H&K P7 family of handguns

[Edwardteach72]

One of my favorite "retro" blasters.

And while I cant stand how the HS2000 er I mean XD line has grip safeties, i don't have these squeeze cocker.

 

[Podmonkey]

Do you own one? The proportions on these always looked so awkward to me.

 

[Edwardteach72]

Do you own one? The proportions on these always looked so awkward to me.

One day, and I think I would only stick with an m8 over even an m13 just because if it was to feel good in the hand the single stack would be the way to go

 

[Edwardteach72]

Oh and the part on how the magazine vs the grip angle work may be why (to me) the grip looks pretty long front to back

 

[C3D]

Fabulous handguns. I carried one for the better part of a decade, through 2013.

The grip is perfect; the trigger is perfect; the squeeze cocker system is brilliant and is a superior to other handguns. Accuracy is unmatched compared to any other production handgun.

The mag changes on the P7 (the PSP model) are a little more interesting given the Euro (heel) release, but once you learn the manual of arms to make the changes they are pretty quick. The P7M8 added the American-style thumb release.

Added bonus are the documented tales of the bad guy getting the gun and not figuring out how to fire it at the cop.

At one time there were standard issue for the NJSP and some other agencies and widely used in Germany as a main police gun.

The only downside is the 8 round, single stack mag on the P7 and P7M8. The P7M13 series had a double stack 13 round mag but were brick sized. The ridiculous .40 cal version, the P7M10, was even bigger. The gas piston is also a bit of a PIA to clean, but manageable.

The real Achilles heel of these guns is their rarity and value today. As they are long out of production, spare parts are rare and at $3,000 for a P7M8, they are too expensive to carry. Also the barrels are fixed and cannot be readily replaced.

At one point around 2004 a bunch of German police surplus P7’s were imported and sold for $500-700, depending on grade A, B or C.

There are also the P7K3 variants out there, which can be easily change-calibered on the fly between .22, .32 and 9mm Kurz (.380).

(As an aside: the last day I carried one was to an MDTS pistol class. A certain instructor, who shall go nameless, was using the pistol for malfunction junction and accidentally dropped it in the talcum powder sand at LIPSA. There was no way to clean the gun in the field sufficiently to keep it operating without damage, and I had to finish the class with a second backup P7M8 I brought. Since that day, it’s been Glock.)