The Mighty Beagle
Member
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2002
- Messages
- 218
Found a new SW99 9mm under the tree yesterday, and had a brief chance to put 50 rounds of Winchester white box through it. Below are my initial impressions.
This is my first polymer-framed auto and I am still getting used to the novel feel of the recoil. Muzzle rise was not nearly as bad as I expected, but had a sudden little “flip†to it, or sharpness. Although it really wasn’t that bad, I still got a case of what I call the “Kel-Tec trembles†in my shooting hand. Light guns such as the P32 just do that to me, and I had to work to overcome flinching. I’m sure this affected my accuracy, so I’m going to put several hundred more rounds through it before judging.
About the S&W SW99 v. the Walther P99 debates - maybe some Walther fans should leave the room, since I’m about to lay down some cold, hard facts of life. After the rant, more specifics will follow.
First, I think arguing about it is somewhat pointless since most of the SW99 is actually made by Walther. My understanding is that Smith only machines the barrel and slide, and all other parts come from Germany. Both makers are extremely good at what they do, but, since anything made in Germany is supposed to be better, I thought I’d add some thoughts.
The overall fit and finish of my pistol is first-rate. There is no rattling slide, or any other sloppy fitting or looseness of any kind. The barrel rests tightly within the slide, locking up “rock-solidâ€. S&W’s slide and barrel are exquisitely machined, somewhat moreso than on some other Smith autos I’ve owned.
I would give higher marks for Smith’s machining of the slide and barrel than I would for Walther’s trigger parts and plastic frame. Although the Walther components were quite nice, I guess I just don’t understand all the rabid Walther snobbery.
It’s not like the P99 is a Sig P210 or something, with precision-fitted match-grade components assembled by a patient old German craftsman who spent 4 weeks putting it together. Inside, it looks like a utilitarian bunch of stamped metal parts in a plastic frame that cost maybe $75 to produce and took a tech maybe 30 minutes to assemble. A truly wonderful combat weapon, but not a Swiss watch as some would have you believe.
But mention S&W’s involvement in the SW99 and people act like it’s assembled by pimply-faced McDonald’s employees new to “them new-fangled self-shuckersâ€. Strange, haven’t they been making quality autos for what, 40 or 50 years now? What could you expect from a fly-by-night company in business for over 150 years.
One reason I am not so impressed with Walther’s end of the gun is the disappointing trigger. Their plastic trigger has a little burr on the tip which abrades the bottom of my trigger finger. Also, their mag. release, located on the rear of the trigger guard, abrades my second finger. But these are only minor problems compared to the gun’s single-action trigger pull, which just plain sucks. I mean I’ve had some billy-goat triggers, but they were nothing like the squishy, uncertain crappy-ness of the trigger pull on my gun. Is this part of the design? After trying it, I’d say there’s no way I’d be spending $50 - $75 more to have the Walther name on my slide accompanied by their also crappy “one-year warrantyâ€, the fulfilment of which they entrust to the supposed-incompetents at - you guessed it, Smith and Wesson.
Back to my review, sorry for the rant (I’ve just completed a lot of net research on this and had to vent). The gun is very sleek and fits my hand much like a CZ-75, maybe better. “Like a glove†comes to mind. I tried the backstrap change-out and had no trouble at all, and I am not mechanically inclined. Anyway, the “traditional†grip angle allows for very natural pointing, the barrel being alligned perfectly with my trigger finger. Not so for the Glock and Steyr I looked at. Balance is fantastic, with only a slight slide heaviness to the gun which helps it’s pointing. Add that to a very low bore axis and I couldn’t be happier with its ergonomics and natural feel - truly a marvelous design.
Accuracy testing was attempted at 50 feet due to the nasty winter weather here. My first 3 shots, the first on double action, clustered within an inch. Being offhand, I was ecstatic about it, but couldn’t reproduce it again. Anyway, subsequent 5-shot groups were more like 3†- 3.5†offhand. I wasn’t impressed at all with this, so I rested it on a fence rail and to my surprise fared little better. Frustrated, I attempted some speed shooting and did only slightly worse. Is it inaccurate? Probably not, read below.
The trigger pull is my sole complaint with the gun. Put bluntly, there are cap guns with a better single action pull. It’s long, it’s squishy, it’s gritty, it feels like 8 pounds SA, and it’s hard to tell when it’s about to break (felt as an internal “clickâ€). I ordered this gun after looking at one in a local pawn shop that had a much nicer trigger pull.
Put shortly, this is the only handgun I’ve ever owned that has a trigger that interfered with accuracy shooting even from a rested position. Add that to a rear sight notch that’s a little wide for precision targetry (but great for plinking/speed-shooting/defense work) and you’ll get some horizontal stringing downrange. The gun’s accuracy remains untapped.
I still think I can figure the gun out though, thinking that the plasticky trigger relationship will wear in eventually. I also believe it’s just very different from what I’m used to and I need to get adjusted to it.
Oh, there was one other issue I had, a possible extractor problem. While the gun fed and ejected perfectly, it tossed many of the Winchester Value-Pack casings right back on top of my cap. At one point I got up to see my target and a bunch of casings, having been caught in the creases of my coat, jingled to the floor. This didn’t help my accuracy attempts. I’m not too worried though since my Star 9mm used to do this with White Box but eventually quit, so I’m hoping my SW’s extractor will get used to the rim inconsistency in this ammo. Or, it could be I have a bad extractor. I will try some reloads when it gets warmer this weekend.
All in all, the SW99 seems to be one of the best of the polymer 9’s out there, and feels much better in my hands. It just exudes “qualityâ€, operating very smoothly with a refined (for a polymer gun) look and feel to it. Despite my complaining about the trigger, overall I feel that the gun is very likeable, even "funâ€, with tons of promise. It’s worthy of whatever investment of time and effort needed to obtain good performance.
Hope this helps anybody interested in it. Feel free to ask if you have questions. As you can see I love talking about it.
This is my first polymer-framed auto and I am still getting used to the novel feel of the recoil. Muzzle rise was not nearly as bad as I expected, but had a sudden little “flip†to it, or sharpness. Although it really wasn’t that bad, I still got a case of what I call the “Kel-Tec trembles†in my shooting hand. Light guns such as the P32 just do that to me, and I had to work to overcome flinching. I’m sure this affected my accuracy, so I’m going to put several hundred more rounds through it before judging.
About the S&W SW99 v. the Walther P99 debates - maybe some Walther fans should leave the room, since I’m about to lay down some cold, hard facts of life. After the rant, more specifics will follow.
First, I think arguing about it is somewhat pointless since most of the SW99 is actually made by Walther. My understanding is that Smith only machines the barrel and slide, and all other parts come from Germany. Both makers are extremely good at what they do, but, since anything made in Germany is supposed to be better, I thought I’d add some thoughts.
The overall fit and finish of my pistol is first-rate. There is no rattling slide, or any other sloppy fitting or looseness of any kind. The barrel rests tightly within the slide, locking up “rock-solidâ€. S&W’s slide and barrel are exquisitely machined, somewhat moreso than on some other Smith autos I’ve owned.
I would give higher marks for Smith’s machining of the slide and barrel than I would for Walther’s trigger parts and plastic frame. Although the Walther components were quite nice, I guess I just don’t understand all the rabid Walther snobbery.
It’s not like the P99 is a Sig P210 or something, with precision-fitted match-grade components assembled by a patient old German craftsman who spent 4 weeks putting it together. Inside, it looks like a utilitarian bunch of stamped metal parts in a plastic frame that cost maybe $75 to produce and took a tech maybe 30 minutes to assemble. A truly wonderful combat weapon, but not a Swiss watch as some would have you believe.
But mention S&W’s involvement in the SW99 and people act like it’s assembled by pimply-faced McDonald’s employees new to “them new-fangled self-shuckersâ€. Strange, haven’t they been making quality autos for what, 40 or 50 years now? What could you expect from a fly-by-night company in business for over 150 years.
One reason I am not so impressed with Walther’s end of the gun is the disappointing trigger. Their plastic trigger has a little burr on the tip which abrades the bottom of my trigger finger. Also, their mag. release, located on the rear of the trigger guard, abrades my second finger. But these are only minor problems compared to the gun’s single-action trigger pull, which just plain sucks. I mean I’ve had some billy-goat triggers, but they were nothing like the squishy, uncertain crappy-ness of the trigger pull on my gun. Is this part of the design? After trying it, I’d say there’s no way I’d be spending $50 - $75 more to have the Walther name on my slide accompanied by their also crappy “one-year warrantyâ€, the fulfilment of which they entrust to the supposed-incompetents at - you guessed it, Smith and Wesson.
Back to my review, sorry for the rant (I’ve just completed a lot of net research on this and had to vent). The gun is very sleek and fits my hand much like a CZ-75, maybe better. “Like a glove†comes to mind. I tried the backstrap change-out and had no trouble at all, and I am not mechanically inclined. Anyway, the “traditional†grip angle allows for very natural pointing, the barrel being alligned perfectly with my trigger finger. Not so for the Glock and Steyr I looked at. Balance is fantastic, with only a slight slide heaviness to the gun which helps it’s pointing. Add that to a very low bore axis and I couldn’t be happier with its ergonomics and natural feel - truly a marvelous design.
Accuracy testing was attempted at 50 feet due to the nasty winter weather here. My first 3 shots, the first on double action, clustered within an inch. Being offhand, I was ecstatic about it, but couldn’t reproduce it again. Anyway, subsequent 5-shot groups were more like 3†- 3.5†offhand. I wasn’t impressed at all with this, so I rested it on a fence rail and to my surprise fared little better. Frustrated, I attempted some speed shooting and did only slightly worse. Is it inaccurate? Probably not, read below.
The trigger pull is my sole complaint with the gun. Put bluntly, there are cap guns with a better single action pull. It’s long, it’s squishy, it’s gritty, it feels like 8 pounds SA, and it’s hard to tell when it’s about to break (felt as an internal “clickâ€). I ordered this gun after looking at one in a local pawn shop that had a much nicer trigger pull.
Put shortly, this is the only handgun I’ve ever owned that has a trigger that interfered with accuracy shooting even from a rested position. Add that to a rear sight notch that’s a little wide for precision targetry (but great for plinking/speed-shooting/defense work) and you’ll get some horizontal stringing downrange. The gun’s accuracy remains untapped.
I still think I can figure the gun out though, thinking that the plasticky trigger relationship will wear in eventually. I also believe it’s just very different from what I’m used to and I need to get adjusted to it.
Oh, there was one other issue I had, a possible extractor problem. While the gun fed and ejected perfectly, it tossed many of the Winchester Value-Pack casings right back on top of my cap. At one point I got up to see my target and a bunch of casings, having been caught in the creases of my coat, jingled to the floor. This didn’t help my accuracy attempts. I’m not too worried though since my Star 9mm used to do this with White Box but eventually quit, so I’m hoping my SW’s extractor will get used to the rim inconsistency in this ammo. Or, it could be I have a bad extractor. I will try some reloads when it gets warmer this weekend.
All in all, the SW99 seems to be one of the best of the polymer 9’s out there, and feels much better in my hands. It just exudes “qualityâ€, operating very smoothly with a refined (for a polymer gun) look and feel to it. Despite my complaining about the trigger, overall I feel that the gun is very likeable, even "funâ€, with tons of promise. It’s worthy of whatever investment of time and effort needed to obtain good performance.
Hope this helps anybody interested in it. Feel free to ask if you have questions. As you can see I love talking about it.
