Walther P99 Compact - ArniesAirsoft

Author

PenGun

Registered: October 2004
Location: Dublin
Posts: 549

Review Date: 31/1/07

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 8

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	Small, comfortable, suprisingly accurate, ambidextrous, next Bond gun?
Cons:	Lower power, cost, finish of some metal parts iffy

The P99 Compact is a relatively new addition to Walthers line-up and Maruzens latest addtition to the P99 GBB series.
The model replicated here is the P99C AS or 'Anti-Stress' (more on this in a moment).

It is a tiny little piece, that comes (wrapped in plastic and well-lubed) in a tiny neat white-and-blue Maruzen box.

Despite being small, the P99C is very comfortable to hold, with a "pinky-shelf" on the bottom of the magazine to rest your baby finger.
All controls are easily reachable, even the decocker can be reached with the thumb without shifting your grip.
It is fully ambidextrous too, unlike the earlier P99s, which is a plus for us lefties.

Functionally, it is identical to any other P99 (well, apart from the QA and DAO versions...).
The P99C also features the neat little cocked indicator that protrudes from the rear of the slide, and the gun itself it can be decocked by depressing the flush metal panel on the left rear of the slide. The indicator features a small red-dot and is easy to see and feel.
The only real difference between the P99 and a Glock, say, is the 'AS' trigger group which is more comparable to a regular DA/SA trigger found on many semi-autos.
No spongy Glock triggers here!
The Anti-Stress idea takes a bit of explaining if you haven't encountered it before.

Basically, studies show that 19 out of 20 well-trained law enforcement officers WILL place their finger on the trigger in a stressful situation, if an effort to "find" it.
This is simply an effort on the part of the shooter to reassure themselves in a very stressful situation, and many do not even remember afterwards if their finger was on the trigger or not.

The AS trigger requires a long DA pull to fire the first shot, reducing the likelihood of an inadvertant discharge.
However, follow-up shots are then fired single action, which allows very rapid and accurate fire as the pull weight is low and the reset distance is short.
If needed, the gun can be cocked before use by retracting the slide about half an inch.
However, the clever engineers at Walther added another innovation: when manually cocked in this manner, the trigger stays in its forward position.
So, the user can feel for the presence of the trigger without affecting the firing-pin release mechanism.
You can even pull the trigger back by taking up the slack under very light pressure (noticeably different to the release-pull weight) until the trigger is caught and held back in the usual SA position, requiring only a short pull to fire.

Phew!

Well, even if this sounds complicated, it works really well and I find it to be a great idea.
You get all the advantages of single-action with all the safety of double-action.
Add the recessed panel-type decocker (no levers or hammers to get snagged) and you have a superb system.

In shooting terms the P99C is pretty impressive for such a small gun.
Power is on the low end of the spectrum, but this is to be expected from such a short barrelled (about 75mm) gun.
Redwolf quotes 230fps which is probably about right if maybe a little optimistic, although I don't have a chrony to check it.
The magazine is fairly small, which might explain the apparent lack of power, but I can get 2 (and sometimes approaching 3) magazines from one fill, which is very impressive in terms of efficiency. Each mag will store 15 BBs in a double stack configuration, plenty for a backup or "belly-gun".
The full size P99 mags will also fit but rattle a bit unless you have the grip adapters for them.

The slide is quite heavy which gives the little gun a good kick when fired although it means the slide cycle more slowly than one might expect.
This doesn't restrict rapid-fire however. A slightly stronger recoil spring might improve things in this regard.
A replacement recoil rod is available (the original is plastic), but everything seems quite durable so far.
Accuracy is where this little Walther shines.
At short range (3 to 5 yards), I can usually put BBs into one ragged hole and to put that in perspective, it is the second most accurate gun I own after a TM Desert Eagle.
The rear sight is polymer but adjustable in windage, via a small screw. Handy.
Hop-up is adjustable too, although I haven't needed to adjust it yet.
Both hop-up and sights were spot-on out of the box.

The Maruzen P99C is built extremely well, the slide features metal rails and a reinforced slide catch.
The mag locks in securely and there are no rattles or wobbles present.
Finish is good, with practically no visible seams and nicely defined licensed trademarks in all the right places.
The licensing marking is on the right front of the slide but is much shallower and less noticeable than the other imprints.
The frame is an odd colour, almost like fibreglass, which looks strange at first.
The slide is finished in an odd matte grey-black and the outer barrel is plain matte black.
Metal parts including mag body, mag release, slide catch and decocker (most of the metal parts are internal such as the slide sub-frame).
Surface finish on these components is not too great, but I may simply have gotten a rough one!

It doesn't look like a plastic replica, but not quite real either!
Overall, finish is the least impressive aspect of the P99C, probably because the functionality and accuracy are so good.
Another potentially negative aspect is its price.
At $140, it is a bit more expensive than other compact pieces out there, like the Marui G26 or KSC G19/G26.
I'd guess that it will appeal to fans of the full-size P99, and those looking for something a little different..
I'm giving it an 8/10 because it is a limited-use gun, not an all-rounder.

So, if you want a highly compact back-up piece, have a few extra quid, and don't fancy a boring Glock, take a look at Maruzen's P99 Compact.

Edit: just got two very handy little adapters that allow you to use full-size P99 mags in the P99C
These simply slide over the magazine body, effectively extending the grip. This is a big plus given I own a full-size P99!
The bigger gas capacity improves power and kick quite a bit, too!
They only cost $12 each but mean you can use the bigger mags properly without forking out another $35 for a Compact magazine

Update!
There are now Shooters Design slides out for the P99c which makes Green a distinct possibility Smile

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