I was a dedicated, tithe paying member of the cult. I bought a P7, then an M8 and finally an M10. My buddy offered to sell me his M13 for $350 to help finance his divorce.
Amazingly, I passed on it. And then I eventually sold off all of them. I should be posting this in the worst mistakes thread.
And there was (at that time anyway) a custom smith who would modify the guns to remove the clack. I had my duty P7 so modified. Cant recall his name now.

I've owned 2 P7 and 1 P7M8.
A very cool unique design.
But... heavy and difficult to practice with because they got so bleeping hot.
In 2009 I got a Walther PPS. Went to the range, fired 200 rounds with no discomfort and no hot pistol. Sold the Hks and still have the PPS.
On the other hand If I'd kept all the Hks I could have turned a tidy profit instead of more or less break even.

P7M8 was my first gun, of any kind. As my shooting skills and priorities evolved and changed, I stopped using it. Few years ago I looked at it and couldn't help but wonder how a gun that was "everything right about it" when I bought it became "just about everything wrong about it" a decade after. Sold, no regrets.

I really need to get a picture of mine, but I bought a Grade A used PSP from Top Gun Supply about 10 years ago when they got a sizeable supply from Germany for about $550 and was able to snag 2 more mags for about $90 more.

Best striker trigger I've ever used, but also it's main problem. The trigger shoe is built in a similar way to the P320 where it's a curved piece of metal attached to a horizontal rectangle. Unlike the P320, they didn't round off the corner, so everytime I fire the gun, a sharp corner jabs into finger. I could get a gunsmith to round off the corners, but this gun is the definition of a safe queen and the slide has a nice plum color.

You need an option for multiple P7s.

quote:

Originally posted by YVK:
P7M8 was my first gun, of any kind. As my shooting skills and priorities evolved and changed, I stopped using it. Few years ago I looked at it and couldn't help but wonder how a gun that was "everything right about it" when I bought it became "just about everything wrong about it" a decade after. Sold, no regrets.

Glock happened. And then pistols like Glocks happened.

The P7 suddenly seemed heavy, complicated and overly expensive for what it did.

It still a very interesting design and a testament to those that built it but other designs do simular things more cost effectively.

I had a nickel PSP that was in beautiful shape. I bought it to shoot, and had Kramer make me a nice stiff horsehide pancake holster, bought 5 extra mags, and intended to shoot Steel Plate Matches with it.
I really enjoyed the uniqueness of the design, but after shooting 25 fast rounds per stage the pistol was unbearably hot.
The piston system in the frame above my trigger finger was the cause, and I decided to sell the whole rig and start fresh with an M8.
But after selling it I went back to Glocks.

Have had a P7 for over 10 years now. It has retired to the safe but still makes it to the range bag for some fun every other range trip or so. Really enjoy shooting it and think it is an engineering marvel for its time. Don’t see every moving on, also has been cool watching how plum the slide becomes over the years

I've had half a dozen over the years, bought at great deals but I never keep them. When going rates are what they are on GB, it's hard to justify holding onto them. I always get 2-3x what I paid so I don't feel remorse over parting with them, but I do appreciate the design and legacy.

I got to play with some rare ones in the Gray Room at H&K which was cool.




Here are some I owned.

I had one of the P7K3s like the one in your picture. It was not one of my smarter moves getting rid of it when I did.

The HK stuff of that era reeked of quality. Really well made stuff.

I had three psp’s and an M8 back when they were very low priced. I think I paid $800.00 for the M8 with 4 mags and all the tools.
I sold it right here at sigforum for $1000.00 and thought I did well.
This is the only one I still have, I sure wish I’d kept them all.

I’ve owned a few. Have one left. I carried it as an off duty gun when my kids were small. If it fell out of my holster, even if a kid grabbed it to hand it back to me, I figured they didn’t have the strength to cock it. Actually carried it a duty gun briefly.

Off duty, the only issue I ever had was that it’s a very butt heavy gun. You either need a rigid holster or, a deep riding holster to stabilize it.

And, based on what I see them going for, I may not be an owner much longer.

I've got three P7s that I bought from Cabelas after they imported former police duty weapons from Germany. Two of these I've kept in the same condition (blue steel) as they arrived, with their boxes of tools and a couple magazines each. This one had a finish that was going "purple" and I sent it off to Robbie Barkman for a "Robar" finish. I also had tritium installed in the sights.

I have a P7M8 and a Matt Del Fatti Holster for it.

I never could post pics on this forum

I've got a P7M8. After reading about the PSP for the first time in the American Rifleman Magazine in about 1978 or 1979, I decided I would have to buy one. A lot of things happened but it took till 2007 before I actually bought one! It is date coded AH and from what I understand, is supposed to be one of the last 200 or 250 pieces HK made. It has a lanyard ring (not all of the last ones did IIRC). The P7M8 is a unique compact beauty, but I've never carried it concealed. Price was $1400 NIB in 2007.

I picked up a PSP when CDNN was selling them for $500. I've bought spare magazines, which aren't cheap, and wood grips which also aren't cheap. It's a great gun. The squeeze cocker also works as a safety and slide release. If you have a sufficient grip on the gun to manage the low level of recoil, you cocked the striker. That low level of recoil and flip is because of the low bore axis and weight from the all steel construction. Add in the nice trigger and sights and it is easy to shoot accurately. The gun will eject rounds even without a functioning extractor.

The downsides are the low capacity, the same weight that minimizes the recoil, the rapid heating above the trigger, you can't run cast lead rounds and cleaning the underbarrel cylinder.

Even with its limitations, it is the last HK pistol I wanted to buy.

I was late to the P7 world. Finally bought one (PSP) as more a bucket list purchase than anything else. By then I already knew most if not all of its foibles, so both eyes wide open (more or less) when the deal was done. Financial-wise, apparently I've done well considering what they're going for these days but that wasn't the point when I initially bought it. It scratched an itch then and still does today. Sure it gets toasty hot in too short of a time, but it was never going to be my CCW in the first place. It's lo-cap but so are my P210s. The mags are rather pricey but so are new production VP9 mags (or just as worse, CZ 75B SP-01 mags). I've been pleased as can be with it despite its imperfections.

Would I want another one? Not really, at least at the current going rate. But if I hadn't bought this one that I do have then I probably would seek one out today even at today's lofty pricing. Bucket lists have been known to be expensive, after all.

I owned an M8 in the early 90's and traded it off for a profit. I wish I had held onto it but since I shoot my Sigs and Glocks just as good as I ever did with the HK I don't lose sleep over it.

Forgot to add this to my post yesterday. For a while in the mid 80s, the P7M8 came with the so-called "fat trigger". I really like the look of it but for some reason HK stopped making them. Wonder why it was discontinued? I've even heard about people who have sent their fat trigger pistols back for repairs got them back with the standard triggers installed. Is there an aftermarket fat trigger available?

quote:

Originally posted by kaschi:
I really like the look of it but for some reason HK stopped making them. Wonder why it was discontinued? I've even heard about people who have sent their fat trigger pistols back for repairs got them back with the standard triggers installed

IIRC they were replaced for safety reasons...something to do with the NJSP pistols