HK Koolaid

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jeep45238
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HK Koolaid

Post by jeep45238 »

I've been running 1911's and J frames soley for about a year now - J's for running and pocket carry, 1911 for everything else (literally, everything). Working at a shop again, I have a lot of people asking for lasers and night sights to make hits at night - and we have the conversation about a light, target ID, and how it makes any standard iron sight an amazing sight picture, regardless if it's plain, fiber, or tritium. And, seeing how none of my 1911's have rails, that's a real hard pill to swallow when I look at my own gear.

I've also been working on red-dots for about 3 months via a rear-sight mount (proof of concept for matches). So, my choice was to go down a rail, red dot capable 1911 that's vetted, or look at alternatives. Doing the first option would more or less mean a STI 2011 in some fashion, looking at $2,000 before any support gear. Nope.

I went with a VP9 instead due to the design features from R&D, how the gun is built (IE - hammer forged barrel), and two interesting changes for 2020. HK doesn't just change things on a whim based on their reputation for reliability - and for them to make all VP9's optic compatible out of the gate, with the additional machining, etc., for every single one of them, says a lot about their confidence in their mounting design. They also revised the followers and springs in the mags to make them 17 rounders instead of 15, probably after hearing for years that the mags should hold two more like everybody else's magazines.

An ergonomic deal for me was the ability to build the grip asymmetrically, as the side and back panels of the grip are independent you can get creative with what works for you - to my knowledge HK is the only manufacturer that does this out of the gate and in the box for the customer, but Sig gets close with their different circumference grip frame modules.

After some messing around with grip panels, and using a shot timer and target grouping data to determine the correct layout for me right now, I've got a small left panel, large back, and large right panel - vastly different than what felt good or what I thought I'd be using.

So, I've got a gun that costs about the same as the Sig P320 with a lot more R&D, that passes a 1911 specific extractor test (10-8) perfectly, has a crazy consistent ejection pattern that literally puts brass in a 1 foot circle to my right, is ergonomic, has a Holosun 407C red dot, a Streetlight TLR1-HL, and 18 rounds on board for about what I've got invested in a vetted traditional 1911. I'm pretty sold on it, and have put just shy of 2,000 rounds down the pipe in the last two weeks.

And it's boringly repeatable at 100 yards to boot.

Just waiting on the holsters to arrive, and then a Dan Wesson Vigil will be on the chopping block.
http://shootingfordollars.org Where Firearms and Finances meet.

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Morne
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Re: HK Koolaid

Post by Morne »

You cool with the non-flat trigger face?
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jeep45238
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Re: HK Koolaid

Post by jeep45238 »

Morne wrote:You cool with the non-flat trigger face?
Yup. I really don’t mess with actions these days, it’s extremely shootable out of the box. Even my Dan Wesson 1911s have a curved face.

Some people complain about the trigger ‘trough’ but I have no complaints. I can see it’s use to prevent a glove from jamming up between the frame and the trigger, thus keeping the gun working.
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Brian D.
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Re: HK Koolaid

Post by Brian D. »

Sorry to drift, keep, quick off topic question: Your shop (I know which one) have any decent holsters in stock for a Glock model 30? Now own one again for the first time in years, must have ditched my previous rig.

Be out browsing in that general area in the next few days, just wondering. Rather support brick and mortar than the internet.
Quit worrying, hide your gun well, shut up, and CARRY that handgun!

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jeep45238
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Re: HK Koolaid

Post by jeep45238 »

Brian D. wrote:Sorry to drift, keep, quick off topic question: Your shop (I know which one) have any decent holsters in stock for a Glock model 30? Now own one again for the first time in years, must have ditched my previous rig.

Be out browsing in that general area in the next few days, just wondering. Rather support brick and mortar than the internet.
I'll give a glance on Saturday - generally though, the pickings are slim. JM Custom and DarkStar Gear have turned me into a holster snob, to be completely honest.
http://shootingfordollars.org Where Firearms and Finances meet.

You can't truly call yourself peaceful unless you are capable of great violence. If you're not capable of violence, you're not peaceful, you're harmless.
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Brian D.
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Re: HK Koolaid

Post by Brian D. »

Okay thanks. Back on topic: "You suck, and we hate you."
--The mission statement of HK, according to lots of people. :mrgreen:

Had a chance to shoot a VP-9 at a charity event, poker shoot target. One of the range rentals, broken in trigger. Dry fired it a few times before the five shots. Then spread out the bullet holes just as I wanted to.

At that point I'd been telling people that "Everybody now makes a Glock 19." Thought to myself 'Hmm, HK's Glock 19 is pretty good'.
Quit worrying, hide your gun well, shut up, and CARRY that handgun!

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WhyNot
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Re: HK Koolaid

Post by WhyNot »

HK P7M8 8) was fun back in early 90's

Thats about the extent of my HK experiences
Acquisitions thus far:

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Yeah, I'm that good
Whirlwind06
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Re: HK Koolaid

Post by Whirlwind06 »

So how low does the RMR sit?
I had a G17 MOS and wasn't impressed, the back up irons were pretty much unusable.
I recently got a Lone Wolff RMR G19 slide and it seems much better.
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Re: HK Koolaid

Post by jeep45238 »

Brian D. wrote:Okay thanks. Back on topic: "You suck, and we hate you."
--The mission statement of HK, according to lots of people. :mrgreen:

Had a chance to shoot a VP-9 at a charity event, poker shoot target. One of the range rentals, broken in trigger. Dry fired it a few times before the five shots. Then spread out the bullet holes just as I wanted to.

At that point I'd been telling people that "Everybody now makes a Glock 19." Thought to myself 'Hmm, HK's Glock 19 is pretty good'.
More or less - the Glock has a foothold going back to the mid 80's in police that won't be broken by anything, period, for a long long long long long long time. Everything else according to the layman is second best, if there is even a second. HK's G19, for me, is a lot better than offerings from Sig, Glock, Canik, S&W, etc, predominantly because of the configuration that can be done on the frame and the barrel quality.
Whirlwind06 wrote:So how low does the RMR sit?
I had a G17 MOS and wasn't impressed, the back up irons were pretty much unusable.
I recently got a Lone Wolff RMR G19 slide and it seems much better.

You'll be disappointed if you want factory irons to cowitness with a red dot on pretty much any platform that uses a plate mount unless it comes with factory suppressor height sights. The benefit of a plate mounted is not being stuck onto a particular footprint, so if the optic system doesn't prove reliable or work for you, you can change it out. The benefit of a direct mill is you can go lower - some will sill need suppressor height sights (like a plate) to work.

It's reasonably low in the slide, and runs a recoil lug perpendicular to the bore to absorb the recoil while having the optic act as a method to keep the plate screws from loosening.

Optic security matters, as the most recent spec I can recall is a .40 Glock slide reaches a peak of 38 G's of force under recoil :shock:

The {inappropriate language} part on the 2020 VP9 is nobody makes a suppressor height rear sight yet. I'm on the short list for that when it gets released from several manufacturers. I normally wouldn't care about it, and do fine without having the irons as a periphery system to help find the dot if I lose it, but it does matter if the white light gets implemented. Wouldn't you know, 1,000 lumens makes the red dot cease to exist. There are plenty of workarounds that are effective and fast, but having a traditional sighting system that I'm accustomed to for this situation is something I'm really looking forward to taking care of.
http://shootingfordollars.org Where Firearms and Finances meet.

You can't truly call yourself peaceful unless you are capable of great violence. If you're not capable of violence, you're not peaceful, you're harmless.
-Important distinction
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