Never Had a Decocker

[mike23]

I purchased a Walther P99QA Monday and took it to the range today; what a nice pistol! Anyway, I never had a decocker on a gun before. The way I understand it is, if you're not going to fire the pistol straight away, you depress the decocker and the gun functions as a DA but when I rack the slide and press the decocker...the gun doesn't fire. I'm sure I just don't understand how this thing works...please help!;4

[Cawdor]

The QA is double action only (partially cocked striker). If you decock the QA, it will not fire. It does not have a second strike capability. You can put the gun in ready to fire by retracting the slide about 1/4 inch. Pull it back slowly to see when it reaches ready to fire.

If you decock the AS (traditional DA/SA), it puts the gun in DA.

[Navy87Guy]

You've discovered my primary objection to the QA design...you can end up with a loaded pistol that won't go BANG! when you pull the trigger!!

Ostensibly, the decocker on the QA is for field stripping. It allows you to decock the pistol before you start...because some people aren't smart enough to remove all the rounds before they pull the trigger to release the striker! So Walther is protecting us from ourselves (well, them from themselves!).

To their credit, they did make the decocker lever smaller on the QA...so the odds of hitting it accidentally are pretty small. Still, I prefer the DA/second strike capability of my AS over the constant trigger pull of the QA (I have a Glock -- the constant trigger thing doesn't seem to make me any more or less accurate with it).

In any case, don't decock your QA unless you're prepared to manually recock it before you have to fire. Not a good thing in a gun fight!

Enjoy the Walther -- it's a great gun!!

Jim

[mike23]

Thanks guys. I spoke with 2 salesclerks at the gun store and 1 said don't use the decocker and the other said to always use it (maybe they were thinking about the AS).

[Navy87Guy]

Definitely agree with carrying the AS decocked...that's what I do. But if you decock the QA, you now have (as you learned) a very sexy, very expensive paperweight in your holster!

If you haven't already, you are going to fall completely in love with this gun. You can see that I've been putting together a collection of the various "big name" styles of 9mm -- Sig, Glock, Ruger, etc. I like every gun I have -- but the only one I absolutely wouldn't part with is my P99. Nothing else shoots as well or feels as good in my hand. Whenever I go to the range, the question is "What else are we going to take today?"

Happy shooting!
Jim

[mike23]

Originally posted by Navy87Guy
...If you haven't already, you are going to fall completely in love with this gun..

Roger that. I took it to the range yesterday and it shoots great! I just ordered a Comp-Tec holster so I can start carrying it.

BTW Navy87Guy, I am also a Navy vet, 1976-1981(AMH2)

[Wingnut357]

Gunstore gurus are usually defeated by the 1337ness of the p99's differing actions.

Seriously though, glad you like it.

[mike23]

I bought the gun as kind of a novelty...you know it's James Bond's gun:) I always wanted a Walther because I'm a huge fan of the 007 books and movies. Seriuosly though, it is a tack driver! Mine is the QA model so it's s/a only. As you mentioned some have a d/a--s/a thing going. It conceals very well buy ultimately will be a range gun as I plan on using a G19 or P228 as my full time CCW gun.