I have always been intrigued by these guns and finally found one. I haven't been to the range yet but I'm looking forward to giving it a try.
Sorry, I can't figure out how to post full sized photos. Click on them and they will enlarge

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That's a beautiful piece...and on my gun bucket list

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USS Brewton FF1086
SWCA#3597

Ditto. My uncle has one that he's going to sell me the next time I get home. Can't wait!

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I had two, until my son turned 21 and took his back to college. You will enjoy it.

That is very nice.

These are impressively accurate pistols. As you probably know, they do get warm during rapid fire of multiple magazines full of ammunition

I am in the process of fitting a set of the NILLs grips to mine. As you can see the plastic has become discolored from various solvents.
This one survived a 8000 foot fall many years ago. The Desert Eagle that was with it was unrepairable. However the HK could be fired right after the accident.

Mine loves 124 gr ammo, but 115 isn't any slouch either. Nice aftermarket grips and the bluing looks great. Did yours come with ALL of the tools? Mine is missing the piston scraper.
As a LH, it is THE most ambi gun I have ever seen or owned. Lots of fun to shoot; makes a nice carry gun if you don't feel the need to have a mag with a bazillion rounds in it.

A masterpiece of engineering and design. You will love shooting it.

Mine was affordable to me due to the slide turning that slightly plum color some acquired. I don't find it objectionable at all, and of course, the function is unaffected.

One caution is that low bore axis means that a shooter with a generous amount of skin between the thumb and forefinger might get "bit." (don't ask me how I discovered this). Since I'm pretty much ten pounds in a five pound sack, it is something I watch now.

That fixed barrel seems to make it inherently accurate and it is a real joy to shoot.

Congratulations on a wonderful find!

Mine was missing the scraper as well but I was able to find one online.

I've had one for years and they are very nice pistols and becoming more valuable year by year. Mine is in the queue with Jim Downing to get scratched on.

The teutonic stapler! Interesting guns.

The dust shield tends to get hot when shooting. Just an FYI

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Back when I was an international police officer in Kosovo, my station commander was a LT in the German police and he was armed with one. I volunteered to clean his while he was home on leave. Of course, the week he was gone I was a range officer with unlimited ammo.

His pistol was very accurate. I did clean it up for him by the time he got back.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Edit to add: the OP shared the circumstances and I withdraw the question.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

The only photo I have of our pistols together.

You beat me to it murphydog!

Only fault I've found with mine is 75-dollar magazines.

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I always take precautions

Ain't that the truth. I've accumulated 5 extras over the years and they don't come cheap.

Got one years back when they were coming in as German police surplus.
A design ahead of it's time. Have often thought if they'd have found a way to reduce weight it might have had a longer run.
I ended up with a great scabbard style holster by Haugen Gunleather. The way the pistol is weighted, it's difficult to find a quality, comfortable holster.

For those cleaning the gas tube - a .270 bore brush with solvent is about perfect.
It is a 9mm that truly shoots like a rifle.

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Ret'd LEO
SWCA #2275

I use the 270 brush, but it with the steel nib on the end, it doesn't get the very end of the tube; a patch with solvent helps, but the scraper really does the best job. Last one I saw was something like $35 and it was plastic......

Very nice! I had one of the older models with the heel mag latch. I regret to this day selling it. Enjoy that one!

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Stay safe people!

I really want one in nickel with the wood Nills grips. Like so many on the list, rare and those that have one almost always know that.

I carry a P7 M8 nearly every day in a Snubbyfan holster. As earlier posters remarked, the ultimate LH pistol and it gets a little warm if you make a full day at the range . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

I used one for years as a duty gun. I don't think I ever had a malfunction in thousands of rounds. It also did well with lead bullets but the gas tube did have to be scraped. Heating was never a problem.

Had mine for close to 30 years-never had a malfunction either!!

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Good shooting.

I think the P7 was way ahead of its time. Very compact, easy for the owner to use, but confusing for a "snatcher." Slide retracts easily, low bore for less up-kick. Drop the slide quickly after a new mag is inserted with just a squeeze on the grip. I've owned this one for a number of years, complete with box, instructions and tools. Incredibly reliable and accurate. It formerly belonged to a police unit in Niedersachen (Lower Saxony) and apparently saw little or no use.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

I have trouble switching from a cap gun trigger [striker fired] to a 1911 then to a DA/SA 9mm. I am not sure of the practice regimen I would need if it were not my EDC.

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Front sight and squeeze

I had two P7's at one point. Nice carry guns. The size of a Makarov, yet in 9mm.

One thing to keep an eye out for: watch the welds that hold the breech block inside the slide. Tiny cracks can be seen in those welds on the earliest P7 models (I believe IB code and earlier, or earlier than 1982.

Now, I have read sources that said HK Germany is aware of those early cracks in the welds, and that they are due to the welds expanding then cooling too quickly, and they do not jeopardize the function of the pistol.

Also: keep in mind that there are three ways the gun will fire. 1) squeeze the cocker, then pull the trigger. 2) Pull trigger, then squeeze the cocker. 3) Squeeze cocker and pull trigger simultaneously.

Apparently in the 80's, the NJSP had several cases of holes in the foot because they mixed up these sequences on their P7M8. I read of one case wherein a Trooper shot himself TWICE in the foot with the P7.

It's a VERY SAFE PISTOL once you master the manual of arms.

Congrats sailor, hope you enjoy it. Mr. Hackathorn described these years ago as, "the Porsche of pistols". I think that might be an apt analogy. I have the P7M8 version now, but used to have one just like yours. Bought mine new back in the '80s, and ordered an extra magazine at the time. Thought it would depreciate like most everything else I buy, and had little idea the prices of these guns and magazines would go the other way. Totally reliable and more accurate than their compact size might suggest. I have on occasion, been able to shoots groups as about small from the bench with the P7 as with the SIG 210. It's harder to do because of the smaller size of the P7, but the intrinsic accuracy is sure there. Seems to be a lot of people who really dislike these pistols,e.g., too heavy, too big, holds too little ammo, different manual of arms, costs too much,etc,etc. Think I'll keep mine anyway.

Come to think of it, I've seen some similar complaints about S&W semi-autos,1911s and 210s. Think I'll keep them too

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NRA Life, COTEP 640

Mine is a police surplus as well....also Lower Saxony

Congrats to the OP and all of the rest of you lucky enough to own one of these. It's on my short, short list of guns I want before I check out but so far I haven't come close to getting one.

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BCCI Life Member #2068

I picked up a PSP a few years back during the run of imports as well. Great gun, though mine isn't as clean as some of yours - but at $475 I think I did just fine. Wish I could say the same for the 3 extra mags I recently picked up - they are not cheap when you can find them. I've always wanted a P7K3 in 380, would make a fantastic carry gun, but they just bring too much money. Way out of my pocket book's range anyways. One of these days I'll get around to having this one hard chromed, until then I'll just keep on eating the center of out targets with it.

If you are wearing that one, better have a good holster and belt. Don't want to sag on one
side. Good shooting piece.

About 2008 I started receiving requests for holsters, obviously due to the recent importation of P7-PSP pistols from German police agency trade-ins. Order volume was sufficient to justify purchasing one (about $550 in box with spare mag, tools, and manual), and I completed several dozen holster orders with the P7 over the next couple of years.

Took the opportunity to do some range work with the HK P7. Overall impressions: very easy to shoot well, nicely balanced, easily controlled, very accurate. Detracting factors: holding the cocking lever down for extended periods is tiring, long transition period of training when going from any other pistol platform to the HK P7 design, annoying problem of superheated gas passing through the frame trigger recess directly onto the trigger finger during multiple rapid fire drills (OUCH!!!).

From a holster maker's standpoint, the P7-PSP (and later P7-M8 and P7-M13) all share some characteristics that can create problems: Heavy for the size and caliber. Weight distribution is heavily into the grip-frame, and the overall size (short, compact pistol) does not work well with many holster designs. In short, a great shooting pistol, a finely engineered defensive pistol, but not an easy pistol to carry comfortably and discreetly while also being ready to deploy rapidly.

Anyway, holster demand dried up after a couple of years, the P7-PSP languished in the gun safe for a couple more years, then I noticed that demand remained strong while low-priced German trade-in pistols had disappeared, so my $550 P7-PSP went away for well over a thousand bucks.

I took the money and ran.

They are well north of $2K here in Canada now. I actually saw a nice P7 PSP in the box with spare mag and tools go for $3450 +15% buyers premium at an online auction out of Ontario about a week ago. That seemed like crazy money to me but I guess the market decides what the value is..

LoboGunLeather......true statements

I agree with most of what you say. I carried a P7 nearly everyday for probably at least a year, even taking it on vacations.

I always wore a gun belt and a quality thumbreak leather holster. In that set up, the P7 was *very* easy to carry. Since it was so short from grip frame to muzzle, my cover shirt could be short and it wouldn't show. It was flat and every discrete.

The gun would get HOT very quickly. I think compared to today's guns, they are not up to the higher round counts. 1911's can go 50,000 rounds or more, glocks go 100,000, a beretta M9 can go 35,000 rounds. I believe an Armour of the NJSP who worked on the P7's has written somewhere that the P7 was good for about 15,000 rounds, and then it was toast. The main reason the NJSP had to transition away from the P7 was due to the pistols being worn out (the average Trooper's P7 had 14,000 rounds through it by the time they decided to change guns). Parts were breaking, and the death of a Trooper due to a P7's firing pin bushing breaking during a gunfight prompted the move away from the P7).

The heat buildup in the frame probably wasn't good for long term durability of all the metal parts.

Still a great pistol. I love the look.

I thought the P7s at CDNN were too expensive when they had a stack of them for sale. Crow tastes nasty no matter how much salsa you add.

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Release the Kraken

The P7 heel release models, police trade ins, go for no less than 1,500 bucks.

The P7M8's go no less than 2,200, and the P7M13 will be at least 3,000.

Prices are crazy on these.

Mine has been my home defense pistol for 11 years now. No...... it isn't for sale!

It is laser beam accurate & feeds anything. It may be the finest 9mm ever produced.

Best,
Charles

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I have owned both the PSP and P7-M8 in the past. I am still kicking myself in the you know what for trading them off in my younger days! They were both lightweight and super accurate with any handload or factory load I fed them. The PSP I had saw over 4000 rounds of +P handloads. I would love to have them both back these days.

There are two versions with the Euro-release on the heel. One with the switch clearly exposed in profile view, and one which is contoured flush with the curve of the heel. The latter is preferred for carry. I've had both of them, and the American version. The exposed heel release would pop my mag loose as it hit the kidney bolsters of my bucket seat. The American one popped loose as the seat belt retracted across it. (I think that was in a DeSantis pancake rig ?) Rather disconcerting in either circumstance, LOL.

Here's one more thing to watch for on these: There has been a few reported cases of P7 (all versions) doing the following: Squeeze cocker, finger OFF trigger, release cocker, gun fires.

This happens with P7's with high round counts, when a particular part inside the gun wears and breaks. When releasing the cocking lever, always double check that the muzzle is pointed in a direction where a hole would be tolerable.