Recently I picked up a Walther P99, used. Didn't these pistols originally come with 16 round Mec-Gar magazines? I see these for sale, but I am wondering who make the 15 round mags I am seeing for sale, marked Walther Arms. Are these Mec-Gar magazines? And what about the 20 rounders I see for sale, also marked Walther Arms? Are these Mec-Gar?

Also, does anyone know if there is a difference between older and newer P99 backstrap inserts? I need the small insert for a first generation P99 and I wouldn't want to spend money on an insert with a different pattern on it. If anyone here has one available, I'd gladly pay you for it.

Both the P99 and PPQ I had came with Mec-gar 15rd magazines. If memory serves me correctly, first gen PPQ and All P99 take Magnum research Baby Desert Eagle mags, as well. The P99 is a great gun. I have the sub compact version and love the decocking button on the slide.

Never had the 20rd but every factory mag I've seen was Mec-Gar.

Para, I have an early gen 1 P99. I’ve had the medium backstrap on mine since day one. You can have the small backstrap if you want it, fo nuttin’. Just tell me where to send it. Email is in my profile.

I was told back in the day that the 16 round mags were from a Turkish contract. I have several of them. The standard mags were 15 rounds, with us Americans getting 10 rounders during the ban era. They were all made by Mec-Gar. I’m not sure about the 20 round mags.

BTW, the 16 round mags work much better downloaded to 15 rounds. Go figure.

A Wikipedia article on the P99 says the P99 was originally supplied with 16 round mags, and at some point during production Walther changed to 15 round mags. I’m sure there are more authoritative sources, but that’s what popped up on a search.

quote:

Originally posted by 2Adefender:
Para, I have an early gen 1 P99. I’ve had the medium backstrap on mine since day one. You can have the small backstrap if you want it, fo nuttin’.

Thanks very much, 2Ad. This will help to keep my feng shui harmonized.

Yes, it seems like Walther went to a 15 round magazine for reliability. They reduced the capacity of the .40 version as well. I'll get some 15 rounders.

For what it’s worth I have an early P99 and several Walther and Smith SW99 16 round mags as well as the newer Walther 15 round mags. Also ban era 10 rounders are Mec-Gar and completely reliable.

All are Mec-Gar. All have been completely reliable. As a matter of fact and I hate to say this for fear of angering the powder burning gods but I don’t believe our P99 has ever had a malfunction of any kind.

I had a P99c (compact) that I sold to a forum member. I had a mix of Walther and S&W magazines for it.

I just sold a later model P99 AS 9mm on the forum. The 2 mags that came with the gun and the 3 extra Walther factory mags I had ordered separately were all the same. They were 15 rounds and appeared to be Mec Gar with "Made in Italy" on the body and the Walther logo and P99 on the bottom of the polymer base plates.

The magazine situation is a little bit complicated. The earliest magazines hold 16 rounds,and are flat sided. The second variation are the so-called "Turkish magazines",that may or may not have anything to do with Turkey. IIRC these are flat sided, with different followers that reduced capacity by one round. The third type are the common grooved sided 15 round magazines. The switch was made not to increase reliability (as was case with the .40 mags), but to make it easier to insert the magazine on a closed slide. All genuine Walher P99 magazines are made by Mec-Gar. SW99, and Magnum Research magazines are compatible, and also made by Mec-Gar. Early PPQ magazines are identical to the groove sided P99 magazines. The PPQ magazines were changed, the front face was lowered to allow more clearance. I don't know if that change was carried over to the P99 mags.

I think the back straps are compatible between the Smith and Wesson, Magnum research, and Walters.

I have a 1998 (KI date code) made P99 Interarms import I think I purchased in 1999. It came with MecGar 10 round magazines due to the ban.

I was able to purchase some 16 round factory Walther MecGar magazines at great expense. The 15 round magazines came later.

quote:

Originally posted by CAR:
I was able to purchase some 16 round factory Walther MecGar magazines at great expense. The 15 round magazines came later.

Earl's still sells P99 mags, including the 16 rd pre-bans, for 65 bucks a piece.

Don’t the PPQ M1 magazines work as well?

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Originally posted by oddball:

quote:

Originally posted by CAR:
I was able to purchase some 16 round factory Walther MecGar magazines at great expense. The 15 round magazines came later.

Earl's still sells P99 mags, including the 16 rd pre-bans, for 65 bucks a piece.

Earl’s Repair. There’s one from way back machine! Been a long time since I’ve seen this shop touted...

I’ve got an early 1st gen Interarms Walther P99 and it’s been fantastic from day one. It’s my fav pistol. It came with two 10rd mags (Mecgar with Walther bases), but 16rd mags (same markings) were available on GB for $100/ea or more (!!!). I don’t recall 15rd mags existing. The 15rd mags popped-up many years later.

If I recall correctly, there were a couple schools of thought on the availability of unmarked (LEO) 16rd mags during the ban. Some thought Walther planned ahead of the ban while others thought Walther (or Mecgar or someone else) was being sneaky. Vaguely recall discussing the theory that un-neutered .40cal mags were identical to 9mm mags.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Johnny Rad,

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Originally posted by CAR:I was able to purchase some 16 round factory Walther MecGar magazines at great expense. The 15 round magazines came later.

Brothers! During the ban, mags were stupid expensive. We both seem to have lived it.

Come to think of it, when ammo was in short supply, it was stupid expensive. Hmmm. Someone better start a thread about being prepared so they don’t perpetuate the cycle.

Since the canik TP guns are basically copies do their mags work with original P99’s?

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Originally posted by Dusty78:
Since the canik TP guns are basically copies do their mags work with original P99’s?

NO, because of the paddle vs. push-button magazine release. They should work with the PPQ M2 though.

Gotcha. Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by 2Adefender:
I was told back in the day that the 16 round mags were from a Turkish contract. I have several of them. The standard mags were 15 rounds, with us Americans getting 10 rounders during the ban era.

The story I remember hearing was that the P99 was designed for the German police or military (can't remember which now), and that all of their pistol drills, qualifications, etc, were based on 8-round strings (presumably because of a prior single-stack pistol with 8-round mags) so Walther designed the P99 with 16-round mags so they could do two strings per magazine.

I also have an early P99, but mine is an OD green .40S&W.