Walther P99

By the mid-1990s, Walther's reputation rested on the PPK — a 1930s design — and the commercially unsuccessful P5 and P88. Glock had rewritten the rules. The P99 was Walther's clean-sheet answer, introduced in 1996.

The P99 got an unexpected marketing boost when it replaced the PPK as James Bond's sidearm in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). Pierce Brosnan carried it through four Bond films.

The AS Trigger System

The P99's most significant innovation is its Anti-Stress (AS) trigger:

• First shot (DA): Long, heavy pull at ~9-10 pounds
• Subsequent shots (SA): Short, light pull at ~4-4.5 pounds after slide cycles
• Decock: Slide-mounted button returns to DA mode

This hybrid gave shooters DA/SA advantages in a striker-fired mechanism — a first in production pistols.

Interchangeable Backstraps

The P99 was the first major production pistol to ship with interchangeable backstrap inserts (small, medium, large). This is so ubiquitous today it's easy to forget someone did it first. Walther did it in 1996. The M&P followed in 2005, the P320 in 2014.

Paddle Magazine Release

Ambidextrous paddle lever in the trigger guard — standard on European service pistols, fully ambidextrous without parts reversal.

The P99 spawned the PPQ (2011) — widely regarded as having one of the best factory triggers in the striker-fired market — and the PDP (2021). Every modern polymer pistol that ships with multiple grip inserts owes that feature to the P99.

The P99 was more influential than commercially successful. Interchangeable backstraps, a striker-fired decocker, the AS trigger — all became industry standard. The P99 was the proof of concept the next generation was built on.