H&k P9s

[Father Knows Best]

Anyone have one of these? What do you think of it? I'd never heard of them until a week or so ago, when I went to the range with a friend of mine and he brought one along. His is a 9mm, though I understand they were made in .45ACP, too. I really liked it!

So what do I need to know about them -- variations, years of manufacture, buying one used, etc.?

 

[modifiedbrowning]

I used to have one that I sold last year. They are excellent pistols but mine was pretty banged up. I sold it because finding parts was almost impossible, I had one crappy mag ans was never able to locate anymore.
Check out www.parkcitiestactical.com for plenty of P9S info.

 

[Quiet]

You can also head over to www.hkpro.com for more info on the H&K P-9. Every now and then someone lists a P-9 for sale over there as well.

 

[BlkHawk73]

Go to one of the sites mentioned above for info on them. The 9mm ones are easily found still for very god prices. Just have your dealer check with the larger surplus wholesalers (Southern Ohio Gun, J&G, etc) Should be able to get into one in 9mm with two mags, manual and box for under $750. For one in .45, you're looking at close to and proberly over $1000. I've got a shooter in 9mm and a safe queen in .45. They've got the nicest triggers. Very accuarte1! Mags can be pricey but a P38 mag will work but not lock the slide back afte the last shot is fired.

Look here: http://www.hkpro.com/p9s.htm

 

[10-Ring]

I've only had a chance to shoot the P9S 9 & 45 -- The ones to have are the 45s, but both are fine guns!

 

[bannockburn]

I had a P9 in .45 many, many years ago. I was initially attracted to the (then) high tech features of the gun; roller block action, smooth double action trigger, and the use of alloy and polymers in the frame. Extremely accurate, easy to control, and not overly sensitive to different loads. But mags were hard to come by, (although I believe that regular 1911 mags could be adapted to work), and with small hands, I had difficulty in reaching the trigger at times. Eventually, I traded it in for another .45, but thinking about it, I wouldn't mind having that P9 back.

 

[MartinBrody]

I'm no expert, but I have one, and don't know much more than they were made in 9mm, then later 45 for the commercial gun market. They were used by German police depts. but weren't really a big seller, much like other H&K pistols (VP70, P7) which are a bit pricey for what you get. Probably made from the early 70s, into the mid-eighties.

Couple interesting features include the roller locking action and cocker/decocker. The cocker is very heavy, and to decock you have to pull the trigger while you ease the decocker up. This lever also acts as a slide release.

The trigger is uber light in single action, and the gun is quite accurate b/c of the trigger and the barrel doesn't tilt on a cam or link like other actions.

I like it for the purpose of collecting but it isn't really the gun to get for practical purposes. I also think it looks good.

 

[STAGE 2]

I like it for the purpose of collecting but it isn't really the gun to get for practical purposes. I also think it looks good.

I'm going to disagree with that point. When my dads agency prohibited SA autos for a duty weapon he went to the P9S and carried it for the better part of 2 decades until his retirement.

He wasn't rappeling from helos or doing the low crawl through the mud, but he was still kicking down doors, serving warrants and in the case of the LA riots patroling the streets.

Its also the first gun I ever shot and was what I learned on. Needless to say I'm a fan, and so much so that I have one of my own.

My advise to the original poster is get one and get one now. Preferably 2, one for the safe and one for the range. The are getting rare and are only going to go up in value. A really nice .45 is going for 1200 easily. If you get one of the target models its pushing 1600.

They are fantastic weapons from a fantastic company.

 

[varoadking]

I like it for the purpose of collecting but it isn't really the gun to get for practical purposes.

Having owned one, I agree 100%.

They are uber accurate and have a great trigger, but the overall ergos blow...not to mention they are pretty damned heavy for a 9mm...

 

[Bentonville]

I just bought one two weeks ago. I have only put a couple of mags through it but wow...very little recoil, easy to get back on target and a very good SAWEET trigger. They are highly sought after by HK admirers. I lucked up with mine and got it at a good price. It sat in a pawn shop for three or four years until the guy was sick of having it. No one around here even knows what an HK is much less a P9S.
The guns are reliable and tough. The grip is great for me who has smallish hands. The mags are expensive, 85-100. The Combat .45 has orange two-dot sights on the rear and white blade with only the front sight being windage adjustable. The gun can be carried cocked and locked or with hammer down on a loaded chamber with safety on or off. The decocking mechanism was strange to me at first. You have to hold a lever down that is just behind the trigger guard while you pull the trigger back. All this with the safety on makes me feel better but it is not really necessary to have the safety engaged. The hammer will gently fall on a hammer block with no contact made with the fp. OR...just engage the safety until such time as you remove the mag. and clear the gun.
IMPORTANT to know. There is a plastic buffer in a housing that MUST be changed before shooting a new-to-you P9S. Especially .45 but also the 9 mm. This change out seems complicated but I, clumsy unmechanically minded me, did it. Of course, I had help online from the smartest HK guys in the world on HKPRO.com. They spent a lot of time coaching me through the process on PM but now it seems so simple that anyone could do it. Also, HK sent me an owner's manual. Nice of them, huh? The buffers can be bought from Numrich and others.
It's the sort of gun that if you buy it (if you give a reasonable price for it) and don't like it you can get your money right back in a couple of weeks. Sorry for the ramble but I am excited about the gun. It is so easy to field strip that I have done it a lot just for the fun of it. there is a little lever in front of the trigger within the trigger guard that releases the slide and pop..it's up and off. It is an amazing piece of engineering. Get one..but reasonably priced, of course.

 

[MartinBrody]

Stage 2 - When I think of expensive, discontinued single stack 9mms as carry pieces, I'll go with this one. The P9s is my baby, I'd love 2 of them, but with all the old P7s out there right now, I say get a cherry P9s for the safe and carry a surplus P7 You are right, great company.

 

[jsbethel]

I have a P9S .45 Target. They really are wonderful pistols - very nice triggers. After your purchase, be sure to change the polymer recoil bushing - they tend to turn to goo with time. Previous posters are correct that parts are difficult to find. I had to purchase a new recoil spring from a source in Germany.

 

[Pelleman]

The thing that makes them unique is that they sprung out of a Heckler & Koch that must have been a paradise for nutty constructors. These pistols got designed in the late 60s. Rewind the tape and think about what handguns they carried in those days. The P9S must have been beamed down from the mothership.

Even today, any constructor that sat down at the engineer teams monday coffee and proposed a new model, made up of a stamped steel frame with lots of welds, draped in plastic, carrying a cold forged polygonal barrel with an MP5 roller action in a stamped and welded-to-perfection steel slide must be regarded as... well.. mad! Especially when he adds requirement for a decocker, a cocker, enclosed hammer and accuracy that rivals that of the SIG P210. And oh yeah, we're going to make a 5,5" barrelweight sportmodel too!

Ten years later the same guys came up with the squeeze-cocking, gas-retarded compact P7.

My picture of german engineers in the 60s and 70s (maybe even today) are guys that dress like university professors with cardigans and pipes, not loons that thinks out of the box. Obviously the design group of H&K was different. I doubt that we will ever see that type of wild design again, primarily due to costs. Today, everything is about cost effective production and big sales.

As a pistol, the P9S is very ergonomic, is extremly well made and has built in accuracy that very few pistols of today comes close to. The only ones I can think of (as the P210 is out of production) are the SIG X5/6 and perhaps the Pardini GT45/GT9. Keep in mind that the P9S is a service production gun, not some fancy custom built 1911. It has been in service with the Navy SEALS and dragged around the world in mud, dust and saltwater.