More striker vs. hammer guns and a new handgun
By MARJ LAW
Recently, Joe and I compared four Heckler and Koch handguns. Two of them were striker-fired guns and two were hammer-fired. Thank you to our friends who loan us guns so we can discuss them.
Now, my opinion is that the more mature people and mainly military-trained men prefer hammer guns. For some reason, Joe heartily agrees.
So, I put forth my case before the deputy at the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office range. Of course, he’s a bit mature too, but I’m sure he’s up to the more modern striker-fired guns and he’ll listen to reason.
He turns in his seat so we can see what he’s carrying. He grins.
Sure enough, he’s carrying a hammer-fired gun. Drat. And he’s laughing with Joe because I did, ahem, make the error of firmly stating that the older guys like hammer-fired guns best.
Today we’re comparing my new striker-fired Heckler & Koch VP9 with Joe’s hammer-fired H&K P30L. They are both 9mm handguns. We had tried a friend’s VP9 Match gun against that P30L a few weeks ago, and the P30L edged in front of the VP9 Match gun.
Well, that was a fluke.
Maybe the borrowed Match gun wasn’t sighted in the best. Maybe the barrel wasn’t as good as it should have been. Maybe it was “cockpit error” and Joe and I just didn’t shoot it well that day.
So now I have a new VP9. This one is mine. I’ve just cleaned and lubed it. Striker-fired. It’s going to beat out Joe’s hammer-fired P30L. Which, he maintains, was personally worked over by Bruce Gray of Gray Guns. Bruce did some Teflon coating and some trigger work. According to Joe, Bruce is the Guru of Guns.
Yawn.
A cool thing about my striker-fired VP9 is that it comes with three backstraps and three sets of grip side straps for the grip. I choose the smallest backstrap for my small hands.
“Do you want the small side straps too?” asks Joe, because he has just pulled the pin out holding them in place.
“No, the smaller side straps don’t have a palm swell, and I like to feel it in my hand,” I reply. We keep the medium side straps on the gun.
The VP9 feels good in my hand, and now it’s personalized for me.
We’re at the WCSO range and we’re ready to shoot. We agree to shootfive rounds from each gun. We’re using 124-grain reloaded 9mm rounds and are shooting at 5.5-inch targets.
I like Joe to shoot his P30L first. All his rounds hit on the target. No tight groupings, but hitting a target that small is pretty darn good.
Then he shoots my new VP9. The bullets hit the target.
But there’s a problem. The slide doesn’t lock back. Hm.
Next, it’s my turn to shoot his P30L. I hit the target with all five shots.
Now, it’s time to take my new personalized VP9 into my hands and shoot.
Blam! Nice. Blam! Stovepipe!
Dump magazine. Pull slide to dump stovepipe and check chamber.
Magazine back in grip. Trigger pull. Blam! The casing stands up in the ejection port again. Stovepipe!
Drat. I drop the magazine and then dump that errant casing.
“I do not think you limp-wristed the gun,” Joe says.
You know, we gals hate to even hear the term “limp-wristed.”
I grab the gun even tighter and shoot two more times.
Ha! Two bullseyes.
I’m feeling smug until I notice the slide isn’t locked back.
What???
“There seems to be a problem,” says Joe. “The slide should have locked back when the magazine was empty. It didn’t when you shot and when I shot.
You shouldn’t have had stovepipes, either. I think I know what’s wrong. We’ll go to the range and try out a different 124-grain ammunition. You’ve been using reloads. A better-quality name-brand ammunition might work better. Also, the gun might shoot better with heavier NATO rounds or 147-grain rounds. We’ll see.”
I’m not thrilled. My other two 9mm handguns use 124-grain reloads most of the time because, well, reloads are generally cheaper than most name-brand rounds. A 9mm that’s picky about using reloads? Get with the program, VP9.
Back at a range, Joe loads five rounds of those name-brand 124-grain rounds this time.
What do you know? All five rounds hit the target and the slide locks back.
I shoot next and the gun works just fine.
Joe’s pretty sure the gun prefers this name-brand ammunition. To test his theory, he puts in some more of those reloads from the box we had used previously.
What do you know again? All five rounds he shoots cycle smoothly and the slide locks back.
Hm.
So, I take my five rounds and shoot that VP9. Those rounds hit the target and the slide locks back.
For now, it looks like the problem isn’t a preference for name-brand ammunition or heavier rounds.
Our friend Albert says he had discussed new gun behavior with George at NoShoe. He says George advised running 200 rounds through a new gun before considering the gun has a real problem.
We’ve heard this before, but we’ve been fortunate that the new guns we’ve owned or tested have cycled well right out of the box.
This doesn’t happen with every gun. Some handguns seem to require a 100 or 200 round break-in period.
If your handgun doesn’t act perfectly right away, try different things.
You might want to ask someone knowledgeable to shoot your gun. You might want to load different grain ammunition. You might want to try name-brand ammunition instead of cheaper reloads. You might just patiently shoot your gun until you’ve shot a hundred rounds or more.
Remember, if you get a stovepipe, keep the barrel pointed downrange. Do not pull the trigger a second time. Drop the magazine. Pull the slide back to inspect the chamber. If the chamber is clear, then reload your magazine, put it in the grip, pull back the slide and try shooting again.
If this doesn’t work, you may need to clean and lubricate your gun. And you did clean and lubricate your new gun before bringing it to the range, didn’t you?
Give your new gun a chance to behave.
Now, back to the question of hammer-fired guns versus striker-fired guns. Which is best?
I’m sticking to my guns. Striker-fired that is.
Marj Law is the former director of Keep Wakulla County Beautiful who has become an avid shooter in retirement.