Thoughts on the HK P30?

[JoshNC]

I am helping my brother pick out a "bump in the night" pistol for he and his wife and I am considering the HK P30. I have no personal experience with the P30, so I figured I would buy one myself to personally vet it first.

My brother is not at all a fan of Glocks; I tried to put him into a G19, but he does not like the way they shoot or fit his hand.

For those with actual experience on the P30, I much appreciate your thoughts on this pistol.

[Entropy]

If your brother is picky, you should probably take him to a gun range and rent a couple of pistols to try out. The P30 is probably one of the most reliable and durable pistols on the market, but like all guns some people don't like the way they feel and handle.

[Failure2Stop]

I have a *little* experience with the P30.
It has a lot of features I prefer in a pistol.

A 9mm P30 LEM V4 will be my next pistol purchase.

[gtmtnbiker98]

I've ran them hard over the last couple of years, ~30,000-rounds through the six that I own. I would say your bigger question would be DA/SA V3 or LEM V1/V2/V4? Some hate the LEM while other's love it. I'm in the DA/SA camp and have shot TDA pistols for so long, anything else seems foreign. If they can overcome the first DA trigger pull then you are good to go.

Another question would be 9mm or .40?

[d90king]

There is a LOT to like about the P30, however IMHO it also has a couple warts. One is easily remedied for a rather high price tag and that is the sights. The stock sights are awful and the replacements are expensive in my opinion. I think they run around $160 for a quality option and I believe there are only 2 on the market. Yes, Glock's need new ones also but there are many more options and are a bit less expensive for suitable replacements.

The second issue for me is the slide stop, it is as long as the great wall of China and takes a lot of work to develop a grip that does not interfere with its function. It can be done but requires a lot of rounds and a lot of time with it. I have found this to be the one universal complaint with the pistol and I am hopeful that someone will come out with a replacement that is more suitable and up to the standards of the rest of the pistol.

Other than the above which is simply my experience there are a LOT of benefits to the pistol. The ergos are top notch, the grip texture offers a very positive grip and it is a very accurate pistol for a hard use pistol. Mags are a little pricey and some people complain about the reset but I find both of the above to be a non issue for me...

[1_click_off]

If I read your post correctly, you are purchasing a P30 to test for your brother and wife and then are going to talk them into getting one if you approve? I highly recommend this pistol as I have one. V3. I also highly recommend the wife goes with your brother and you to check it out at the gun shop. 1. If she doesn't like it, it will be a hard sell for your brother to drop that much on a gun if the main driver for getting it is because it fits her hand so well. Unless she is someone that shoots often or has been exposed to various guns it will be hard to tell her how well it fits her hand if that is the only pistol she has ever held. 2. Now you can work this to you advantage also by letting her hold a M9 first and then the P30. As far as the slide release goes, if it is a first pistol for them you can start with a clean slate for training and correcting any grip issue from the start.

Mine is a bump in the night, right along with me in the car, and in a month or so will be a CC when my Raven comes in. I also added the Streamlight TLR-2s. The only thing I dislike is the factory sights, but they aren't the end of the world either.

[M4arc]

As a die-hard Glock guy I can say with 100% certainty that the P30 is what I would carry if I couldn't carry Glocks. They are overbuilt and tough as nails. The ergos are superior to everything and they run forever.

However, the DA/SA or LEM triggers could take some getting used to and could deter your brother from getting one.

If only they'd make a striker fired P30...

[d90king]

As a die-hard Glock guy I can say with 100% certainty that the P30 is what I would carry if I couldn't carry Glocks. They are overbuilt and tough as nails. The ergos are superior to everything and they run forever.

However, the DA/SA or LEM triggers could take some getting used to and could deter your brother from getting one.

If only they'd make a striker fired P30...

There is rumor of this but one never really knows what ze Germans will do until after they actually do it...

[Lucky Strike]

I've got an LEM P30 that's made the transition from from V2 to V4 to V1 (spring changes that lightened the weight down to 4.5lbs).

I've also sent it off to Grayguns for their reset reduction action job which has made the trigger really good. It's an expensive mod though.


I like the gun and have adjusted my grip so the slidestop doesn't get held down but I want to buy an extra slidestop and then mill it way shorter to see if I like it that way. I will only do this though if I have a second slidestop so I can go back to stock if I don't like it or want to sell the pistol eventually. I've got a set of Heinie Straight 8's on mine....i've got Straight 8's on all my semi-auto's so the low number of options for sights wasn't an issue for me.

I need to call HK to see if they sell them as spare parts.


I haven't had any issues running factory ammo and only have had one hiccup (FTE which locked the slide up pretty tight) with one of my reloads (i mostly shoot my own reloads)....I don't really blame the gun for that one though since that batch of reloads was made with brass i picked up at my range so there's no telling how many times it'd been loaded.

[chilic82]

I had one. It's a good gun. However, there are things that made other platforms better for me. I for one didn't like the heavy first trigger pull, I could not get used to the transition. I also had to adjust my grip to get the slide lock to work properly. If I were going to suggest this gun to a loved one, I would make sure they were comfortable with the DA/SA setup unless you are going to steer them to the LEM. The decocker is also something I would make sure they understood. In stressful situations these things can be forgotten. JW777, and others reminded me that to clear my house with a DA/SA gun, I needed to decock it once I chambered a round. I leave my mags loaded but chamber empty when in the house. This alone, with the trigger,and slide stop made the swap to an M&P much easier. It's just a much simpler manual of arms. I would let them go and handle guns, as long as they pick one from a reputable company, they shouldn't have any probs. They will also be more comfortable with it.