Walther P99 SD
Walther P99 SD
This is the image of my Standard P99 fitted with a drop-in threaded barrel. The German term is "Schalldämpfer". These barrels are produced at the Walther plant in Ulm, Germany in very small batches for importation exlusively by Earl's Repair Service.
The barrel features a reverse-thread, 1mmX11mm pitch and diameter measured from outside the threads. As stated above this is a drop-in affair with no fitting or alterations required. The barrel is stamped on the 45 degree angle, right side with "EARL'S REPAIR SVC" "TEWKSBURY, MA." On the right side flat of the chamber it is marked, "Walther banner, 9mmx19SD", The Eagle over N proofmark, the date code KK, and then the Ulm elk antler proofmark.
To my knowledge, not since the P38 has there been a Walther with a threaded barrel. The Walther P5 would have been an excellent candidate for a threaded barrel with 6mm's of the barrel already extended out of the slide, but I have never seen or heard of one being produced. Unlike the P38, the is no catch on the P99 to keep the slide closed during firing with a suppressor attached. That would help cut down on noise and keep the empty shell casing inside of the chamber instead of bouncing around on the ground after firing.
I was informed that in order to produce these barrels, the entire P99 production line stops. Barrel tooling has to be changed out,
and since all major parts of the P99 are serial number matched,
this makes sense. It also makes for a very expensive barrel.
The first batch delivered to Earl's Repair Service consisted of 30 barrels and took over a year and a half to receive. There is another batch on order, but will take approximately the same amount of time to receive. The retail price of the barrel is $395.00 and comes with a thread protector shown as a small round black ring in the scanned pistol image.
I do not know if this barrel is being offered in Europe, or if it can be ordered in Europe with this option already installed and serial numbered to the pistol. The imported barrels are obviously not stamped with the serial numbers for the pistols in which they are installed.
I e-mailed Mr. S.P. Fjestad of "The Blue Book of Gun Values" about this rare option being offered by Walther in hopes that a mention of it will be included in a future issue. Earl has been a contributing editor in past issues and Mr. Fjestad may already be aware of this optional barrel. I have not received a reply as of this writing.
The Walther P99 was first seen with a suppressor attached in the recent James Bond movie. I have not been able to find out any information about this movie pistol in regards to whether it was made up by the movie armourer, or produced by Walther for the movie. I don't even know if the pistol was a real Walther, though I do know that a real P99 was used in some scenes.
Hopefully, this barrel will escalate in value in the coming years. Especially if it remains a limited production item and demand is high. I'm counting on it.