Posted: 12/17/2002 9:04:22 PM EDT
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I got a chance to handle a Walther P99 for the first time today. The top "decocker", what exactly is the purpose? I was dry firing the weapon without a mag in place. If there is a live round in the chamber, and a full mag, and you depress the button on top, does it have to be cycled to get it back in action? I was able to dry fire after cycling, but when I depress the top "decocker" after cycling, the striker went forward, and when I pulled the trigger, no long harder pull as I expected. Magazine safety disconnect? I really don't know much about this handgun, obviously. I did notice that the pointability was nice. Art in KY |
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I have one on layaway, so can't give any specifics. Only my speculation :) Once decocked you can still fire by just pulling the trigger. It's then double action for the first shot. The trigger is supposed to be pretty smooth, and here's one link with one persons viewpoints: www.gothammarketing.com/rck/walther.htm |
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Its a great gun, I picked one up the other day. The main function of the de-cocker (as far as I can tell) is it gives you a much longer harder trigger pull. It is good for carrying with one in the tube. The gun will still fire but it has a stiffer trigger pull, you just have to rack the slide about 1/2 Centimeter to reset the trigger to normal. Its a great feature. Alot of people bitch about the location of the decocker, but I find it very convenient. |
| I guess you were fooled by the lack of a hammer. It is not a Glock or a SA XD. It is a DA pistol just like SIG's, USP's, Beretta's. Whereas the other pistol's decock levers drop the hammer as well as resets the trigger, the P99's decock button just resets the trigger as there is no hammer to drop. |
| The slide does not have to be pulled all of the way back to charge the gun again. Just a slight pull of the slide without ejecting the round in the chamber is necessary. The trigger will remain forward in the forward position, but the gun will be "cocked". When the trigger is squeezed, there is no resistance until the striker is tripped. |
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Shot one in .40 caliber for the first time yesterday...pretty nice little gun, and feels good in the hand...much better than my Glocks. Trigger was kinda "squishy", but the gun was brand new and the kid who had it was shooting it for the first time. He brought only 50rd. to the range, and no oil or CLP. After we oiled it up and I grabbed another 150 or so rounds out of the truck, it got better. I did notice that when he shot from a padded rest off the bench, he did not "lock" his wrist, and the gun would fire, feed, and the striker...apparently...go to some sort of "semi-cocked" position where the trigger could be pulled, and you heard a "click", but would not fire...not even a mark on the primer of the chambered round. (indicating to me that the block for the striker was not being "cleared) As soon as he "locked" his wrist correctly, the problem vanished. Since I am unfamilar with the internals of the 99, I don't know exactly what the issue was, but otherwise the gun shot well. I would certainly consider one if in the market for a pistol of this type. |
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I own a Walther P99 9mm and love it. Mine is the olive drabe with the black slide. It is one of the sweetest shooting pistols ever. It actually has a hammer, it's on the inside. When it's cocked the back part of the hammer which is painted red, slightly sticks out of the back of the area where a normal hammer would be. The de-cocker is just that. When you have a round in the cyl. ready to fire and you hit the de-cocker it is un-cocked leaving the round in the cyl.. At that point unless you pull back the slide slightly to re-cock it, you will have a double action pull on the trigger to re-cock and fire it. After it is fired you are now in single action mode again. The P99QA works the same but the trigger has a shorter pull with less effort. The de-cocker is simply a smaller size which in the heat of battle has less of a chance of being de-cocked accidently. You can still de-cock it with your finger if you push down on it with the end of your finger. Otherwise you have to use something more pointy. The P990 is the same as the P99 but is double action only. Hope this helps. Sorry, I got my single and double action comments backwords. It's now been fixed. |
Uhm, the decocker decocks the pistol. This gives you a DA condition (much heavier trigger pull) that is safer to carry with a round in the chamber. There is no need to work the action to fire if a round is chambered. There is no hammer and no safety so the decocker allows you to return the pistol to a "safer" condition after chambering a round. There is a 990 model that is a DAO pistol (no decocker because it is never "cocked"; no cocked indicator either) This is deemed much safer for inexperienced shooters or LEOs. The P99 does have a long trigger pull and a "set" position when it is cocked (like a two stage trigger; another safety feature; prevents ADs when dropped I think). The P99 also has a "Loaded" indicator so you can tell at a glance that there is a round in the chamber. |
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Art I'm not sure what you experienced. The length of pull is the same whether the pistol is cocked or de-cocked. The pull is just heavier if it is not cocked as you have to pull the striker back at the same time. As has been mentioned, you can cock the pistol with a very short slide stroke with a round in the chamber. There should be no difference with the mag in or out. Perhaps it just was not as heavy as you were expecting. Or maybe you just have a well developed trigger finger. |