You can a look at my old comparison thread here:
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=175105
The only gun from this comparison that I still have is the SIG 229 and, in my view, it is the best gun in that line-up
This is what I said about it at the time:
Walther P99:
Pros: One ofthe most innovative pistols of the last decade in my view: DA/SA striker fired pistol with top mounted decocker; five interchangable front sights; three interchangable backstraps; cocking indicator; loaded chamber indicator, etc. Is there another striker fired DA/SA gun on the market? It has superior accuracy to Glock-type pistols. Very ergonomic, comfortable grip.
Cons: Extremely light polymer frame seems to be the root cause of the very heavy "snap" recoil. The frame is lighter than a GLOCK to me.. and that is light. All polymer guns are top heavy, but this one seems to take it the furthest. One of the harder recoiling modern 9mm pistols in my view. Point of impact seems to rise out beyond 15m, which may also be connected to the "snap" issue. Not everyone seems to like the mag release... and it can be tight, especially when the mag is full. The other weird thing is that, because it is striker fired, unlike every other SA/DA gun the trigger does not move back by itself when the gun goes into SA mode. It just has minimal to non-existent resistance until you reach the SA break-point. You can get used to it, but I prefer the normal hammer fired SA/DA system (which is used on the P22, by the way).
What I would say about it now... I'm still not a big fan of the trigger. I found the trigger to have a bit of an unpredictable quality to it. Sure, it has the tiny SA re-set, but that is as much con as pro in my book. Theoretically it makes firing multiple shots faster, but I found it weird to get used to (I never did) and the potential for unexpected discharge is definitely there until you get really used to it.
I didn't actually find it all that accurate on deliberate slow fire... roughly in GLOCK 17 territory... maybe a little better (I know, despite what I said back then). Acceptable accuracy, but nothing to write home about. Certainly less accurate than a SIG or a P7 or even a USP-type gun (IMHO... YMMV). In rapid fire... double-taps, etc. .... fuggedabout it... the P99 is going to take a lot of training to get good accurate results. It has really got a lot of snap to it. The bore axis is too high and the slide is way too massive. This is something that HK really improved in the change from the USPs to the P2000/P30/HK45... reducing the mass of the slide.. and trying to get the bore axis down a bit. Walther needs a redesign in this category IMHO.
Having said all that... the guns are pretty "neat", and you are being issued it for work, so there isn't anything you can do about that anyway. I thought all the police and whatnot in QC that were issued P99's were issued the "quick action" models, not the "anti-stress" triggers. QA seems a lot more practical than AS for police or security work to me. The AS trigger seems like it is designed for some kind of practical shooting sports, it's just not a completely refined design for that purpose (in my view).
On the accuracy... this was me trying to put together good groups with the P99 at 10 yards (metres, or whatever) in September of 2007 when I still had the gun. I just could not get it down to tight sub two inch groups to save my life. Maybe other people can, but I couldn't. I can do it with other guns... but not the P99. And depending on what you use it for, maybe that doesn't matter. But I like a gun where, if I put my mind to it, I can pick off a toonie sized object with just about every shot at 10 yards... and a clay pigeon sized object with every shot at that range.
(From the old thread) :
Here are some targets from the P99 from yesterday (Sept. 1). This should give you an idea of the accuracy of the gun compared to the other guns in this thread. I find the gun to be reasonably accurate shooting offhand, but it has the distinct tendancy to shoot high for me. The 2 5/8 inch group below is about the best I can shoot this gun (in terms of grouping the shots on the bullseye, even though another group isan 1/8 of an inch smaller). I would have very little expectation of being able to get down into sub two inch groups with this gun. Having said that, like the Steyr and the GLOCK, the Walther is plenty accurate for the purpose it was designed for.
