HK P9S - Anyone got experience with them?

[Moo Moo]

Hi everyone.

A LGS in Queensland, Australia, has a HK P9S for sale for $500 AU Dollars (About $400 USD). The condition isn't listed but I've attached the dealers photos. This one has an extended barrel to get past out regular Category H Target Handgun laws (autos must be over 5"/120mm).

Before I go making further inquiries, just wondering if anyone had any experience or could provide any feedback on these guns.
The gun itself wasn't on my original Wanted List but I thought it might make an interesting acquisition. Fred Dryer use to carry one on TV show "Hunter".

http://smith-wessonforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=416974&stc=1&d=1571032939

Thanks.

 

[Andyd]

The HK P9S uses the roller locking system that was patented by Rheinmetall in the MG 42 and found also use in the Cetme rifle, causing Cetme to be sued for patent infringement and H&K to build the G3.

This locking system is working very well and the pistols have great mechanical accuracy. The pictured gun does not have a trigger stop. The barrel should have polygonal rifling and be calibre and HK manufacturer marked on top of the chamber - I write that since I have never seen a P9S with a long barrel that was not a P9S Sport with the slide extension and the front sight on top of that. If it is an original HK barrel, I think that it is a great buy. These guns are very, very well made and the only thing that you need to do is changing the buffer.

The P9S was also shown in the Miami Vice movie with Bruce Willis.

 

[s&wchad]

I never owned one, but that would be a great price in the US. They seem to start at about $900 and can top 2K.

The only bad HK I ever owned was a VP70. The trigger pull was off the charts and close to 20 lbs. They held 19 rounds and by the time you emptied a magazine, your trigger finger was cramping up!

 

[murphydog]

It's a great deal as mentioned above, if you want one (and can find magazines and other accessories for it).

 

[Absalom]

Great deal? For the US market, that would be an insanely low price even for a heavily worn police trade-in. Nothing under four digits these days unless you get very lucky.

Of course fundamentally different conditions apply in foreign countries. In Europe you can buy Walther PPK’s in very good condition for a few hundred

 

[colt_saa]

That is a fantastic price

The P9S was manufactured in both 9MM and 45ACP. I currently own one in 45

Like most fixed barrel auto loading pistols, they have superb accuracy. They are also very easy to suppress since a Nielsen device is not necessary

I would jump on that one if it was available to me and then thread the barrel

 

[4T5GUY]

Like you are already being told, yes that is a great price. The extended barrel is somewhat sought after just by itself and with the adjustable rear sights it will be very accurate.

I waited a long time for one in the Sports Group III package. It’s 9mm but it is an extremely accurate pistol. If you do get it plan on getting a replacement buffer, (s.) After time they get brittle but they are still available for now so get a few.

Jim

 

[Rock185]

The P9/P9S are unusual pistols, but typical HK quality. I've had several over the last 30 years or so, standard and Target P9S models,.45 and 9MM, and a 9MM P9. Once even had a consecutive pair of 9MM Target models. Most of mine were pretty picky about what ammo would digest, but accuracy was,of course, very good. Especially the Target models with better sights and trigger. I would pay $500 in a heart beat for the pistol your considering.

I still have the P9, the only one I'd ever seen for sale at the time, 20 some years ago. I only knew there was a SAO P9 version because of an article Jeff Cooper wrote back in the day. Glad I kept that one at least

 

[6string]

I had a good friend that owned the target model in 45 ACP. I worked with him at length to get it usable as a Bullseye pistol for the 45 match.
Forget It!
As a target pistol, it's pretty poor. The trigger and ergonomics are terrible. Sight acquisition, the trigger pivot & angle, and recovery from recoil made it very difficult to use. It was also unreliable with a range of conventional target loads.
Being an obsolete gun makes it a questionable choice, too, should parts/service be needed. The design makes it difficult to even have a gunsmith or machinist fabricate a part.

In the USA, most shooters have it pretty easy to buy, sell, trade, and otherwise accumulate stuff they really don't need. They're just toys.
If you live in a country where each purchase is an ordeal, with licensing, bureaucratic hoops to jump through, the need to establish "legitimate" use, you really have to put more thought into such matters. Most Americans don't get it. The parts & service issue just makes things worse. And, if you have quantity limitations, there's no sense in wasting it on a dud.
That's why expensive Korths and Manhurin revolvers, which are not just serious investments but high performance instruments likely to give a lifetime of trouble-free service, are better appreciated in places like Europe than they are Stateside.

Under the conditions, I suspect Hunter (Fred Dryer) would say:
"Doesn't work for me!"

Jim

 

[Andyd]

Jim,

my P9S was a former West German Bundesgrenzschutz pistol and had great mechanical accuracy. While the double action pull was terribly long and made the use of the trigger stop impossible ( that is why it can be swung out of place), the single action trigger characteristics were great. I had great accuracy and reliability with a variety of FMJ ammo and Blazer aluminium ammo performed surprisingly well.

I actually had owned that P9S in Germany and shot it in DSB competitions, I gave it to my best friend, who had crossed the pond to be my best man, when I left the old world and had taught his son the basics of pistol shooting with it when I was visiting.

I recently bought a P9S Sport with a standard upper conversion as a replacement.

One of the reasons, why the Korth is so common in Germany, is found in the 1969 Hebsacker catalogue.

Korth Sport .22 l.r. .................DM 569,--
Korth Sport .357 Magnum .......DM 614,--
Officers Model Match .22 l.r. ....DM 742,--
Officers Model Match .38 Spec. DM 707,--
S&W M17 .22 l.r.....................DM 533
S&W M14 .38 Spec. ...............DM 518,--

I own a few Korths from 1969, a 1962 Colt OMM and 1952 S&W K-22, as well as S&W M14. All of those have about the same mechanical accuracy potential.

Vendor photo:

 

[Moo Moo]

Thanks for all the feedback.

 

[Daimler1989]

Hi,

I don't own a P9S, but I regularly use one - for shooting by myself as well as teaching the candidates for a game hunting license over here in Germany.

Here is what I learned about the P9S over the past years: great SA trigger, very high accuracy potential, easy to use. Those boys and girls (ususally between 15 and 68 years old), who mostly have NO idea and NO experience at all of how to shoot a handgun, often are able to put five rounds into a beer mat at 10 meters after a basical isntruction. Which says much about it's overall qualities. Only flaw I see is the recoil bumper, which becomes increasingly difficult to obtain.

regards from Germany
Ulrich

 

[6string]

Jim,

my P9S was a former West German Bundesgrenzschutz pistol and had great mechanical accuracy. While the double action pull was terribly long and made the use of the trigger stop impossible ( that is why it can be swung out of place), the single action trigger characteristics were great. I had great accuracy and reliability with a variety of FMJ ammo and Blazer aluminium ammo performed surprisingly well.

I actually had owned that P9S in Germany and shot it in DSB competitions, I gave it to my best friend, who had crossed the pond to be my best man, when I left the old world and had taught his son the basics of pistol shooting with it when I was visiting.

I recently bought a P9S Sport with a standard upper conversion as a replacement.

One of the reasons, why the Korth is so common in Germany, is found in the 1969 Hebsacker catalogue.

Korth Sport .22 l.r. .................DM 569,--
Korth Sport .357 Magnum .......DM 614,--
Officers Model Match .22 l.r. ....DM 742,--
Officers Model Match .38 Spec. DM 707,--
S&W M17 .22 l.r.....................DM 533
S&W M14 .38 Spec. ...............DM 518,--

I own a few Korths from 1969, a 1962 Colt OMM and 1952 S&W K-22, as well as S&W M14. All of those have about the same mechanical accuracy potential.

Vendor photo:

Wow, that is an interesting and stark contrast!
Initially, I was really excited about the prospect of discovering a 1911 alternative for the 45 match. As our project wore on, it just seemed more and more that the H&K P9S wasn't it.
When the Pardini GT45 came out a couple yrs later, it was obvious that they had put the effort into building what is much more of a true target pistol.
In retrospect, maybe a comparison of the H&K to an enhanced service pistol (something like the SIG P226) would be more in order?
Unfortunately, even at that, I see that the H&K P9S doesn't make the approved service pistol list for the Civilian Marksmanship Program. So, in a way, it's "neither fish nor fowl".

Jim

 

[texmex]

My father had one in 45. He could hit a soda can at 50 yards with it every time. It has a cocking/decocking lever that allows you to shoot it in single action mode which is very accurate. I'd say, go for it.