace it.

 

[TSQUARED]

I own and shoot both a S&W 99 and Walther P99QA. I actually prefer the S&W 99's trigger. Both have been totally reliable with a wide variety of handloads and factory ammo. Also they are surprisingly accurate considering their short barrel length.

 

[FirebirdV8]

While I only have a full size SW99, it is my main ccw gun, except for the summertime. It has been reliable and accurate. If you are use to the traditional DA/SA setup, the SW99 with a decocker is second nature. Overall a great pistol.

 

[James NM]

I love the Walther/S&W 99 series of weapons and have several of them. I haven't priced one in a gunshop lately, but i would think $450 or less would be fair. CDNN had some a while back at a very good price.

S&W's came in 3 different trigger options, so I would choose the one I like best. For me, it's the AS version, which is a traditional DA.

 

[SharpshooterOPD]

I carried a full size SW99 as a duty pistol for 7 years and I used a compact model for off-duty. The SW99 is a solid platform and I don't recall ever having a malfunction with either of mine. The only caveat I can pass on is to be a little careful with the rear sight. It is secured in place by a fairly small piece of metal and it doesn't take much of an impact to break it loose (If this happens, S&W will repair it free under their lifetime service contract). Otherwise they are accurate, reliable firearms.

HRF

 

[ShadowBoxer]

Where are these at? I am interested in one, don't care what caliber...Please email

 

[rbert0005]

Shadow,

You are a bit too shadowy. If you put your email address in your profile you just may get one telling you where ther is one for sale.

Bob

 

[Crazy K38]

I have one in 40 and I love this gun, low felt recoil amazing target acquisition just a great gun

 

[N.H.Yankee]

I owned 2 SW99's a 45acp and a 40S&W. I had recoil spring problems with the 45, but the 40 has been 100% flawless, accurate and out of the several guns I own is one of my carry guns. I also hear the 9mm is excellent, wish I could find one in 9mm right now.

 

[powerkicker]

I have one in .40. It's a great gun.

 

[NCPatrolAR]

We ran the full-size SW99s in 40 for severl years. We didnt have much luck with them and finally scrapped them in favor of the M&P40 which we are much happier with.

When we used the 99s, we had numerous problems with them. From failures to go from DA to SA topieces of the sear housing braking and falling out; we didnt have a lot of confidence in the guns. I have heard that th 9mm models are much more reliable though.

 

[torrejon224]

I have three full size in 9mm, two Walthers and a S&W, two compact Walther P99s in 9 and a S&W 99 in 45acp. They are fantastic guns in 9mm, the 40s had some issues as other posters have reported but the 9's are fantastic especially with the Walther AS trigger.

 

[Fastbolt]

I've helped support and maintain upwards of about 50 SW99's and a P99 for several years, the majority of which were issued guns. I carried one the issued SW99's (.40) and own a couple of them, a standard .40 and a compact 9mm.

During that time I had the opportunity to attend 3 armorer classes for the SW99/P99 platform and had a chance to see how they held up under various conditions. Most of the guns were only fired for familiarization and qualification over that time, but some number of them were fired quite a bit.

The well-used guns included one used as a loaner by a retired LE firearms instructor who teaches firearms classes, a fellow who has fired more than 50,000 rounds through a couple of standard 9mm & .40 S&W models and several thousand through a compact .40 model and some of the ones I used and own (in which the round count varied from several thousand rounds to just shy of 10,000 rounds).

During that time I've had to replace some parts for repair/correction purpose.

Just off the top of my head I can remember a couple of sear housing blocks because of broken ejectors (molded into the block itself). One after several thousand rounds (and it turned out to be the wrong caliber ejector/housing in the gun in the first place) and the other in a pistol which I was told had been used to be fire more than 50,000 .40 S&W rounds (sort of understandable for an ejector to require replacement with that many rounds fired

).

A cracked slide end cap ... a damaged rear sight and a couple of rear sight plungers (which suffered broken 'ears' from impacts) ... a couple of bent slide stop lever springs ... a couple of extractor springs and an extractor ... a trigger bar guide insert (wrong dimension original part).

I've also replaced various springs as part of normal maintenance.

The original .40 magazines had to be replaced with redesigned magazines. (S&W engineers helped develop info Walther used to have the magazine bodies and followers redesigned to resolve premature slide stop lever engagement.)

S&W also revised the barrels used in their .40 models to enhance unlocking/locking by incorporating a machined 'flat' into the bottom of the barrel at the rear, which was claimed to offer better clearance between the barrel and the top of the recoil spring. I've seen different production S&W .40 barrels in which the machined relief was either longer or shorter. I've also noticed minor revisions and changes in different production barrels in the way of chamber mouth dimensions, feedramp polishing and muzzle crowns. Sometimes the newer barrels resulted in improved feeding & functioning in some of the early guns, and in other instances early guns with the older barrels worked just fine.

I can remember being told of some other minor revisions and improvements which occurred along the way with the Walther manufactured parts, such as polishing of extractors, a change in the locking block and a change in a frame dimension (which resulted in a change in the sear housing block dimensions).

Overall I think the 99 series is a good design and makes a fine service grade pistol.

I think the sear housing block is a bit tricky. If the sear pin in the traditional double action housing block slips out during an armorer detailed strip (or during shipment of the housing block as a part

) it can be a bit tricky reinstalling the single action sear and its spring back in the block. Even armorers are told that the sear housing block should not be disassembled, although some instructions are included in the manual in case the sear pin slips out when the housing block is removed from the gun (or during shipment of the assembly ... did I mention that??

).

In order to replace the slide stop lever spring in the frame the locking block has to be removed. This requires using a ball peen hammer and a roll pin punch to remove and reinstall the roll pin (Not a simple spring pin, either). This takes some effort and care must be taken so the frame isn't damaged. The spring used in the SW99/990L guns is a bit stronger than the spring used in the Walther models, but it also has a more exposed 'hooked end' which can more easily be snagged and bent by the owner/user during cleaning if they are inattentive.

Now, although S&W has naturally shifted their attention to their own new polymer-framed model line (the M&P pistol series), they're still supporting the SW99/990L guns when it comes to parts and warranty service. (I'm sure it wouldn't surprise anyone to hear that they might be offering some sort of incentives for existing LE customers using the SW99/990L to consider transitioning to the new M&P, either.) They're still the licensed importer for the P99 series through their Walther America part of the company.

Now, Walther parts are a bit expensive. The sear housing block assembly is almost $100, compared to the M&P assembly which is less than $30 (and made of steel). The Walther trigger bar is more than $40 and the M&P is less than $13. The Walther magazine catch is not quite $40 and the M&P is not quite $3. The Walther recoil guide rod assembly is about $11 and has a plastic rod, while the M&P assembly is less than $7 and uses a stainless steel rod.

It can also sometimes require a bit of a wait for Walther to ship parts to S&W (Walther America) from Germany.

The S&W lifetime warranty certainly seemed attractive compared to the 1-year Walther warranty (especially when you considered S&W included the Walther frame and all the Walther parts under its warranty on the licensed SW99/990L models).

Now, I like my SW99's. I think they're fine guns. I think the Walther P99's are fine guns. I think the 99 design offers some nice refinements in the evolution of the polymer-framed pistol.

I like the decocker. I like the striker return spring. I like the front frame rails of the compact being incorporated into the locking block. I like being able to remove the striker assembly for cleaning without having to remove the extractor & safety plunger (and vice versa). I like the replaceable grip backstraps.

However, as with the Glock platform, I personally think the 99 platform is at its optimal when chambered in 9mm. Just my personal thought.

Yes, it seems to take anywhere from a few hundred to several hundred rounds for the average 99 trigger to settle in. It's seemed to vary from one gun to the next in my experience.

My SW99 9mm compact is a great little pistol and it's one of my favorite for range training. It came as somewhat of a surprise to me when I finally realized that I'm consistently able to wring some better practical accuracy out of the little SW99 compact than my 3913.

Okay. That's just my thoughts and experiences.

I don't make blanket recommendations when it comes to other folks buying guns, though.

 

[Forsmithers]

Fastbolt, thanks so much for all of the detail. That was tremendous! As NCPatrolAR mentioned above some people who were issued the SW99 as a service pistol had mixed emotions. I was issued a Glock 23 for plain clothes carry while uniforms got the SW-99. I have fired several hundred rounds through various SW-99's in .40 and all functioned beautifully and were very accurate. It was also a unique feel in the hand with the interchangeable backstraps and I was thrilled when the M&P followed in the department.
One of the major complaints I heard from co-workers about the SW-99 was having to decock and the transition from DA to SA. Which is pretty funny because our Rangemaster chose the SW-99 after testing several different guns AND allowed a group of marginal shooters an opportunity to shoot the SW-99 thinking their qualification scores would go up with the shorter lighter trigger pull in single action. But here's the thing... Our previous service pistol was the 4046 and every trigger pull was the same. My 4046 was heavy but held up after tens of thousands of rounds through it. After mine was retired I bought it from the dept. for a whopping $250, had it bead blasted and it looks like new again.

When my dept. transitioned from the SW-99's to the M&P.40's we were offered the option to buy our former service pistols. I purchased my Glock 23 as well as couple extra G-23's and an SW-99. And while I won't disclose the price, it was quite a bargain (IMHO) and I have been very pleased with these pistols. The sad thing is that we still have a ton of SW-99s available for purchase and most officers declined to buy them. Naturally all of the Glocks that were carried by Detectives and SWAT were snatched up but those poor SW-99's and 4046's that went unsold will be shipped back to Smith. You see, they gave us a 1 for 1 swap. For every pistol we retired they gave us a new M&P (full size .40 or compact). And whatever sold, Smith got the money. And whatever did not sell they would take possession of and undoubtedly would sell those as well.

So, we're happy as pigs in slop with the M&P's but the 4046's and SW-99's are also missed for their little idiosyncrasies. Why just tonight at dinner a co-worker was talking about a shooting he was involved with when he transitioned from his .357 to the 4046. My how times have changed.

 

[Fastbolt]

De nada, Forsmithers.

Yeah, the experiences among various LE agencies using the 99 series has varied ... but then so have the experiences of agencies using other makes/models of service pistols. Pretty normal, I'd think.

As a factory certified armorer for Glock, SW99/P99 & the M&P series I've had the chance to gain some amount of passing familiarity with all of them, and have heard from LE users of all of them, as well.

I own a pair each of Glock, SW99 and M&P pistols.

There are things I like about each of the different designs, as well as things I wouldn't mind seeing changed. Again, pretty normal.

As far as the metal-framed S&W pistols?

I grew to like the traditional double action metal-framed pistols produced in the 3rd generation line ... after grudgingly learning to respect them once I got over the dismay of having to turn in my .357 Magnum service revolver for an alloy-framed 'wonder nine'.

Being an old revolver owner/user I didn't mind the traditional double action design with its transition from DA to SA, even though up until that point my personal preference for a centerfire pistol was a single action Colt Commander. Once I'd sent some several thousand rounds downrange, had the chance to attend some of the armorer classes and had observed how well they worked in the hands of folks in my agency (and some others) ... I figured out they were probably fine.

I think S&W has a winner on its hands with the M&P series. They're still doing some fine tuning and revision, sure, but they're still revising and making subtle improvements in the TSW pistols ... and it's not like the other makers aren't doing the same thing with their respective models.