Some ramblings on my H&K VP9

[m1a_scoutguy]

Outstanding review Greg and I second the motion,I picked my VP9 up last Friday and flew home so I would have time to put some rds through it before work. I only had time for 40 Rd's but it was awesome for sure ! I put a box of Hornady Critical Defense through it & WOW,,,I'm a puss,LOL that stuff rocked, I am so use to shooting my wimpy reloads, shooting full house defensive ammo is a hoot ! I also put 20 or so of my 124 grn plated reloads,,all went fine. Slide did not stay back on the first mag,I figured I was riding the release a bit,had no other problems after that. I had a chance to put 150 through it on Sunday,ran like a top to say the least. I did some basic stuff/drills getting use to the trigger and grip,I did some Dot Torture some Chase drill targets and the Bar target. Here are some links for the targets if you guys wanted to check them out.
http://www.mdtstraining.com/Fundamen...se%20Drill.pdf
http://pistol-training.com/drills/dot-torture
http://mdtstraining.mdtsllc.netdna-c...11/Trigger.png
I have some pics of the targets but will post them up later,,,for having less than 200 rds though this gun,,I am very happy with it. I plan on getting a bunch more through this gun this week,I have a IDPA match on Saturday and really want to use this gun,but only have the 2 mags at the moment,,I have 7 new inbound,, LOL,,I got a bit carried away to say the least, but hey ya gotta have mags right ! I am hoping they show up before Saturday. For what's its worth I love the ears on the back of the slide,I don't even notice them when shooting, but I think they work just as the HK guys figured they would, very positive feel and grip & I would guess in a high stress situation they would work just as well, especially in wet crappy/cold conditions more grip is normally better ! I'll post more later but also wanted to let you guys know that this gun fits "almost" perfect in my Crossbreed holster that I bought for my CZ07 !!! I was going through all my stuff and grabbed my 07 holster and tried the VP9 and it clicked right in,,WOW I thought,it could be a tad tighter,but I wore it at the range on Sunday and it seemed pretty darn good. If I didn't have a Galco inbound I would heat it up a bit and tighten things up a tad but I will wait and see how the Galco one goes,,,I'll keep ya posted.

[ralph]

Never say never.

Fanboys said there would never be a newer striker gun from H&K too.

You're right, I was one of them...But I don't think HK is going to cave-in to a minority, who simply can't learn to push a lever instead of a button. Anyone who uses the lever, after using a button, usually ends up admitting that's it's a better system than a button...

[brickboy240]

Great reviews....thanks for sharing.

I am soooo getting one of these when I get back from summer vacation.

-brickboy240

[The Dumb Gun Collector]

I shipped off my slide to tool tech today. Green trits with white ring up front. Yellow unringed rears. I hope they are having a slow week.
I have been running it in an old Mitch Rosen holster that works ok. Next I need to find a proper holster for it.


Thanks for the target links scout guy. Good stuff.

[jet66]

You're right, I was one of them...But I don't think HK is going to cave-in to a minority, who simply can't learn to push a lever instead of a button. Anyone who uses the lever, after using a button, usually ends up admitting that's it's a better system than a button...

Yep. I wasn't sure how I would adapt to the lever (P30S and HK45T at the moment, likely to add the VP9 soon) after using nothing but standard buttons since the late '80s, but it grew on me fast. I'm as (possibly more) comfortable with the HK lever after just a few months vs. years with a Glock and 1911s.

[m1a_scoutguy]

Hey guys,,went to the range the other day with my VP9 the gun ran boringly "perfect" no hick-ups of any kind. I had 2 fail to lock backs on the slide,,but that's all me. As I got use to the feel of the gun I continued to get better and no more problems. I have the Large grip panel on the left side with the small on the right with the medium back strap,,even though I have large hands,,it really feels about perfect. When I grap the gun I can feel the top of the side panel cuz it sticks out a bit, I know when I hit that my grip is about right and I will be good to go. I have my 1st IDPA match this weekend with it & we all know that when that buzzer goes off out minds go blank LOL,,so we will see ! As Greg stated about the mag release in relationship to hand size I found that even though I have big hands I still use my trigger finger, I see multiple plus's for me ,it's wicked fast, finger is off the trigger (as it should be) and I don't have to rotate the gun and my grip dose not change, all good in my book.
Well here is a target I shot at 50 ft from a decent rest, bad part was I had the wrong glasses, target was clear but front site was pretty blurry but I think I did OK,for a Combat/Duty style pistol its pretty darn accurate,,but we knew that already. I will have one of my buddies shoot it and it should do even better. Anyways here it is.

[BaronFitz]

I'm seriously considering picking one of these up once the initial hoopla dies down and I don't have to know somebody to get my mitts on one. Shot a friend's P30L a while back, and was seriously impressed by how effortlessly accurate it was compared to my G17 that I constantly had to concentrate on to keep from printing left.

That said, I've discovered that the M&P line is pretty darn accurate for me, and I have a huge stash of mags and holsters for mine, so won't be ditching them any time soon.

[VA_Dinger]

Greg, outstanding thread.

[Trajan]

You're right, I was one of them...But I don't think HK is going to cave-in to a minority, who simply can't learn to push a lever instead of a button. Anyone who uses the lever, after using a button, usually ends up admitting that's it's a better system than a button...

I think it's probably a majority here in the US.

I don't really have a preference either way, just as long as I don't have to shift my grip. Grips with the paddle have to be bigger since my fingers are long. Not a problem on the HK45s, on the smaller models, it's an issue (never have tried a large back strap however). Big old buttons like Gen 4 Glocks (especially with the Vickers), CZ P-07 and P-09, PPQ M2, etc work surprisingly well. Wouldn't be surprised to see H&K make a future gun like that. They would probably find a way to use the same mags however.

[ralph]

I think it's probably a majority here in the US.

I don't really have a preference either way, just as long as I don't have to shift my grip. Grips with the paddle have to be bigger since my fingers are long. Not a problem on the HK45s, on the smaller models, it's an issue (never have tried a large back strap however). Big old buttons like Gen 4 Glocks (especially with the Vickers), CZ P-07 and P-09, PPQ M2, etc work surprisingly well. Wouldn't be surprised to see H&K make a future gun like that. They would probably find a way to use the same mags however.

There's a few things one can do..On my P-2000 for example, I installed larger levers, from a 45c, they fit perfectly and are a lot better than the stock levers. For my P-07, I switched the mag release button to the right side, and use my trigger finger to drop a mag with, This seems to work well, and is HK like in operation, I don't have to roll the pistol to get to the button.. As far as buttons go, the P-07/09's are about perfect...If HK was to bring out a button release model that shared the same mags as it's release lever counterpart, They, at that point would be about a lightyear ahead of Walther...Two models of the same pistol with different methods of releasing the mags, and the mags themselves don't interchange, always seemed like a dumb idea to me...