WE "God of War", "PX001", "Kratos" P99 Pistol Review

[AK47frizzle]

Man, WE have gone to town with the naming of this pistol. 

 

So, WE. Synonymous for: "Meh", "Pray to RNGesus", or "I need to spend my entire bank savings to make this work." We (haha) all know that WE are a hit or miss company. However, their more recent products such as their Desert Eagle, Makarov, and now their P99 pistol, have been received rather well. So of course, with my intense curiosity for the unknown, I decided to try their P99 pistol (I love the aesthetics of it). 

 

On quick google search, the WE P99 pistol was at most £100, with some websites selling for less. That's on par with their G series pistols. However, Patrol Base was doing a special offer of £85 per unit. £85 for a beautiful pistol with an advertised 15mm BBU? That's a steal in my books. But of course, being WE, I had to be skeptical. 

 

Yolo'd the purchase as one would and sat twiddling my thumbs for a weekend.

 

AND IT CAME:

 

 

What a beauty. 

 

I held it in my hands and it was a bit... fat. It came with 3 back straps and the largest one was on by default. They are very easily interchangeable by pushing out a pin at the bottom with a screwdriver or something similar. I opted to put on the smallest one as it felt the most wieldy.

 

 

Exterior wise, it is VERY nice. The bottom frame is plastic with a slight hint of a rubber texture when you rub across it with your fingers. The back straps are all made of rubber. The slide is metal and really nice to touch as well. I have a WE G-Force G18c slide and an SRU slide still lying about and the P99 slide is in between those two in terms of exterior quality: better than the shit tier g18, but not quite as good as the 7075 aluminum SRU slide.

 

Oh, you have probably heard from somewhere that this gun has a functioning decocker as a real P99 would.

 

 

Spoiler alert: it does not. Well, technically it does decock the gun externally, but internally, it is still primed to fire the next round. What do I mean by that? If I rack the slide, the indicator at the back will be primed. If I push the decocker, the indicator will retract. But, if I pull the trigger, the gun will still fire. So essentially, it's just for aesthetics or for your deadly plan to shoot someone's eye out in the safe zone.

 

As per usual, a maniac like me has to immediately strip apart anything he gets to see how it all works/how to optimize the functionality. 

 

 

It is incredibly easy to take the slide off. Perhaps the easiest of any gun I've owned so far: it is like a glock but the lever is massive and easy to pull down. The lever is also the safety if you push it horizontally from the other side.

 

 

 

Upon internal inspection, the hop up unit is proprietary. BUT, it is rather good at applying hop. It is 100% better than a glock hop chamber because the arm is curved and centered like a reverse question mark shape, while the glock is more of a hangman shape. Looking down the barrel, the hop arm does a very good job and centering the hop, even when pushing it down.

 

 

The slide itself is sturdy. You cannot flex this thing like you can with a WE G18. I genuinely cannot see it breaking for a long time (I'll eat my words if it does), because it seems to be reinforced in all the right places. The outer barrel is also metal and threaded at the end, so you will need an adapter to apply a suppressor. Not sure what size it is though.

 

The usual WE garbage grease applies. I had to clean the entire thing out and re-grease it with better quality stuff. After that, the smoothness of the slide improved dramatically.

 

Performance wise, it's meh for now. On a full gas charge and stock components, it can finish 2 mags (22 rounds each) but not much more of the 3rd. That's decent, but of course, I want more. Or at least, have more power by the end of the 2nd mag. Because it hovers around 280-270 on 0.2gs before dropping to around 230 by the last few shots of the 2nd mag. If I give it more time to recover in between mags, maybe the consistency will be better.

 

But there is one issue that gives it the current power and efficiency: the piston seal is non-existent, as well as the mag seals having to settle in. When I first fired it, liquid gas was spewing across the back of my firing hand like it would when you are firing it downwards, but it was doing it upwards too. I remained perplexed for an hour before suddenly, it started working like normal as it should. I'm guessing the seals had to settle as they were probably dry.

 

Like a mad man, I purchased some upgrades. Since it has 15mm architecture like the TM HK45, I decided to buy double for my WE P99 too.

 

What I bought was:

 

• Poseidon Ice Pick valve
• Poseidon Ice Breaker 15mm piston head
• Poseiden Turbo valve shims
• Nineball 15mm Dyna piston head
• Nineball Gas routers for HK45
• Maple Leaf 80mm Crazy Jet 6.04
• Maple Leaf Autobot 50 degree

 

The gas routers from the HK45 and P99 are identical, and all the 15mm upgrades should fit both guns fine except for the Turbo shims that are only for the WE.

 

In theory, the piston head will reduce the gas escaped. The router should also do the same. I did buy 2 different brands of piston heads to see what will happen with either. The Turbo valve is designed to restrict the valve traveling distance so that a more consistent gas flow is in place. This should result in lower power, but more consistent fps variation as well as getting more shots out of the reservoir. I'm not sure what the Ice pick valve will do, but... yolo? We'll see what happens with the Ice Pick.

 

But what has come, is the 80mm Maple leaf 6.04 crazy jet and 50 degree autobot bucking. These immediately improved the P99's horizontal accuracy. However, the crazy jet barrel has reduced the fps to 260, going down to 240 by the end of the mag. This is lower than I would like. The router and piston, in theory, should raise it a bit. Back to 280 fps would be nice. 

 

Testing it with the barrel and hop upgrades in my backyard (20m), it can consistently hit a man-sized target. What was my man-sized target you say? Well, I can proudly say that it was an old hoodie of mine. I tied the arms to a wooden fence and prepared it for crucifixion. If the velocity does increase with the piston and gas router to 280, I'm guessing the range would be 40-50m and any shots beyond that would be RNG. But honestly, that would be enough as a sniper sidearm which the intent I am using it for. If it doesn't, I could try to invest in a tighter or longer barrel. The 80mm barrel does not sit flush at the end. There is still around 10mm of free space.

 

So, final verdict? I like it a lot. Worth the buy over a similarly priced glock? So far, yes. Compared to a WE glock, the P99 has far better construction. I honestly cannot fault the exterior construction for the price you pay for it: the slide is sturdy and the plastic frame is nice to the touch. The P99 is compact and easily fits in an M4 pouch; it will definitely go well with my sniper setup.

 

It does have the usual WE shit tier performances right out the box, so you will have to upgrade it to make it skirmishable. The maple leaf barrel and hop upgrades have already made it significantly better at 20m at a £30 cost. We will see what the rest of the upgrades will do to the efficiency at a later date (would really like 3 mags like my TM HK45 can, or at least, 2 mags with consistent power).

 

Update 22/03/2019:

 

The Poseidon Ice Breaker 15mm Piston head and Turbo valve shims came. I can confirm that 15mm piston head fits, as well as the shim.

 

Verdict? The piston head is pants - it makes the consistency worse. Values with a 0.2g ranged from 258 fps all the way down to 195 on the 1st mag! It did manage to finish the 2ng mag. However, the power was so low that I didn't bother going for a third one, because it would have only gotten a few more off., even after warming it up between mags. I immediately swapped back to the original WE piston head and normal performance resumed.

 

The turbo valve shims? God tier stuff, genuinely. The velocity started at 250 and ended on a healthy 220 on the 1st mag. The 2nd mag was similar, with values ranging from 240 to 200. Amazingly though, it managed to finish off a 3rd mag! Starting at 240 and ending at 180. After the third mag, it only managed to squeeze out 8 more shots. So that is 74 shots. Definitely an upgrade I am keeping as this brings it closer to TM level efficiencies. Keep in mind, this is 74 shots in ambient room temperature. Realistically, probably 2 and a half mags outside. 

 

We will see what the Nineball 15mm piston head will do. But, my hopes primarily lie on the gas routers and Poseidon Ice Pick valve. If the velocity doesn't increase past 270, I may need to invest in a 6.02/6.01 inner barrel that is longer than 80mm.

 

 

[Adolf Hamster]

i'm sad to see they didn't just adopt the makarov based design if they were going proprietary, that's an excellent design.

 

does the decocker not do whatever the striker fired equivalent of single/double action? must say i've never really liked decockers (especially on the makarov as it'll either not decock or it will decock and put just enough pressure on the mag to leak all the gas out)

 

glad you like it, must confess i've never done much in the way of internally upgrading pistols (normally i just mess with the hop/barrel, chuck some .4's in and go wreck) but might consider doing it.

[AK47frizzle]

12 minutes ago, Adolf Hamster said:

i'm sad to see they didn't just adopt the makarov based design if they were going proprietary, that's an excellent design.

 

does the decocker not do whatever the striker fired equivalent of single/double action? must say i've never really liked decockers (especially on the makarov as it'll either not decock or it will decock and put just enough pressure on the mag to leak all the gas out)

 

glad you like it, must confess i've never done much in the way of internally upgrading pistols (normally i just mess with the hop/barrel, chuck some .4's in and go wreck) but might consider doing it.

Nope. Decocker does nothing:

 

 

What makes the makarov design excellent?

[Adolf Hamster]

does the decocker not even make the trigger pull harder?

 

the makarov's design is basically a rotary hop, only with the wheel over the barrel rather than at the back, still takes standard rubbers but it's super easy to get it nice and centred as it's not pulling from one side unlike the old school designs where the arm flex will lean more to one side than the other, plus the whole thing goes together without screws and there's just 1 pin to hold the whole assembly on (although admittedly that's helped by the fact the outer barrel can be fixed due to the design)

[AK47frizzle]

10 minutes ago, Adolf Hamster said:

does the decocker not even make the trigger pull harder?

 

the makarov's design is basically a rotary hop, only with the wheel over the barrel rather than at the back, still takes standard rubbers but it's super easy to get it nice and centred as it's not pulling from one side unlike the old school designs where the arm flex will lean more to one side than the other, plus the whole thing goes together without screws and there's just 1 pin to hold the whole assembly on (although admittedly that's helped by the fact the outer barrel can be fixed due to the design)

Nope, trigger still feels the same ahaha.

 

And I see. The KWC Makarov is also a rotary hop which I found to be nice. But, that one doesn't take normal hop rubbers and barrels sadly.

[Adolf Hamster]

14 minutes ago, AK47frizzle said:

Nope, trigger still feels the same ahaha.

 

And I see. The KWC Makarov is also a rotary hop which I found to be nice. But, that one doesn't take normal hop rubbers and barrels sadly.

 

yeah, the we makarov takes tm barrels/rubbers no problem, i did find stock it didn't have enough lift to take .4's but that was easily fixed with a little spacer.

 

would be relatively easy to TDC mod it as well, although a grub screw poking out the barrel would spoil the aesthetic somewhat

[AK47frizzle]

Updated the text with some Poseidon stuff that came (15mm piston head and turbo shims).

[Adolf Hamster]

fair enough, much improvement? never done much to pistols myself outside the hop.

 

can't say i'm getting this 15mm BBU business people keep mentioning, are they meant to be better for the cold because i've yet to meet a WE gun that did?

[AK47frizzle]

In theory, they are. Because of the larger bursts of gas aid consistency. That said, I've never owned a green gas pistol that's not 15mm yet, so I can't compare. But yeh, the turbo valves are very good if your WE valve can accept them; lower power but greater efficiency and consistency. 

[Adolf Hamster]

38 minutes ago, AK47frizzle said:

In theory, they are. Because of the larger bursts of gas aid consistency. That said, I've never owned a green gas pistol that's not 15mm yet, so I can't compare. But yeh, the turbo valves are very good if your WE valve can accept them; lower power but greater efficiency and consistency. 

 

yeah i get the idea, larger surface area means more force for the same pressure so better cycling.

 

just the way i've heard folk talking about them doesn't mirror my own experience of cold weather reliability, of course like yourself i'm pretty sure all my guns are 15mm except possibly the 1911 (which is co2 so kind of invalidates anyway).

 

maybe it's just too cold up here

[AK47frizzle]

Ok, now i'm having an issue: it's reverting back to spewing gas everywhere and in addition, it's not filling all the way. It's just filling for a sec and gets stuck, resulting in only 15 or so shots before it runs out. Man, this is annoying. I don't think it's an issue with the components in the slide or the trigger. There is something wrong with the magazine.

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, AK47frizzle said:

Ok, now i'm having an issue: it's reverting back to spewing gas everywhere and in addition, it's not filling all the way. It's just filling for a sec and gets stuck, resulting in only 15 or so shots before it runs out. Man, this is annoying. I don't think it's an issue with the components in the slide or the trigger. There is something wrong with the magazine.

 

Probably low gas pressure not being able to keep the top valve closed, or it freezing open for a sec maybe?

 

Might be worth pulling and cleaning the valves

 

What gas you using?

[AK47frizzle]

Ok, regreased everything. It doesn't spew gas anymore. However, the fill is still an issue and the fps is quite a bit lower than usual (230 to 210 on first mag).  I'll let it sit with gas for a day and see what happens. Idk why it suddenly decides to not work.

[Guest]

9 hours ago, AK47frizzle said:

Ok, regreased everything. It doesn't spew gas anymore. However, the fill is still an issue and the fps is quite a bit lower than usual (230 to 210 on first mag).  I'll let it sit with gas for a day and see what happens. Idk why it suddenly decides to not work.

 

I do. No TM fairy dust 😂🦄😂

[Bojeq]

I'm waiting for updates about your Walther.

[AK47frizzle]

I can't fucking edit the original one because pressing enter just deletes my previous line wtf. I'm not even at the word cap.

 

Update 29/03/2019:

 

China post finally came today. I am currently frustrated as I write this post, so I want to keep this as short as possible.

 

 

Every upgrade came: Piston head, piston valve, mag valve, and gas routers. To start off: the gas routers don't fit. Well, they do. But, not to spec.

 

 

They are a bit smaller unfortunately and the holes don't line up. This resulted in an average fps of 210-190. Ditched. 15mm Dyna piston head and poseidon ice break valve: don't work. At least, the valve doesn't work. The piston head actually works pretty fine. However, when I installed the valve, gas literally just vented. Didn't matter how much I warmed it up or aligned it - it just spat in my face in a few shots. I had a look inside the slide and it was mostly frosted in an instant. I swapped back the original valve and it immediately performed like before. The gun was having immense trouble cycling when topped off with gas to the brim: it just spewed excess gas everywhere out the barrel and the back of the slide. I repeated this many times: fill all the way, spews gas, fill halfway, works like normal except only get one mag and a bit. Don't even get me started on the magazine valve - it doesn't even fit. Well, it does. But, it sticks out and you can't insert it in the gun.

 

Before I got the upgrades, I took out the decocker and it revealed something, not to my taste. The back of the piston has an escape route. This is only lightly covered by the decocker button. When I fired the gun without the cover, I could see how much gas was escaping through there and into my face.

 

 

Needless to say, I was disappointed. My previous judgments and predictions were just wrong. Whelp, at least I have done the deed and no one else as to.

 

The only things worth buying are the turbo valve shims and the dyna piston head, for now. Everything else is just a gimmick. Needless to say, I give up on the WE P99. It's gas performances just doesn't cut it for me. As well as my copy just won't stop spewing gas on my hand and face. Upgrades don't help either - apart from the bucking and barrel, but that's standard for every gun.

 

I will be transferring every single upgrade to my TM HK45, because that gun just does every better... except for the size due to the extended barrel which doesn't allow me to holster it on my vest very well. But, that will be remedied by getting a shorter barrel.

 

The TM HK45 is the only green gas pistol I own. This guy is dead to me.