M&P Edges Out S&W99?

[General Sherman]

S&W appears to have discontinued making the S&W99. This is too bad for the S&W99 was a nice item to say the least.
Walther does not make it in the .45ACP caliber. I guess it was because they are marketing the new M&P.

I actually would have to be shown that the new M&P is better. Maybe someone can comment.

I understand that a maker really cannot market two similar items and they have created an original item in the new M&P.

I wish them success in whatever they choose to do but the S&W99 was a gem in my opinion.

[madecov]

Since the SW99 was a cloned P99 and The frames even came from Germany it was inevitable.
S&W makes the M&P all in house, it is a more traditional type of pistol that they can market to LEO agencies and have a higher margin at a lower retail price point without having to pay a royalty to Walther on the design or frame parts.

[SouthpawShootr]

Originally posted by madecov
Since the SW99 was a cloned P99 and The frames even came from Germany it was inevitable.
S&W makes the M&P all in house, it is a more traditional type of pistol that they can market to LEO agencies and have a higher margin at a lower retail price point without having to pay a royalty to Walther on the design or frame parts.

Wow!:shocked: That is probably the best distillation of the facts I've seen yet. Normally that would take 2-3 paragraphs to explain.:thumbsup: I kind of hate to see the SW99 go. I knew it was coming as soon as I saw them start dropping action choices. They planned this phase out as soon as the M&P was out of prototype stage. A shame, I would like to have gotten an SW99 fullsize in .40 just to round things out. May still do it, but I still haven't decided if I like the SW99 .40 compact I have.

[JBaird22]

I'm not really sad to see the SW99 go away. The wierd decocker do-hicky on top of the slide was just not right. I didn't really like the ergonomics either. Now my M&P is about as perfect of a gun as you can get.

[Gunhed]

I already got both SW99 in .40 & the M&P .45 more recently. Despite different characteristics, they're both good, solid guns. Better than Sigma at any rate. Smith developed M&P because SW99 just wasn't the big Glock-competing seller they were hoping for. Heard it was also kind of a logistical headache to have frames & slides made on opposite sides of the Atlantic and then try to coordinate with Walther to put them together.

[SouthpawShootr]

Originally posted by Gunhed
I already got both SW99 in .40 & the M&P .45 more recently. Despite different characteristics, they're both good, solid guns. Better than Sigma at any rate. Smith developed M&P because SW99 just wasn't the big Glock-competing seller they were hoping for. Heard it was also kind of a logistical headache to have frames & slides made on opposite sides of the Atlantic and then try to coordinate with Walther to put them together.

The SW99 wasn't competition to the Glock b/c S&W didn't price them at the level of the Glock. I believe they did initially, then allowed the price to creep up until it got to the point that it was more expensive. I'm sure you're correct about the logistics, especially considering Walther's apparent apathy towards the US market. They could have revised the Sigma series but the line carried a stigma from early failures. You'd think S&W would have learned their lesson and spent the necessary R&D time on the M&P. It's had a bit of a turbulent takeup but it seems to be smoothing out nicely and hasn't crashed dismally like the Sigma did. Still it was disparaging that a few problems did pop up. I have a full size 9mm M&P and am considering the compact as well.

[Gunhed]

When I first bought them, my G23 was $490 & SW99 was $550. I mainly got the latter because I was a big James Bond fan. :upeyes: I got the S&W version because I didn't know if I'd ever have another chance to have a Smith gun -- this was back when they were getting all that flak over their deal with the federal gov't & getting boycotted by everybody. Had I known they would still be around today, I would've bought the straight Walther version.

Anyway, SW99 is good. A lot of shooters hate the decocking button, but I think it's neat. The only things I don't like are the safety trigger (won't fire unless you pull it the "right" way) & sometimes it's hard to push a full mag in unless you pull the slide open.

[noway]

Just like gunhed I had problem loading the gun after dropping the magazine. Also fwiw thet SW99 did have a model with no decoker button for those that wanted it.

The newer M&P is imho a creation of the SW99 and takes the best features of that from a glock. The adjustable backstrips, no funky decoker, the ability to take it down without pull a trigger and performing a glock "C" grip, make the newer M&P better than the SW99.

[Gunhed]

Anyway, I like my M&P45 much better than SW99. Way better trigger & very accurate. ;-) Feels a little better in the hand than Glock. Hey Gaston, when are you gonna start putting in interchangeable grips?