P7 PSP Available Again

CDNN has a new shipment of HK P7 PSPs in. The price is $599 for Very Good to Excellent, $674 for Excellent to Like New.

I don't know if this is the last chance to purchase them as surplus.......But it very well might be. The price is right.

Preferences

I own an H&K USP .45 ACP and I have been wondering for a long time now... Why do people prefer the 1911 over all other .45 ACP.

I own two HK USPs, and quite a few 1911s. I chose to carry the 1911s and relegate the USPs to the safe and range gun status.

The USP is a good reliable gun with a trigger that pretty much ruins the package. I shoot the USP OK, it fits my hand OK, but even the USP compact carries like a clock radio strapped under your jacket. It seems these pistols were not designed for CCW but many owners try to press them into that role. Fully loaded, they are heavy and they print like a bobcat in your britches. That's been my experience, even using good leather, trying to carry a HK USPc unobtrusively. I'm a 6'1" 250 pound male with years of experience concealing handguns. If I can't keep the thing hidden, it's fair to say there is a problem.

Remember that a 1911 is a style of pistol, not a specific gun. A more valid comparison would be between a specific 1911 and a HK product of equal market value. Saying "1911" is lumping Ed Brown's product in with stuff from tropical islands in the west Pacific. It's like putting HK's in the same category as S&W Sigmas and KelTec pistols.

Let's compare the HK USP (either compact or full size) to a Colt 1911 such as the Colt Series 70, the Colt New Agent, or even the Colt NRM Series 80 1911. That's a fair comparison. The Colt product is reliable, accurate, and has a great trigger that can easily be altered to fit the shooter's desires if needed. The entire Colt pistol can be tailored to the shooter, in fact. If done properly, the pistol will remain reliable. If done on some gun hack's kitchen table, the pistol will be turned into an unreliable lump whether Colt or HK. But I digress.......The Colt product carries extremely well. With the right leather, it's about as obtrusive as an iPod. In fact, even with mediocre leather it conceals and carries very well. The only HK pistol that carries as well is the P7 series.

The Colt 1911 is accurate. It puts holes exactly where I want them to go, consistently hitting paper plates while I am on the move. The HK product, again with the exception of the P7 series, does not do that for me. I suppose you could say that I just have to learn to manage the HK USP trigger. Well, I shoot double action revolvers very well, in double action. Between the ergonomics and the trigger of the HK USP and it's more recent sibling, the P whatever it is called, I do not have the same accuracy under the same conditions. I'm just not willing to devote any more range time learning to accurately manage a trigger that is poor to mediocre from the start just so I can defend myself with the latest flavor of Kool-Aid. I would rather pick a pistol I shoot better with from the start and concentrate on training and tactics. Training and tactics keep you alive in a shooting. The latest Kool-Aid gives you bragging rights at the gun counter. I'd rather live through a shooting, assuming I can't avoid it from the start. That's why I carry a gun. When you think about it, that is the entire purpose of a handgun, to give it's owner a portable life saving device. If he can not carry it concealed and use it effectively, it fails in that role for him. Period.

I carry a gun and train to employ tactics with effective shooting to help me survive a threat to my life. Everything else is secondary to that. Rather than devote myself to learning a weapon that fails to meet my other criteria for an effective defensive pistol, namely the ability to carry it concealed and have it in my hands when I need it, because I could easily carry it, I simply relegated the USP to my pile of pistols that did not make the cut. That doesn't mean it's a bad pistol, it just means I found a pistol that serves me better for my intended use. No offense intended to the guys who prefer the Universelle Selbstladepistole.

Over time, that happens to every shooter. We find our personal favorite. Some would point out that the HK USP has greater capacity. I say my spare magazines help balance my entire carry package on my body. Some folks figure they need those extra bullets in the coming zombie apocalypse. I figure seven rounds +1 will get me out of a mugging or a liquor store robbery if I apply training and tactics well. If I need more ammunition, I have a spare magazine to cram into the gun while I am hunkering behind cover. I will be hunkering and exiting Dodge because I concentrated on learning tactics, not trends.

So that's why I prefer a 1911. After years of packing something else, after going through the wondernine revolution and considering the old GI gun to be an old man's gun, I realized that the 1911 and proper training and tactics was what I was looking for. That's why I carry a 1911. It works for me.

The Heckler & Koch P7 PSP

Back in 2004 an opportunity arose to order a HK P7 PSP (Polizei Selbstlade Pistole) recently released from the German police. The pistols were $645, complete with all brushes, tools and a plastic case. Extra magazines were around $15. I placed an order. Soon afterwards, a squeezecocker arrived at my FFL just for me.

I am not an HK fanboy, although I do still own the P7, and a couple more HK pistols. The Squeezecocker HK's are to some shooters like a streetlight is to a moth. The striker fired pistol is made like a Swiss watch, and it is durable. There is no other pistol quite like the HK P7. It is an uniquely safe pistol, requiring the front of the grip to be firmly depressed before it can fire. One depressed, a very sweet trigger is engaged. The pistol is very slim, and it's fixed polygonal barrel makes it inherently accurate. It points very well, and has simple effective, easy to acquire sights.

The basis of the P7 design is a gas delayed blowback system. Gas pressure from cartridge ignition is routed through a small vent in the barrel directly forward of the fluted chamber. Recoil of the slide is controlled by the gases acting on a piston underneath the barrel. Once the bullet has exited the muzzle, the gas pressure is released behind it, and the slide can enter the recoil cycle.

At one time I carried my P7 PSP. The pistol carried very well. The only reason I stopped carrying it was I decided to go with the .45 ACP as a defense cartridge. The P7 is a 9mm gun. The P7 PSP has an eight round single stack magazine and a heel release. If I had won an ebay auction of a black alligator skin holster for it, I might still carry it on special occasions. I keep it in my accumulation because it is an unusual pistol to share with others, the ammunition is relatively inexpensive, and it is a great pistol for carry. There are other variants with different chamberings, some with a double stack magazine, and a magazine release behind the trigger, but I like the simplicity of the PSP.



The Cult of the P7

My Go Get'em Guns

After a few comments on my Go Get'em Gun piece, I thought I would post a couple or four of my own "Go Get'em" Guns. Seems some folks don't get the joke........And, since I purchased a new better camera, I've been updating some of my gun pics to a higher quality photo anyway......And, it's time for some gun pics, after all it's Sunday....

At left is my two Heckler & Koch USPs. Both are in .40S&W, so I do not shoot them much anymore. Because the fullsize pistol has a light, I still train with it and use it as a bedside pistol.

I once carried the USP Compact, but the butt kept sticking out farther than my own butt. I went to a 1911 for carry shortly afterwards. I still keep the USPc in hopes that some Tactical Tommy will inherit his Grandpa's WWI vintage M1911 and want to "upgrade" to a "Go Get'em" gun, specifically one with a "hostile environment" finish and Big Dot 24/7 nuclear powered sights.

Both USPs have night sights, LEM triggers, and neutered 10 round magazines. Both are utterly reliable. The only failure I have ever had with either was a Wolff ammunition case rupture causing a failure.

For a while I collected Beretta handguns. In addition to the Mini-Cougar and 92FS at right, I own a M1932, a M1951, and a M21A. The Beretta 92FS was the first handgun I purchased when I returned home from the US Navy in October 1991. Wondernines were the rage then, and the 92FS was at the top of the heap. I actually carried the thing concealed for a bit. It's a good one, all metal, unlike the ones produced today. I installed an 18 pound 1911 mainspring in it to lighten up the trigger. It works. I have yet to get a light-strike as a result. My Beretta 92FS will stay in my inventory. It was the first substantial item I purchased, within two days of leaving the military. It has never had a failure, with many, many rounds down the pipe.

The Mini-Cougar is a gun I like. I enjoy the rotating barrel action. It's a smooth shooting pistol. I really like the design of the contoured magazine to lengthen the abbreviated grip if desired. The Mini-Cougar is an accurate pistol, but I am unable to shoot accurately with it. The shorter grip only makes it worse. I carried this pistol for a time as well.

I still appreciate Beretta handguns. They are some very smooth, accurate, reliable firearms. "Fine ordnance" as Uncle Lester would say. I just don't pursue Berettas as I once did. They failed to keep my interest. HK pistols were the same. Glocks were too. As a collector, 1911s and old revolvers continue to hold my interest. They make pretty darned good defensive weapons as well. They are accurate, reliable, and a heck of a lot of fun at the range too.

Polymer Memories

When the HK USP was first imported to the States, in 1993, I knew I had to have one. Polymer seemed to be taking over the handgun market back then. Glocks were a huge success, but the sculpted angles of the USP slide, along with it's grip angle and thumb safety appealed to me more. I finally found this full size HK USP in .40S&W, used, and I quickly bought it. I had Tritium sights mounted, and with the HK bright light, I felt ready to take on the night's boogey men. I have since purchased a compact USP, as well as a P7.

Over the years, I have adopted the shotgun for home defense. I have gone to the 1911 as my semi-auto handgun of choice. I don't shoot the old HK much anymore. The .40 caliber ammunition is as expensive as .45ACP, and I would rather shoot old slabsides. I removed the HK from it's drawer today, cleared it, and dry fired it a bit. I have to wonder how I ever tolerated that trigger. The gun is stone reliable, and it's accurate enough, but the trigger is awful, gritty and stacking. But never let it be said that I did not try the plastic fantastics. Heck I even owned a Glock for a few days......I just found a gun I like a hell of a lot better, that I shoot a hell of a lot better, in the 1911. I was young then. I was easily influenced by things such as "hostile environment" finishes. I finally found my way though, the same way so many before me found, to the single stack brainchild of John Moses.

Heckler & Koch P7PSP at CDNN

In their latest catalog, CDNN claims to have the last of the German police trade-in HK P7PSPs. They are priced at $899. That's quite a jump from the $649 I paid for my example, purchased from SOG in December 2003.

The first P7PSP SOG sent me experienced a broken transmission lever on the very first trip to the range, and was returned for a replacement pistol. The replacement pistol has served me well over the past couple of years. It has never failed in any way, has remained unerringly accurate, and I would not hesitate to carry it.

I'm not surprised to see these pistols selling for $899 at CDNN. They come with the original box, and CDNN may well have the last of the P7PSPs. After all they were finite in number.

CDNN also has a huge selection of USPs ranging in price from $499 for a DAO USP9c to $1799 for the SOCOM, as well as the P7M8 for $1299. If you have been feeling the urge for a HK, now is the time.