Comparison of 4 Heckler & Koch handguns
By MARJ LAW
Joe is very set on hammer-fired guns. I prefer striker-fired guns.
In my humble opinion, striker-fired guns are softer shooting, have less recoil, and are generally more comfortable to shoot.
Joe says a hammer-fired gun in single action has a crisp and lighter trigger pull. He began shooting in the service with a hammer gun. That’s familiar to him. Not that he’s an old fogie or anything (!), but you’re not going to change his mind that striker-fired guns might be equal to hammer-fired guns.
Of course, he’s old-fashioned and wrong, wrong, wrong.
We’re going to go to the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office range, taking my striker-fired H&K VP9 Match gun and his hammer-fired H&K P30L. They are both 9mm handguns.
We’ll rate them for accuracy, trigger pull difficulty, trigger pull travel, recoil, grip, and ease of racking the slide. On a 1-5 scale, an easy trigger pull will get a 1 and a difficult pull will get a 5. The same with travel, recoil, grip and slide racking ease.
And just to add to the fun, we’ve borrowed an H&K VP40, which is another striker-fired gun, and an H&K 45: a hammer gun.
So, we have two H&K striker guns and two H&K hammer guns.
Poor Joe is about to learn that striker guns are best.
First, let’s get the deets out of the way.
H&K VP9 Match: (striker)
Length: 8.78”
Height: 6.5”
Barrel: 5.51”
Weight: 24.16 ounces (no magazine)
Trigger Pull: 5 pounds, 12.5 ounces
H&K P30L: (hammer)
Length: 7.72”
Height: 5.43”
Barrel: 4.45”
Weight: 27.51 ounces (no magazine)
Trigger Pull: 4 pounds, 4.5 ounces
H&K VP40: (striker)
Length: 7.34”
Height: 5.45”
Barrel: 4.09”
Weight: 28.93 ounces (no magazine)
Trigger Pull: 5 pounds, 13 ounces
H&K 45 (hammer)
Length: 8.03
Height: 5.91
Barrel: 4.46
Weight: 31.2 ounces (with magazine)
Trigger Pull: 5 pounds, 9 ounces
Trigger pull is based on using our Lyman Digital Scale. Joe pulls the trigger 3 times each, and the scale averages the pulls. This will vary with other guns, based on factors like the age of the gun, how much it has been broken in and on the individual gun itself.
We’re using 5.5” Shoot N See targets. Hopefully, no shot will miss the targets at 7 yards. Joe will shoot 5 rounds with each gun. I will shoot 3 rounds each.
We begin with my 9mm Match.
Joe shoots first. His target holes show all 5 rounds, but grouping isn’t as tight as I’d like. He rates trigger pull, travel, kick, and grip with 1s. Very easy. He gives the slide difficulty as a 2. Not hard.
I shoot next. My shots are all on the target, but again, there are no tight groupings. I find trigger pull and kick a 2.5. Not hard but not easy. Trigger travel, recoil and slide all rate a 2. Pretty easy.
It’s my striker-fired gun and we shoot OK, but not especially well.
Next, we shoot Joe’s hammer-fired P30L. It’s also a 9mm handgun. We are shooting it in single action only.
Joe finds it easy to shoot and gives all ratings a 2, except for racking the slide. He gives that a 2.5. All his shots hit within the 5.5” target.
I give trigger, travel, kick and slide difficulty all 2s. Easy. The grip is really nice and it gets a 1.
Problem is: my shots are all smack in the x-ring. Go figure. And with Joe’s hammer gun yet.
He’s smirking. He doesn’t care that my grouping is so good. He’s smug because I shoot his hammer gun better than my striker gun. Sigh.
The next gun will redeem my preference. It’s the H&K VP40: a striker-fired gun.
Joe shoots first while I sit on the bench.
Blam!
The bench shakes and the report is loud. The Federal .40’s concussion and crack are supersonic, traveling at about 1,000 feet per second (fps). Imagine: 1,122 fps is the speed of sound!
Joe gives trigger pull a 2, and its travel and grip a 1. He says the kick is a firm 2.5, and the slide difficulty a 3. The .40 has a strong slide pull.
I’m a bit concerned after feeling the seat under me vibrate with Joe’s shooting. How much more difficult with this gun be, even though it’s a striker-fired gun?
Yes, it is definitely more challenging to shoot. To me, trigger pull is 2.5 while trigger travel is a short 1.5. Kick is surely a 3: quite a hard recoil. The grip is okay, but pulling the slide back is a bear at 3.5. It’s more than I like. Wouldn’t want to do it many times in a day.
The HK 45 is next. After shooting the .40, I’m preparing for an even more difficult gun. Besides, this one is another hammer gun. And it’s a .45.
Joe shoots first. Cocking the hammer so it’s in single action, he finds trigger pull is easy and it gets a 1. Travel is 1.5. Recoil is 3.
Aha. I thought so: it has to be a pretty strong recoil, even for Joe. And racking the slide? Joe gives it a 3.5. Even racking the slide is a challenge.
OK. I’m ready. Paying attention to breathing, stance and grip, I shoot the .45.
Yes, even in single action, trigger is a 2.5, but travel is short at 1.5. Kick, though, kick is as I expect. While Joe gives it a 3, I give it a 3.5. Since a 5 is the strongest recoil, 3.5 is pretty darn strong too.
I don’t mind the grip, but pulling the slide? It gets a 4 out of the possible 5. Hard.
The .45 is a difficult gun for me; even in single action. But my target? Those darn bullets all hit in the 10-ring. How did that happen? And why, even with the robust recoil, did I not feel the crack and concussion of the .40?
Joe says the .45 has the heaviest Magtech bullet at 230 grains. It’s subsonic at only 837 feet per second, compared to the much faster .40’s bullet.
Darn. For some reason, Joe’s P30L 9mm hammer gun is easier for me to shoot than my VP9 striker gun, and I hit the target much better with it. Hm.
I’m also more accurate with the hammer-fired .45 than with the striker-fired .40. Even with better accuracy, the .45 isn’t much fun to handle due to hard recoil and really formidable slide.
“The proof is in the targets,” says Joe smugly.
Yes, he prefers hammer-fired guns and he thinks today’s shooting reflects that hammer-fired guns are best.
But there are other striker-fired guns out there. And striker-fired guns, in my opinion, are softer shooting and have less recoil.
Maybe the hammer guns just got lucky today.
Marj Law is the former director of Keep Wakulla County Beautiful who has become an avid shooter in retirement.