HK P7: Why all the hype?

[giggitygiggity]

So everyone that has an HK P7 seems to swear by it. What makes the P7 such a great 9mm? What does it mean by "squeeze cock"? Thanks.

 

[PabloJ]

I had police surplus one for good while. It's unique, accurate, and reliable weapon that is ready to fire right out of the holster. Taking off grips reveals startling complexity of it's design and reason why it was so expensive to make and buy. I sold it just like I sold ca. 1979 CZ75 because I got tired of carrying rock at my side.

 

[GlockFan]

I bought one in spring because I have always thought they were different. It is unlike any other pistol do to its squeeze cocker and gas system. The trigger is really nice and its dang accurate. You need to let it cool off after a box because it gets pretty hot with the gas cylinder right above the trigger. So far it is 100% reliable with 200 rounds through.

 

[ABTOMAT]

What does it mean by "squeeze cock"?

It's a single-action-only pistol that unsafes and cocks the striker when you hold the grip, and decocks and safes it when you let go. No manual controls, no clunky double-action. Nothing else like it out there.

 

[9mmepiphany]

The two things that set the P7 apart are it's cocking mechanism and how it contains pressure of the fired round until it is safe to eject the case.

The front strap of the gun is squeezed (~8lbs) to cock the striker, it is held back (~4lbs) to allow the trigger to be fired in SA. If you release the frontstrap, the striker is de-cocked with even being unblocked...making it extremely safe when moving dynamically, you can never drop a cocked P7.

The action is held closed, until the pressure of the fired cartridge drops enough fo safely open the action, by bleeding off gas just ahead of the cartridge mouth and using it to press against a piston holding the slide closed...it is self regulating for pressure and bullet weight.

As a gun brought to market in the mid-70s, it was a major ground breaker with it's low bore-line and long barrel in a compact package.

The current rage about them has to do with the current availability of LE trade-ins, making them affordable for a larger market. Grade As are about $700 and Grade Bs are about $500...which is much less than the $1k+ they were going for prior to this

 

[Bentonville]

I thought I wanted one for years but because of a lack of opportunity to handle one, I didn't want to sink the 1000+ dollars into it. Then when the police trade-ins became available at a reasonalbe price, ( I got mine for 535 from hkspecialiststore.com Gordon Miller) I snatched it up. I could not have imagined how accurate and soft shooting this gun is. Because I like HKs, my collection needed a P7. ( Still a long way from being complere.) If you want to read about them until you are sick of them, go to HKPro.com. There are a couple of guys there who are P7 experts and many others who are very knowledgeable. One worked with HK in the development of the P series iirc. At any rate, it's a fun gun to own. The heat aspect mentioned earlier here is not a problem to me. I don't really just shoot mag. after mag. down range so there is time for it to cool naturally. Cleaning the gun involves a little more effort than your typical semi-automatic. However, part of the fun of collecting is learning about various guns and their idiosyncrasies. This pistol is very fast to get into action and very safe in a carry situation.

 

[usp9]

Here's a link to a very long, (18 minutes), video produced by HK that explains the pistol very well. The video starts slow but gets better... have patience.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?d...bHFoT0lQfRuqDKAQ&q=hk&hl=en&client=firefox-a#

 

[jon_in_wv]

A search of this forum would come up with many threads on the very same subject.

 

[PabloJ]

I have seen surplus ones attractively priced. I may do a second round with this one. Unlike some plastic stuff out there that costs $50 to make but sells at over $500 this is definitely not one of them. One just has to look at the floating chamber personally I find it amazing that something so complex can work so well.

 

[Trebor]

I'm one of the few who owned a P7 and went "meh" and sold it.

I actually had five different pistols pass through my hands before I gave up on the design, including a well worn P7M8, a near new M8, and a PSP.

In the end, I realized I shot other pistols better, and that it wasn't the gun for me.

Nifty bit of engineering though.

 

[giggitygiggity]

That video was excellent. I now have a tremendous appreciation for the P7. I want one!

 

[IMTHDUKE]

The're sweet....

 

[Hammerhead6814]

I saw one at the RKShow in KCMO today. $900. For a seven round magazine pistol that's only a little thinner than a Hi-Power. I haven't the slightest clue what's so great about them.

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

You either love them, or think they are so-so. I respect the quality and accuracy, but they didn't balance right for me, and seemed heavy for their size (does that make sense to anyone?). One of the few autos that is muzzle light.

 

[Groupguy]

Why all the hype?

The gun is:
-Extremely reliable-I've got over 60,000 rounds through my two P7M13s and have had zero feeding problems or malfunctions, ever.
-Very fast to draw and shoot. Squeeze cocker mechanism means that you, inherently, squeeze the grip and it's ready to fire.
-Built German tough- Though expensive, the magazines are very durable as is the rest of the gun. As long as you don't try a detail strip of the gun. Lots of parts.
-The gun has the best trigger I've ever felt on a handgun. Almost any gun other than the second trigger on an SSG double trigger.
-Tapered magazine on the M13 makes it very quick on the reload. Narrow, tapered end of the mag goes real fast into the big mag well. Also, the taper, like that on an MP5 makes the feeding very reliable.
-Short overall length makes it quite concealable though not light. Few 14 round 9mm's are light.
I could go on, but I hope you get the point. Awesome guns for not much more than a decent 1911.

 

[ABTOMAT]

Wish I could buy them here. HKs in MA are as rare as hen's teeth.

 

[PabloJ]

The one I owned had very smooth consistent trigger pull and unlike some stuff out there actually shot to point of aim. I'm not handgun fan but this one has a lot going for it.

 

[InkEd]

I never got as far as actually buying one. After handling and shoot a couple mags through one, I said "It's kinda cool. Really different." Layed it down and never thought about buying/shooting one again. Grip felt weird and awkward to change the magazines. Well made as can be done but just not my cup of tea.

 

[Pilot]

Very accurate, relaible and soft shooting with low felt recoil and little muzzle flip due to the low bore axis. If feels like and extension of the hand and the grip angle is perfect for me.

Its heavy, as its all steel and made from very high grade steel, but its also compact. The P7 is a very high quality pistol. I find it easily concealable and the weight doesn't bother me at all. I use a cheap Uncle Mike's holster desinged for a .380 for my P7 PSP. It works great and I forget I am carrying it.

 

[Shear_stress]

its just a brick with a grip safety instead of a lever safety. thats it. nothing more.

Lotsa stuff is the same if you ignore all the differences.

Pretty reassuring, though. My apartment is just a Swiss chateau with less floorspace. Nothing more.

Thanks for clearing that up!

 

[HK-Freak]

its just a brick with a grip safety instead of a lever safety. thats it. nothing more.


some people are just easily amused.

Spoken like a person whose never shot one.

 

[gym]

The pistol, is a classic, there are many other classics one can argue. The 1911, the Glock, the PPk's, Luger and so on. Many have been replaced as far as weight firepower etc, but they are still classics, and any Gun person would be proud to own one. Hype, I don't hink it's hype, it's just respect for a well made pistol that was. "in it's day" the premier 9mm weapon. No one says you have to like Austin Healys, but you can't argue that they are a unique piece of history, same with the P7.

 

[9mmepiphany]

Grip felt weird and awkward to change the magazines.

I've heard this before. The grip, with the squeeze-cocker depressed, is actually very 1911-like, but many people compare it to other guns while the cocker is released...because they are not accustomed to cocking the gun.

The insertion of the magazine is different, because it doesn't follow the angle of the grip. It is correctly inserted perpendicular to the bore line. This allows a straight feed from the magazine lips to the chamber and a longer barrel in a smaller package...the barrel of the P7 is 4" long

 

[DuncanSA]

The P7 was the last pistol I carried for about 2 years as an issue weapon. I can't fault it in any way, but I never really got to like it and in retirement prefer my 1911.

 

[Slamfire]

I have not found any confirming web documentation on this but I heard there were accidental discharges when users in stressful situations were pulling the trigger and the squeeze cock mechanism at the same time.


Apparently convulsively grasping the entire hand is something easy to do.