[threefeathers]

Looking to buy one of them, are they actually the same pistol?

[teombe]

Not exactly the same, but close enough.

The guns are made in the same factory, and use mostly the same parts. The slide designs and barrels are different *I think*.

Personally, I'd go for the P99 for that extra panache.

[Jim Watson]

I don't know what they are doing now, but early on, Walther was doing all the molding and stamping for both guns, and the machining for their own. So Walther was turning out complete pistols and also sending plastic receivers and baggies of small parts to S&W. They had separate molds, cosmetically different, for the receivers.

S&W was making their own slides and barrels. Out of the same basic forgings as Sigma. And assembling guns out of S&W and Walther parts. Which is why I call our club psychologist's S&W99C a "Smith and Walther."

[Mayo]

There must be something different because there's 4+ oz difference in weight? :confused:

[harley]

Check the price for a Walther clip vs. the SW99 clip, and you will see the main difference.

[GunnySkox]

How're the mags different? I assume one is polymer and the other is metal.

~Slam_Fire

[PrudentGT]

Never seen smith mags but my walther's, both the 10 rounders that came with and the standard caps that I got before the ban, are metal, made by MecGar. There is a waltherforums.com site that's not nearly as active as this one, of course, where you might be able to find what you're looking for, and one of the members here, 'Lunde,' I think, knows quite about this pistol.

There is some bias toward the Walther, similar to the 'made-in-Italy-vs-made-in-America-Baretta' debate, and there may be some rational basis behind it. I know that my Walther is scary accurate, and it's not just due to the very well-designed grip, because others that have shot it have noticed the same eerie accuracy. It's also not finnicky about ammo. Although I've heard that it might hiccup on 115gr before it's thoroughly broken it (124gr recommended), I've never had a problem, and I've used Win white box (115), aluminum Blazer (115/124) and Bosnian milsurp (124).