Walther P99c; An Uncommon Choice

In a sea of Glocks, XD's, and M&P's the P99 series by Walther get ignored by the masses.

I recently got my hands on a P99c in .40 s&w. I must say that I am enjoying it. I've been an owner (my wife's actually) of a P22 and have always like shooting it and then I had the opportunity to pick up a P99c. The largely overlooked compact version of the P99 has a lot going for it for use in concealed carry. It's very similar in size (maybe a tad larger here & there) to the Glock 27 and actually a bit lighter. It uses a unique trigger system that mimics traditional double action/single action, but uses a striker instead of a hammer to ignite the bullet. To facilitate this, it has a manual decocker (located flush on the top of the slide) to take it out of single action mode and to allow disassembly without having to pull the trigger (like Glocks). The double action trigger pull is long and approximately 8.5lbs and the single action pull is shorter and about 4.5lbs. It's not hard to master and both are light enough to manipulate while staying on target. I prefer to put it in double action mode as an added safety while carrying it concealed.

Here are a couple shots of it.

One of the previous owners (at least two that I know of) had duracoated the slide and controls OD green and the barrel black. It was originally a Tennifer-like black finish so this really makes it stand out from the crowd.

It looks to be in great shape and doesn't look to have been shot all that much. I'm new to .40s&w which has a bit more snap than 9mm, but I'm getting used to it. I was impressed by it's accuracy. Here's the first mag full at 7 yards.
Things tightened up from there as I got more familiar with the trigger, though I must admit I would flinch every now and then.

I've picked up a couple extra magazines from CDNN (they sell magazines for the similar S&W made SW99/SW99c which work perfectly). I also changed out the front sight with a Meprosight night sight that helps greatly in low light conditions.

I purchased a SmartCarry holster and have been carrying the P99c in it regularly for a couple months. It conceals easily and has been very comfortable. I'll probably write up a separate review on the SmartCarry at another time. I've been very happy with it so far.

If you're a fan of DA/SA pistols and would like to venture outside of the heavier metal hammer fired handguns that system is usually used for then look no further than Walther's highly underrated P99 series pistols. They come in either 9mm or 40s&w.