17 Aug 99
One of my students last week was using a S&W P99 in 9mm. The pistol is very ergonomic and flows over the hand, much like the Sigma. It’s surely functional, but the decocking “button” on the left rear of the slide is extremely difficult to operate with any finger on the strong hand. I was able to do it after some practice (using my right thumb), but the move is still not particularly deft and my grip was always compromised. A left-hander would be utterly out of luck.
I don’t know why S&W didn’t take the Walther design and just make the pistol self-decocking (DAO), getting rid of manual decocking altogether, as the trigger is smooth and consistent. In that configuration, it would be a wonderful defensive handgun. They came so close!
/John
