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Meatball's Featured Reviews |
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Airsoft Core |
By DumboRAT
Published: December 6, 2003
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Maruzen Walther P99 GBB pistol (version reviewed specifically: "Suppressed Version" -- note however that all reviewed aspects are cross-applicable to current-generation Maruzen P99 GBB's)
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Before I even begin this review, let me address an issue that constantly and consistently pops up on the various Forums/d-boards that I frequent.
Every once in a while, someone who has a new fancy for a Walther P99 replica will come along, and will want to know whether they should purchase the KWC, KJW, or the Maruzen replica of this semi-automatic pistol.
Unerringly, up until this day, I have steadfastly recommended the Maruzen.
Why?
Because so far, the Maruzen P99's are the only ones with (1) a readily available number of aftermarket upgrade as well as replacement parts, including compatible real-steel parts for use in a "repair" manner, (2) they're the only ones that provide sufficient on-line references that you can "search up" (and oh yes, I really do this FIRST when I have a question!) for troubleshooting and advice - from KNOWN enthusiasts as the sources, and (3) they're the only ones which faithfully reproduce the wonderful Walther trademarks in gorgeous detail as well as (4) the only ones that have properly cloned the multitude of gee-whiz functions that the real-steel P99's incorporate.
The KWC and KJW version, unless you happen upon a Cyberguns SA (ex-3PSA; typically cited on commercial pages ) "domestic market" version of this item with full trademarks, what you'll get instead is the cosmetically-dreadful "K99."
The KJW "domestic-market" version, which is recently reviewed by noted enthusiast Karl here:
http://www.airsoftzone.com/forums/message.cfm?topic_id=45164&forum_id=8
Shows precisely some of the above mentioned deficits (specifically, 1, 2, and 4) – adding insult to injury, the multitude of Swiss Army Knife functions that the real P99's bear will not be properly reproduced on these pieces.
They furthermore have virtually no upgrades available (sizing similarities should make at least EXTERNAL modifications, such as the mounted "tactical rails" adaptable -- but that is NOT certain).
Additionally, durability and reliability have not been reported much for these items, due to low ownership. Expectations, however, are not high as they are not of KWC's "high-grade" line, while the KJW remains a relative unknown.
Am I an elitist snob for saying to a 13 year-old kid that he should abandon his idea of getting a KWC or KJW P99 replica and 15 other el-cheapo springer handgun replicas and instead devote all that money towards a single high-grade GBB? You can see me that way if you want, but the above reasons are based on hard, undeniable FACTS - and I will not retract my support of the Maruzen's until my reasoning is proven wrong. If you want a P99 replica, the Maruzen, IMHO, is the ONLY way to go.
Now, with that out of the way, let's give this GBB a closer look. =)
The first thing that most will notice upon opening the package is this the cosmetic refinement of this item. The Walther trademarks are finely rendered, as are all other markings, including the licensing agreement between the parties - detracting perhaps a bit from the realism of this piece, but nonetheless, its detailed inscription makes for a convincing one-upsmanship with a "mine is a licensed product" declaration. Flaws are almost nonexistent, with only a very slight trace of the plastic molding line apparent down the belly of the lower frame.
At 660 grams quoted weight, without mock suppressor, it's definitely not the heaviest mid-sized GBB around, however, strangely, one barely notices this issue upon hefting the pistol. Now remember, I'm quite used to heavy GBB's, seeing that I have a number of 1 kilo-plus WA SVI's in my collection, with a couple that's dressed in full-metal ware, making them even heavier. The Maruzen P99, due to its rather compact overall dimensions and a solidly fitting drop-free metal magazine, really concentrates most of its mass right at the grip - making for a distinctly solid feel. It's lightweight objectively, making for a good carry-pistol, but trust me, it doesn't feel flimsy at all.
With the pistol in-hand, it becomes apparent that all that's been said about its superior ergonomics really isn't just lip-service. The front-strap is subtly scalloped with finger-grooves for positive retention, and both it and the palm-swell have a rather distinctive - almost decorative - functional surface treatment that makes for excellent slip-resistance. Speaking of the backstrap, it can, of course, be fitted with optional Maruzen aftermarket proprietary differently-sized insert replacements (small, medium, and large, with the medium-sized item coming with the GBB as standard), which allows its curvature to blend perfectly with the shooter's thenar eminence (that large muscular structure at the base of your thumb), displacing the grip high up into the ergonomically recurved rear of the frame, right below the slide. Combine that with the smooth recesses left and right of the trigger for the thumb and trigger finger to slide upon, most shooters find that their grip, be it right or left-handed, instantly welds over the grip of the P99. This security is further enhanced by the dramatically bottom-curved trigger itself, which helps lock-in the pad of the trigger-finger, encouraging proper trigger squeeze. Subjectively, it is one of the most easily and naturally pointing pistols that I've ever had the pleasure of using - drawing a bead on a target is as easy as just pointing your finger. Obtaining a proper sight-picture is easily achieved. The rear sight is fully adjustable, with a very nice combat pyramid cut to each of its side edges, enhancing the overall sight-picture. Although I think that its forward edge is a bit too "square" and may snag on clothing, this has not been a problem through my own skirmish use of this item - and the more important front-sight is nicely ramped on both sides. A traditional three-dot post-notch design is utilized. Each dot is superbly rendered in semi-translucent plastic - making for a subdued and almost grayish look on their surface. While easily visible and non-glaring during daytime use, they're almost, IMHO, too "subdued" for darker-corner CQB work.
As with all good Japanese airsoft replicas, this item incorporates a "secure" safety catch. Basically, the main disassembly lever block is, instead of pulled-down to allow field-strip, pushed towards the left of the frame to engage the safety. Reversal of this action disengages the safety and readies the GBB for discharge.
And here's where things get really fun.
Like the real-steel, this GBB is capable of first-shot double-action function. As such, its initial trigger travel is somewhat longish. The first quarter is slack, with most of the heavy - albeit linear - pull occurring through the second through third quarter of the pull. The last quarter of the pull is where the action takes place, the trigger weight increases yet more, and there's a distinct, clean break when the sear lets-off.
Practically speaking, as I have so often advised skirmish players, such DA-first shot allows the SKIRMISH GAMER to essentially carry this GBB without the need to resort to actively safing it. This saves a tremendous amount of time during any stressed-draw situations. The player effectively only has to unholster and present the GBB - it's ready-to-shoot from right then and there. The initial DA-pull acts as a passive safety.
But the Maruzen P99 is much, much more "trick" than that. Drawing back the slide upon insertion of a magazine will cock the internal hammer. This is indicated by a visible firing-pin indicator, which shows as a visible, yet discreet, red-dot protruding from the back of the slide. Once the internal hammer is cocked, it is possible to engage the P99's dual-stage trigger set. Essentially, this locks the trigger half-way between its DA position and where it will break and discharge the pistol - converting it to a single-action trigger. Subsequent firing of the GBB essentially makes it reset into this mode after each cycle. It's DA-SA, with a twist. =)
To decock the internal hammer and return the trigger to its DA setting, it's a simple manner of slightly shifting your grip, and using the thumb of your shooting hand to depress the decocking switch, just forward and to the left of the rear sight unit. An audible click, along with the simultaneous return of the trigger to its DA pull length as well as the retraction of the firing pin indicator into its deeper housing all works to confirm your intended action.
Further proving the ergonomic superiority of this item is the well-placed the slide-lock release lever. Riding on the left side of the frame, just above the relieved smooth area for the shooting-hand's thumb or trigger finger, this item can just as easily also be flicked down with either the first section of your trigger finger or your thumb. And this can be accomplished without ANY need to shift your grip whatsoever. And taking a page from H&K's design book, the centrally-located magazine release is also easily actuated with either the left or right hand, regardless of the preference of the shooter. The magazine, with a cosmetically pleasing "Walther P99" baseplate, easily drops free from its own weight, and even also bears intricate markings itself. Loading this beast, though, requires the use of Maruzen's specialized loading tool, as open access is not given to the external guide of the BB follower.
What about performance?
Subjectively, the lightweight ABS plastic polymer slide on this piece makes for a very nice slide cycle rate, even with only HFC134a used. Blowback "recoil" is also crisp, furthermore what is typically found among GBB's that use such light slides. Use of higher-pressure gasses will undoubtedly boost both slide cycle rate as well as felt recoil, however, with the lightweight slide, one is left to wonder about the possible long-term durability problems that such use may imply.
And here is where we first run into trouble with the Maruzen P99.
In stock, unaltered form, they're not the greatest skirmish sidearms.
Why?
It's not that their power output is low (which it is) - as their effective range, thanks to an excellent Hop-system, and accuracy are both up to par of any of the skirmish-viable GBB's.
Usually, if a fellow hobbyist is worried about the performance of this piece, I just have them fire a few shots at a soda cans about 40 ft. away. This activity will easily prove that you can just as efficiently effect accurate shots at that distance with the Maruzen P99 as you can with a WA double-stacker 1911 pumping out over 1J of muzzle velocity. =) And as a GBB replica handgun isn't meant to engage targets much over 60-70 ft. anyway, this one is just as viable as the next in terms of being a skirmish sidearm...just as long as you don't intend to use it *heavily*, for which its INTERNAL small parts might become problematic.
Objectively, it's doing, at most, I'd say, 250 fps. with 0.20 gram BB's and HFC134a (1,1,1,2 tetrafluoroethane), at about normal room temperature (65 deg. F). Effective range, though, thanks to an adjustable Hop, is on-par with most skirmish-capable GBB's of comparable inner barrel length. Center-mass hits on a moving, man-sized target can easily be had at 60 ft. with correct Hop setting. And as I stated above, a soda-can is easily picked off at 40 ft., off-hand.
The Maruzen P99, while the Hop is well designed simply does not put out as much raw power, in terms of absolute muzzle energy, as some of the other brutes of the "skirmish-capable" genre, such as the KJW USP Series (much of this limitation has to do with gas-use and its associated durability problems, which I'll address later) that can be jacked up with high-powered gasses.
As such, it's effectively making up for the lack of straight-line acceleration via the backspin of the BB. In order to achieve the same physical absolute range, instead of being forcefully propelled along what's more or less a straight line, it's taking a more variable path, with more error-inducing factors. The upshot of it is that, strangely enough, despite this Hop-induced variability, you're still going to see that this piece is quite on-par with the others in terms of "accuracy."
Why?
Objectively, this is likely a result of tighter tolerances. Subjectively, some of this accuracy can be attributed to both the adjustable rear sights as well as excellent overall ergonomics - enhancing user effectiveness. Furthermore, while slide travel is fast and blowback is crisp, even with only low-pressure HFC134a use, there's not excessive recoil, as I stated above. This further aids in overall subjective shot-to-shot consistency. And the two-stage trigger is excellent for this issue, too.
So they're great as far as accuracy and effective-range is concerned. OK, maybe not great, but definitely more than skirmish-viable.
Then what's the trouble with the Maruzen P99's that I so vehemently defend the view that they're not suitable for skirmish use?
Remember I said something about gas-use above?
The Maruzen GBB is, as with all Japanese GBB's, intolerant of constant and repeat use of high-powered Taiwanese "Green Gasses" (i.e. "Toy Jack/Top Gas," HFC-brand "Super Power Green Gas," UHC-brand "Super Power Green Gas," etc.).
While the latest redesign/evolution (anything Gen.II or later, beginning with the Silenced Version that I own, all the way down to the NATO Limited Edition as well as the Tactical Limited Edition) of the P99 has seen modifications made especially to enhance its durability in its functional aspects - to beef-up certain weak-areas that often led to wear/stress-induced damage - we must still remember that such reinforcements are geared towards durability within the context of use of relatively low-powered HFC134a. Stepping up to higher-powered gasses, such as Taiwanese "Green Gasses," once again will defeat these new enhancements.
Owning the Maruzen will essentially mean that you're restricted to HFC134a. The consequences of going with Taiwanese "Green Gasses" instead? Well, forget the little internal parts that can fail -- most players report very fast incidence of catastrophic slide crack chips/fractures.
But this has other implications as well -- namely, winter/cold-weather usability:
All GBB's suffer from some degree of cold-induced decreases in performance. That's unavoidable, considering the concessions that we must make to physics and the pressure-temperature gradient. Eventually, as temperature falls, the propellant reverts to its more liquid state, dropping effective gas pressure, resulting in lowered observed muzzle velocity and slowed cyclic rate of the slide/action -- trailing down to complete failure of one or both under extreme conditions.
Using higher-pressure gasses, of course, will help you in overcoming this issue, but much of such weather-resistance also relies on the design of the GBB itself, and how efficient it may be at producing sufficient power (both for BB propulsion and proper action cycling) under those adverse conditions.
Here, the Maruzen will do quite nicely until temps dip near freezing -- when no-one will be playing with gas-powered replicas, anyway. =)
As it gets colder and colder, and your GBB's performance drops, you can always "step up" the P99's power output and also maintain its cyclic function with the higher-powered Taiwanese "Green Gas." However, even under the power-sapping cold conditions, the additional stress that such powerful gasses induce on the Maruzen still tips it more towards the "damage" range -- and I'd be very hesitant to use it thus.
And this brings us well to upgrades.....what can you do to further "beef-up" this GBB so that it can indeed be fully skirmish-viable.
To the best of my knowledge, there is no metal frame for this item. But no matter, this is not typically a stressed component in so far as gas-use is concerned.
A metal slide will be important, however.
The only metal slide that's on the market now that can be *readily* had -- providing that you find someone who still carries this product -- is the ZEKE model, which, unfortunately, does NOT come with the Walther trademarks. A trademarked model from ZEKE is available, too, but it was *very* popular when it first stepped on to the scene, and finding a retailer who *actually* still has it in stock may be a big problem -- and even if found, expect to pay a hefty, hefty premium. Regardless of which one is chosen, it's expensive, and the combo of a metal slide with metal outer barrel can easily run upwards of $200, even for the one not bearing the proper Walther script.
As a further word of caution, ZEKE's metal slides, especially those for the Tokyo Marui M9-Series (including Tactical Master), have been known to suffer cracks and fractures when exposed to long-term use of high-powered gasses -- so just relying on this part to get you the ability to use high-powered gasses may not be a good idea. Since the installation of the ZEKE metal slide modification is so rare on the Maruzen P99's (due to expense), there has been no documentation of whether or not such problems are to be expected here, too.
To the best of my knowledge, no-one makes a ready-cut, specifically designed extended inner barrel for this GBB. You will have to have this done yourself on a "custom" basis if you intend to install a mock suppressor and extend the inner barrel through it for added accuracy (note here that the Silenced Version, the one that I own and is now defunct [sold-out, no longer produced], comes packaged with a proprietary mock suppressor unit which does work to alter the muzzle report of the GBB). However, KM/Head1950 does offer a standard-length tightbore (6.04mm) TN coated inner barrel.
FireFly offers a "high-flow" magazine valve, but as with many GBB's, the simple substitution of this part, without modification to the valve hammer spring/mainspring and/or the actual GBB mechanical valving, will likely NOT produce as much of a difference in muzzle velocity/energy performance as one would hope for. Furthermore, you'll need to get one such valve PER MAGAZINE, which can get pretty expensive.
FireFly also offers a replacement recoil spring guide rod assembly as well as recoil spring (higher tension? -- not confirmed), the latter will likely help reduce your overall cyclic time, especially with a somewhat heavier metal slide installed. But you're going to be looking at more trouble than performance if your high-flow valve doesn't do its job correctly, as then not only would it have to push on the heavier slide, but also would need to push against the heavier recoil spring! Additionally, there will also be more force at the end of the *forward* travel of the slide, and that will of course, also add to shock and thus damage/wear.
Tanio Koba does offer a "kick booster," but I do not know of anyone who has used/tested this product yet....and unfortunately, Tanio Koba's previous high-flow valves and other power-enhancing accessories have not lived up to expectations. But then again, this part is new.
Regardless, I would make sure you ask someone who REALLY owns any of these items in their Maruzen P99 for a *quantitative* assessment before you spend your money on them, as well as necessitate the takedown of your GBB main internals for such modification.
Overall summary:
All in all, the Maruzen P99 is much more of a showpiece than a true skirmish sidearm. If you buy it for its looks, you simply can't go wrong -- but if you're expecting a stellar performer that's also as strong and as tough as a rhino, you're barking up the wrong tree...there are many much more practical choices.
For me, the P99 serves as a "last-ditch" sidearm due to its overall excellent reliability (it fires every time I pull the trigger) and the fast manner in which I can deploy it (no need for a physical safety; just set to double-action first-shot, and it can safely be holstered and carried on the field) -- in this role, I do not expect it to offer stellar performance nor durability, just that it's there for me, to bail me out of trouble. It's also light enough and compact enough to very comfortably carry for extended periods.
Don't get me wrong, overall, Maruzen is an excellent make.
Stock, they'd do well in the low-use role that I cited.
Properly upgraded, they could potentially serve as a primary skirmish sidearm.
Just keep the limitations and stipulations that I cited above in-mind, and I have no doubt that you will be happy with your purchase. =)
As always, should you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact me at:
CXL77@po.cwru.edu
Alternatively - and preferably - leave your comments for all to see and discuss in the thread below. We can all use the additional input, and I very much would welcome stimulating debate.
Thanks!
Allen aka DumboRAT |
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