I have had occasional feeding / ejection problems with my H&K P7, which might be ammunition-related.

The owners manual is somewhat vague about ammunition recommendations other than specifying "good quality, at least 100 gr, jacketed."

I can not remember the source, but I believe that I heard that the P7 was designed for 124 gr NATO, which is jacketed round-nose with a powder charge that is similar to +P. Can anybody verify this? Or make an ammunition recommendation based on experience?

A malfunctioning P7? I...I do not understand your words. They are foreign to me. What is this language you speak?

The manual also says (IIRC) no lead and no +P+ but I have neither seen nor experienced personally a feeding or extraction malfunction in a P7.

What are the chances you are slightly limp wristing it enough to cause malfunctions?

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
A malfunctioning P7? I...I do not understand your words. They are foreign to me. What is this language you speak?

The manual also says (IIRC) no lead and no +P+ but I have neither seen nor experienced personally a feeding or extraction malfunction in a P7.

Malfunctions include stovepipe and double feed.

Here is the only reference to ammunition from my owners' manual:

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:

What are the chances you are slightly limp wristing it enough to cause malfunctions?

Nope. Firm two-handed grip.

I have never had a malfunction of any kind with my P7s. I THINK I remember reading at some point they may not like 147 grain stuff. Also like was said no +P+.

There is a good dude over on HK Pro who goes by Marine303. He is an HK armored and both extremely knowledgeable and helpful. Might want to reach out to him. I know many of the folks over there can be a little “delta Bravo’y” at times but this guy is NOT one of those folks. Good dude, helpful and if you need work done I’ve never seen a negative comment about him.

Chris

quote:

Originally posted by cslinger:
I have never had a malfunction of any kind with my P7s.

Yeah, the P7 magazine is a work of art. The P7 has near straight line feeding and I've shot all sorts of ammunition through mine and they don't balk.

As my dear old daddy would have said, the P7 is slicker than greased owl shit.

The only times I have had malfs with a P7 I just cleaned the gas cylinder and it was fine. If you have one of the scraper tools they work great. Just a push that all the way in and give it a few turns to clean out the powder buildup. Without the tool, solvent and a doubled pipe cleaner will do. Just make sure the cylinder and piston are clean and dry before reassembly. IIRC, the cylinder is almost exactly .22" in diameter, so 22 cleaning tips and patches might work.

BTW, while the P7 will function fine with bullets over 124 grains, you shouldn't routinely use ammunition with bullets much heavier than that. They affect the timing of the action and can accelerate wear.

I've never experience that. I guess because I'm a meticulous gun cleaner. How many rounds would you estimate to go from clean cylinder to malfunctions?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by cslinger:
I have never had a malfunction of any kind with my P7s. I THINK I remember reading at some point they may not like 147 grain stuff. Also like was said no +P+.

Mine are happy with BPLE.
Supposedly no lead, maybe not 147, but as said by others, they don’t jam. Yes, need to see an armourer.
Might make sure the gas cylinder is not crudded up.

quote:

Originally posted by ScotP7:
Mine are happy with BPLE.

IMO, the mildest of the +P+ rated loads.

I am with Stickmaker. The gas system needs a good cleaning. And the used of non jacketed bullets may have fouled the gas system.

I have an armorer if you need one.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
I am with Stickmaker. The gas system needs a good cleaning. And the used of non jacketed bullets may have fouled the gas system.

This is my hunch as well. I would not shoot non jacketed bullets through this gun.

They P7s are typically highly reliable but need to be kept clean. A Glock they are not.

Curious issue. Stovepipe generally indicates short stroking. Double feed depends on what exactly you mean. I assume you mean feeding a live round into the back of a chambered spent round.

So it sounds like extraction issues. The P7 is a gas delayed blowback. The gas cylinder is to slow the slide down, contrary to a gas system on many rifles that actually cycles them. So a fouled gas system would mean the slide isn’t slowed. One would think that would make more forceful extraction, not less.

Now in many firearms, delay systems are used to give time for pressures to drop to allow for brass to retract a bit after expanding and facilitate extraction. But the P7 also uses a fluted chamber to ease extraction in another way. They say the P7 should extract even with a missing extractor.

Either way, I would say clean the gas chamber and piston. Maybe it’s clogged and not slowing the slide, which is making cases stick because they’re still under pressure as extraction begins. On the other hand, maybe there’s buildup that’s sealing the cylinder too well, slowing the slide too much.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimmo952:

I would not shoot non jacketed bullets through this gun.

Always used jacketed, so that's not the problem.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
I've never experience that. I guess because I'm a meticulous gun cleaner. How many rounds would you estimate to go from clean cylinder to malfunctions?

The number of rounds before cleaning of the cylinder is required depends on how dirty the propellant is for the load being fired. Even with dirty factory ammo you shouldn't see a problem before a couple of hundred rounds.

IIRC the P7 does have a lower round count between cleanings - 400? I've seen it discussed.

Another issue OP describes is the requirement to use NATO level ammo. Most guns have a specific power requirement, but most ammo makers offer cheaper fodder that is well below that standard and using it will cause issues with reliable cycling. It's a common complaint when the new owner of a "milspec" AR15 runs white box discount ammo during break in and discovers they got what they paid for.

A lot of smaller framed firearms require minimum power levels and one thing reviewers deliberately do is run some of the least expensive (and noxious) ammo they have on hand to see how it will handle it. It's usually no surprise it acts up.

I have never experienced any issue with my P7 PSP. That being said, aside from cleaning it, I'd change the recoil spring as you might have excessive slide speed causing the stovepipes. Mine really likes 124 grain Federal FMJ's. I've never tried any type of defence cartridge in it.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
I have had occasional feeding / ejection problems with my H&K P7, which might be ammunition-related.

The owners manual is somewhat vague about ammunition recommendations other than specifying "good quality, at least 100 gr, jacketed."

I can not remember the source, but I believe that I heard that the P7 was designed for 124 gr NATO, which is jacketed round-nose with a powder charge that is similar to +P. Can anybody verify this? Or make an ammunition recommendation based on experience?

James, owner of Teufelschund Tactical, is THE P7 guru. I remember him advising that only standard pressure 9mm be fired in the P7 platform. No plus P or Nato spec rounds. I would contact him with questions. I only feed my P7 stars pressure 124gr FMJs or HPs and have had no issues whatsoever. Good Luck.