My Favorite Pistol: Walther P99 and Evolution

Christmas came early! Let's just hope that I continue to practice good firearms safety and don't "shoot my eye out". In the last week, I've bought or arranged to buy 2 pistols. Neither really fit into a plan as such (maybe 1 of them...... a little bit). They're mostly because I like them, and they both have to do with my favorite gun: the Walther P99 and it's evolutionary progeny, the PPQ. 

So, I'll start here. This is the original (Gen1), Walther P99. Some may recognize it as the Pierce Brosnan Bond Walther, when they decided to move the Bond character to a more plausible primary weapon, vs the much loved, but rather illogical 7.65mm Walther PPK...... if you didn't already know, yes indeed, it was a .32acp version of that gun he supposedly carried. Might as well have been a .22LR! Anyway, that's not the reason I like that pistol anyway. Well..... look at it! More importantly, hold it. I know, it's a very personal thing, but that grip fits me like no other. In fact, I traded my HK VP9 for one of these a while back, but then I traded that for a PPQ.....

This is it. My favorite pistol! That which the P99 became after evolutionary improvements. I like it so much that, I'm about to have 3 versions of it. 

The Umarex (part of Walther Gmb), PPQ CO2 powered, .177 BB/Pellet gun.  

The Walther PPQ/22LR, which of course shoots a .22 long rifle. It's direct blowback, as you can see by the fixed barrel and the magazine. It's unfortunately, not paddle released, but hey..... I'm going to pick this one up next weekend and is part of my early Christmas, but is there more?

 

Is there more!?! Does Santa wear red? I came across this and bought it. It looks vaguely familiar doesn't it? What is it? Why, is a Magnum Research (of Desert Eagle fame), MR9, sometimes labeled the "Baby" Desert Eagle. OK, what is it really? It's a Walther P99, licensed to Magnum Research with a slightly altered frame made by Walther, upper parts made and assembled by MR in Pillager, MN (one of my favorite town names). 

Here's a little bit of history and commentary for you. Don't worry, I'll let you know which is history and which is my commentary. Back in the late 80's and into the 90's, Walther wasn't in as good of a business situation as it is now and needed some help selling in the large American market, so they hooked up with Smith and Wesson. At the time, Walther needed a company with a big footprint here in North America and Smith was trying to get involved in the polymer gun market, so it looked like a marriage made in gun heaven. So, Smith took over the importation and distribution of Walthers and as such, you see the P99s of that time with the S&W rollmarks. That part is the history. This next part is my commentary. Don't get me wrong; I don't like S&W as a company, but I respect their guns. This whole thing turned into a conflict of interest for them and Smith for their part pretty much ripped off Walther's technology which you see today in the Smith & Wesson M&P line lifted from the Walther P99 and the S&W Shield derived from the Walther PPS. In the meantime, Smith did a piss-poor job of marketing Walther's products, so much so that Walther ended up breaking away and forming their own distribution based in Ft. Smith, AR. All that is fine, because in the gun-world, everybody copies everybody else. In fact, Walther hired away one of Glock's top engineers when it started the P99 project to compete against the Glock 17. The part I take exception to? Look at that top image..... that's the S&W SW99. It's a Walther manufactured lower mated to a Smith upper. It's awkward, ugly and an affront to it's Germanic roots! Walther agree to some rather interesting partnerships to push more units at that time. The Magnum Research MR9 was a part of that, although, clearly a much more aesthetically pleasing one than the SW99! So yeah; I've gotten myself into the collecting and enthusiast aspects of gun ownership. 

That part of me would rather have had picked up the later 4.5" version of the MR9 with the Desert Eagle-esque slide than the 4", but I'll take it. Of course there are other members of this family tree that I'd like to get as well.

The next most likely would be this; the Q4 Tactical. It's unfortunate that it only comes in the M2 or "button release" version, but I'd really like to have the longer threaded barrel and the slide already cut for RMR attachment plates. 

A more far-fetch addition would be the target/race-gun versions. The Walther Q5 Match, and the Canik TP9SFX. Not because I don't want one of these sci-fi looking variants, but mostly due to their $600-700 selling price!

Speaking of....... Canik....... If you didn't already know, the Walther P99 has been copied,..... a lot. One of the main culprits has been the Turks. There's been a number of firms, such as Sarzimaz, but by far the most successful has been Canik. A brand brought into the U.S. by Century Arms of Delray Beach Florida. The Canik TP9 is basically a clone of the Walther P99, down to the decocker on top of the slide. They are so close to the various Walthers, that there are videos showing people interchanging slides and barrels between the TP9 and the Walther PPQ. The reviews for them have been very good, particularly when you calculate in the big difference the selling price difference between the brands! Canik has done so well that they've released a number of different models. If I were a betting man, I'd put money on me picking one of these $300-350 9mm models at some point and adding to my growing collection!