Walther P99 problems w/ +P JHP ammo?

[Marcus in the Darkus]

I took my trusty first-gen Walther P99 9mm to the range yesterday to introduce a friend to shooting. This gun has run like a fine Swiss watch - not ever a hiccup, not even after I did the entire 4-day Front Sight handgun course, along with ~800 rounds of ammo, without a cleaning or a single drop of lube.

Imagine my disappointment when I ran a full mag of +P hollowpoints through it and experienced failure to go into battery about 25% of the time. I was shocked, especially since this gun (with that ammo) is my go-to gun at home. Any way, I had to give the back of the slide a solid thud with the palm of my weak-side hand to get the slide to close. When I switched over to WWB ammo, the FTF problems disappeared. I'm pretty sure I've run +P JHP ammo through this gun before without problem. Is this a symptom of a worn recoil spring? I bought it used and have probably run 1,500 rounds through it, but don't know how many rounds it saw before me.

Any help appreciated. Thanks.

 

[vellnueve]

Did you clean it and try again? Have you ever shot that particular load of JHPs through it successfully?

 

[USMA-82]

I've had equal success with my P-99. The only thing I can think of is a bad lot of ammo that is out of spec. Have you tried the same ammo (from the same box) in other semi's?

Short of that, you may have some component out of spec, and may need to bring it to a gunsmith for a checkup. That would be strange, especially if the WWB functions fine.

Good luck!

 

[Xak]

Let me get this straight... This is your "go to" gun @ home to protect the lives of you and your family and you have never cleaned or lubed it? Try cleaning it and lubing it then run some jhp through it, +P if you wish.

I have the 2nd Gen P99AS (post 2004) 100% German (no importer marks on the slide). It has never had a single problem, eats anything I feed it (+P included). I, too, have it as my home defense gun during the summer with a tac-light attached to it. But then again... I CLEAN IT. I understand the idea of seeing how a gun runs when it is dirty, but 800 rounds is hardly a realistic scenario.

OT:
Personally I don't see the point of +P, extra recoil and flash and it's still just a 9mm. The advantage of the 9mm is capacity and soft recoil, the perp won't know the difference, unless you miss your follow up shots due to the recoil. Some people don't mind the extra "oomph", but I find it slows me down some. Therefore I prefer the standard presure 9mm HST for a defensive round in 9mm and .45 as well.

 

[Xak]

Ahh... After re-reading your post I noticed it said not cleaning it was during a class. OK. I assume you cleaned and lubed it before taking your friend shooting. I would think it was an ammo problem considering the WWB ran fine. Were these Corbon +P JHP? I had a bad lot of them once in 357Sig and do not use them for self defense anymore. Some of them were under powered and caused feeding problems and some had bad primers that took a second or third strike to set them off. A couple would not fire at all. All in one box.