[Honkus]

I've been reading the forums for a few days now, and I've detected a lot of negative sentiment towards Smith  & Wesson for no apparent reason.  Why all the resentment over the S&W slides on the P99?  I've seen lots of various Smith & Wesson guns, and know several people who own some.  Not only are they held in high regard by their owners, but the craftsmanship on those guns is hard to beat.  What are your opinions on Smith & Wesson, and why do you feel the way you do about them?

 

[venom600]

FWIW: I visited my favorite local gun dealer today and held/played with just about every pistol he had in the case, which included several SW99's and several P99's. Every SW99 that I looked at had very obvious machining marks on the barrel hood. I'm not sure if the batch of SW99's that they got was particularly bad, or if that is the general case. But, the guy behind the counter said that, overall, the fit and finish on the P99's was far superior to that of the SW99. He also said that he had never had a customer bring back either model of weopon due to accuracy or general functional problems. I should also add that he included several Sig's and several H&K USP's in this count. He said that he has worked this particular gun counter for over 20 years and he has never seen a weopon that has had as few problems as the P99 (the Walther version) has had. I asked him if he owned a P99 (trying to determine any amount of prejudice he may have) and he said "No, I've shot many P99's but I just prefer revolvers.".

Anyway.....as always....take that FWIW. From a guy who has no reason to blow smoke up my a**(i.e. his commision would have been much better selling me a Sig), I respected his opinion.

--Ben

 

[Kowboy]

S & W sold out a few years ago to the government...thats the real reason they have little to no support here.

 

[M700Police]

Politics aside.....I personally just don't LIKE them.  I have no problems with their revolvers, but their autos are rather clunky and butt ugly.  They don't make anything that I can't get from someone else in a nicer package.  As for having S&W on the side of a P99....mine does.....and it bugs me simply because it is a Walther and should SAY Walther on it.  Having the name of another gun manufacturer on it is just plain annoying.

/my opinions

 

[Ersin]

I don't have much experience with SW autoloaders. I did own a SW 66 in stainless with 6" barrel many years ago. I loved it. Very accurate. Very well put together. Looked decent from the outside. But inside it left a lot to be desired. I carefully smoothed everything inside with an Arkansas stone and it made things that much smoother. Made it a real gem of a firearm. But I would prefer that all of the machining marks on the inside should have been removed at the factory.

Don't know if the autoloaders are like this but it just seems that Walther goes the extra mile in craftmanship where S&W doesn't.

Just my $0.02.

 

[FLHTCUI]

IMHO: The reason you are seeing the negative comments towards S&W is because they are well deserved to say the least,they continue on a downhill slide that started some years ago, for me it was the early 70's with a Model 19 that made 4 trips back to them before they fixed the problem. Since then I have I have owned some pistols and revolvers that were trouble free and some that were nothing but trouble. In the last 30 days I have dealt with them on 2 occasions and gotten the run around both times. Their customer service is a joke, sure glad they have an 800 number as it would really burn me up if I had to pay to listen to excuses and BS. I think Walther will regret getting in bed with what was  once a fine company that has been going down for a good 25+ years. Per chance you are wondering why after what I said was I dealing with them recently, it was concerning parts for guns made in the good old days. Pre 1970 by quite a few years.  Walther should have gone with a company that will keep their reputation where it belongs and that is not with S&W. Ruger comes to mind! I have never heard anything but outstanding comments about them, the only time I dealt with then they would not let me pay for the extra parts I wanted to buy! Thanks for letting me get that out of my system!

 

[Willamette]

It appears the news has not reached all of you, or maybe it has but it has not reversed your opinion. The S&W that screwed us during the Clinton years no longer exists. That S&W was owned by a UK company that has since sold it back to a US interest which deliberately bought it back to save it from the socialist bastards that were destroying it.

The new company has done a lot of great things recently and they seem to actually be listening to their customers. I have had a couple experiences with their customer service and they have both been positive. The only need I have had to contact them was actually for my Walther P22. My new 1911 model has been working well and all of my P99s with S&W markings have been too. I would like them to get away from the gargantuous laser logos on the slides, that's a little much, but other than that I have been happy with the US owned S&W.

 

[Honkus]

I've not heard one sound reason for people not liking S&W.  What I do see is a lot of ideological whining and contradictory statements.  If the P99 is held in such high regard, but in turn is lambasted for having a S&W slide then why bother buying one?  It makes no sense.

You claim S&W sold out to the government and fail to go into any specifics.  Well, after doing my own research on this "selling out", I"ve come to the conclusion that almost nobody here was negatively affected by it.  If you were, it certainly isn't S&W's fault, but the fault of the Brady Bill.  Besides, as Williamette points out, the S&W that is so publicly criticized no longer exists.  Let it go.

My point is this:  Smith & Wesson makes fine guns, and have improved tremendously in the last couple of years.  Having S&W slides on the P99 is NOT a bad thing, and the fact that Walther chose them to make slides for their wonderful P99 is a testament to their quality.  In fact, just yesterday I was at the gun range with my new Walther P99 with a S&W slide.  You will find absolutely no complaints from me whatsoever.

 

[Jammer]

Well, I guess I'll jump into this now with an observation.
We only get the all-German P99s in Canada, so I haven't had to deal with any of the older models with a S&W slide, and we don't have import markings on the guns.
But my comment refers mainly to your reaction to the posts, Honkus.  You started this thread by inviting people's opinions about S&W, and then lambasted them for it.  If you didn't want negative opinions, why did you ask?
You say that people have only posted "whining and contradictory statements", yet I see a few valid points brought up about, for example, a 20-year gun dealer saying the German model had better much better fit & finish, interior machining marks, and one person having customer relation problems with S&W.  Seems like valid points to me, as are the points supporting S&W.
So my point is, if you don't want to know, don't ask.  If you like your P99, great, but it appears others don't have the same opinion.
Nothing personal, just an observation in the interests of this site and respecting other people's views.
Cheers,
Jammer