I finally was able to see an HKVP70 at a LGS in Fairfax, VA today. They even let me hold it. Price was $1,000. I do not want one for that price but it was fun to hold.

Yeah, neat piece of history but I wouldn’t buy one for $300 unless it could double my cash.

They are a really nice piece of history. My dealer sold me mine for $400 as I'm a good customer. They priced it at $495 originally. At the time there were a couple online for $500ish. There is not a chance you should pay $1000 for one.

Let us know what you thought of the trigger after you finish dry firing it Monday.

You cannot use normal trigger words to describe the trigger and how terrible it is,

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
You cannot use normal trigger words to describe the trigger and how terrible it is,

I could not agree with everyone more since it is an interesting paper weight. Even for $300 or $400 I would have to ask why am I buying one. I like guns that actually want to shoot.

I like historical things. And this is one. You can shoot it, its just annoying in terms of the trigger. I don't put many rounds in my great grandfathers lever gun either but I still like owning it. Hopefully the next person who has mine will also appreciate its history.

You can routinely pick them up on even GB for less than $500. I was interested in them because I like unusual guns and that one sure fit the bill. After hearing so many people talk about how terrible the trigger is with no apparent fix I quit looking.

A trigger that bad ruins any gun for me.

Why would you need a fix. Either you like its history or you don't. The trigger is bad but not unsafe or unusable, but so are lots of other triggers. I like the history. There really aren't too many guns that started an era that you can buy for this cheap.

The last one I passed on locally the shop was asking in the high $300s. This was probably 5 yrs ago. At the time I was certain that he would take less but I couldn't bring myself to spring for it. I'd shot a couple over the decades and hated it each time. So despite its heritage and significance in regards to future handguns that were to follow, it just stunk in the most important (to me) role of the enjoyable shooter.

I've come across the VP70Z a few times since, and it does seem like the asking price had shifted with a northerly trend each time. The most recent one I've seen was an inbound GB auction piece from late last year; the customer's winning bid was just under $700 including shipping, but before transfer fees and state use (sales) tax that would push the final cost to around $800(!). It was a fairly complete package from what I can remember but it was at best in average shape for a gun of its age. The one I passed on years earlier was only the gun and one mag, but it was in much better condition, which was the only motivation I had for even considering it in the first place.

Frankly I don't regret the no-buy; it's not a gun that I would miss if it were to have gone away. YMMV.

The trigger was brought over from the military versions which included a shoulder stock and would shoot three round bursts.
Cool history.
Cooler yet are the P9s series HK's for the money.

quote:

Originally posted by SSAreGreat:

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
You cannot use normal trigger words to describe the trigger and how terrible it is,

I could not agree with everyone more since it is an interesting paper weight. Even for $300 or $400 I would have to ask why am I buying one. I like guns that actually want to shoot.

Actually for 300 USD I would probably add it to my collection although around NoVA I usually do not see such pistols reasonable price.

sold one just south of you maybe a year ago for $650 or so,

like new in the original box (had been shot) with extra mag

quote:

Originally posted by lyman:
sold one just south of you maybe a year ago for $650 or so,

like new in the original box (had been shot) with extra mag

Good info to know Lyman. Wow the used one I saw for 1K seems very overpriced.

A friend of mine had a VP70Z back in the Eighties. The trigger pull reminded me of a toy I had in the Sixties. This was a sort of pre-Airsoft gun which used the spring compression created by pulling the trigger to hurl tiny, Frisbee-like discs. (I also discovered it would hurl pennies, to my younger sister's pain. :-)

I picked up a vp70z chambered in 9x21 from a forum member here years ago with somewhere around 1000 rounds of ammo quite a bit cheaper than $1000...

It’s been said already but $1000 seems pretty overpriced

This weapon was featured in the novel by John Gardner as he started writing the new James Bond novels back 20 years ago. Maybe 30 years ago. Anyway if 007 uses it you should too.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
This weapon was featured in the novel by John Gardner as he started writing the new James Bond novels back 20 years ago. Maybe 30 years ago. Anyway if 007 uses it you should too.

And don’t forget that it was used in the movie Aliens.

I had the 9mm version when it first came out, as I look back upon my experience it was a horrible pistol.

I've fired one a number of times and was completely underwhelmed. It might say H&K on it, but it felt like a fancy Hi-Point with a worse trigger.