HK: LEM versus DA/SA.

Which trigger system do you prefer?

  • LEM

    Votes: 10 40.0%

  • DA/SA

    Votes: 15 60.0%
  • Total voters
    25
  • Poll closed .
T

Tactical Jackalope

New member
Hello, I'd just like to know what everyone's individual opinion on one versus the other when it comes to HKs LEM versus their standard DA/SA triggers.

I'd honestly really would like to only hear from those who have tried them both, specifically. Bonus points for having tried them on the P30 Series.

What is your preference and why?
 
We are issued .40 P2000s with LEM triggers... guns are accurate, and I can easily connect with it. However, I rather opt for striker or DA/SA. Just what I shot most of my life, and I don’t see much of a benefit of LEM over either.

If that legislation ever comes through allowing Federal L/E to purchase retired sidearms... I’d buy my gun without hesitation. I got it brand new, and was what I went through FLETC with. But if I were going to buy another H&K... the LEM trigger wouldn’t be on top of the list. Probably would just sell all the holsters and move on.

That being said, if that legislation change does happen... I’d buy the next Glock 47 just the same.
 
I really like my Glock. It's a great gun. I hope CBP moves to Glock already. The configuration of weapons that feds pick up are always strange. Like DAK or DAO triggers are less than optimal trigger system in comparison.

LEM is a very similar manual of arms as a striker-fired pistol. Which intrigues me. I keep evolving as a shooter and sometimes have to try the same thing out a few times over to really appreciate or understand it.
 
I own a P30SK LEM and DA/SA P30L and HK45. While I like the LEM for CCW I prefer DA/SA for range and home self defense needs like I have with the P30L and HK45.

The take up on LEM is super super long, but light, which is by design and some like it and some don't. I was able to try out a P30 LEM at the range before I made my purchase and highly recommend that anyone else considering LEM do the same if possible. For CCW I like that I can thumb the hammer when holstering. I can shoot DA well with two handed hold but not near as well with one handed hold and the LEM gets rid of the heavy DA pull. I had also read reports that the DA pull on the P30SK was pretty rough. There are hammer springs for the P30/P30L, I use Wolff 10LB in my P30L along with the HK new lighter style FPBS, that can lighten and smooth DA trigger pull nicely but no other hammer springs are available for the P30SK though some will simply cut a P30 hammer spring down to the size of a P30SK hammer spring but not sure how that works out and what long term reliability would be.
 
The LEM trigger variant is definitely a great way to go, the take-up & reset of a LEM trigger is different compared to most other trigger setups you can think of. Since there is practically no wall before the trigger break, the trigger breaks with a bit of a surprise which is a good thing to keep your shots on target. I shoot Glocks a lot so I needed to avoid prepping or staging the LEM trigger, which was part of getting used to it with practice.

HK can convert the USP models from SA/DA to LEM, but they don’t convert the P30, P2000, or the HK45 models. But I like the HK decocker button and I like the ability to thumb cock the hammer while I’m drawing the gun from the holster. The LEM trigger variants do not have a spur hammer or a decocker. So I’ll keep my P30 and P2000, both with the v3 SA/DA trigger variant. But a lot of people like the LEM trigger variant, so it really comes down to personal preference.
 
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Yes. I spoke to HK through my social media platform and they can do it themselves. But it's a pain in the rear to get them to do it for you unless you have 100k+ followers or are their ambassador. lol, we chat and shoot the sh but nothing crazy.

Teufelshund Tactical and Lazy Wolf Guns both can do it.

I just want to try one out again and see if I liked it and or remember why I didn't.

My current setup is a 10lbs Match hammer, nickel plated sear spring, trigger spring, and Gray Guns Short Reset Kit.

It's *nicer* but it won't be a cleaned SIG Sauer or CZ DA/SA trigger. Which was honestly what I was hoping for.
 
I much prefer a consistent trigger over DA/SA and find HK triggers particularly repugnant (compared to Sig or CZ or Walther P99, for instance). The LEM, or better yet the light LEM (not available on the P30 I think? Maybe it is) are pretty OK in my eyes, especially on a carry gun.
 
jr24, I'm thinking the same thing.

The P30L in my eyes is a 9/10. If that trigger would have been like a SIG or CZ, it'll easily be the perfect gun becoming a 10/10.

I even carried my Glock 17 for a few weeks after a range session because the trigger was that much nicer to me. And it's all stock except for the trigger shoe.

The Light LEM can be installed as well. I also heard about an LEM 4.1? What is that?
 
Tactical Jackalope said:
Yes. I spoke to HK through my social media platform and they can do it themselves. But it's a pain in the rear to get them to do it for you unless you have 100k+ followers or are their ambassador. lol, we chat and shoot the sh but nothing crazy.

Teufelshund Tactical and Lazy Wolf Guns both can do it.

I just want to try one out again and see if I liked it and or remember why I didn't.

My current setup is a 10lbs Match hammer, nickel plated sear spring, trigger spring, and Gray Guns Short Reset Kit.

It's *nicer* but it won't be a cleaned SIG Sauer or CZ DA/SA trigger. Which was honestly what I was hoping for.
Click to expand...

Your social media platform? You created a social media platform? Impressive. All I can do is open accounts to share with friends.

I always found LEM a solution in search of a problem. To me it's meant to offset the difficulties of shooting DA/SA. The best way to offset those is to shoot more. Now granted LEM doesn't require you to release a trigger fully like other DAO options, but I've never found it to result in as nice a trigger as striker fired. Back when I trolled HKPro the people there treated LEM like it was the true shooter's choice, right until the VP9 came out and many of them jumped ship. On my LEM P2000 I did the Todd Green special and still wasn't impressed. To me the DAO hammer fired options were stop gaps to compete in a large part with Glock. After a while Beretta, SIG, HK, FN, CZ, etc all came out with polymer framed striker fired options (HK and CZ had options earlier, but those weren't commercial successes). I still remember when DAK was a thing that was pushed at the SIG Sauer Academy. Now I don't think SIG even makes a DAK model anymore.

LEM 4.1, IIRC, reduces some of the travel on the trigger by keeping the hammer cocked back ever so slightly. There were kits on HKparts and even from HK themselves I believe. I never tried it, though it sounds interesting. It was in Europe for some time beforehand and people liked it there. By the time it came over here I believe the VP9 was already out so it sort of missed its time in the US, though there are still advocates. There are threads on HKPro explaining it better than I can.

In the end even a USP with a match kit isn't as nice to me as a SIG with GGI parts. Last I checked HK never deigned to offer a match trigger kit for the P series pistols in the US market. It wasn't particularly surprising as they never cared as much about the civilian side of things. Then their stock was downgraded twice by Moody's over concerns of cash flow issues and then it seemed to me like HK-USA finally got the chance to do something (prices came down, the website was updated from the school project it once was, and civilian marketing went from nothing to something). Now HK has a number of large military contracts so I doubt we'll ever see that match kit. But we did get a gimped MP5 import. I kid.

I've owned more polymer framed HKs than anything else, probably over a dozen. I love the ergos and they run like Swiss watches, but great triggers isn't something that is their forte. When I started outrunning the triggers on timed drills, I threw in the towel.

Sorry for the rambling.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
 
TunnelRat, you don't know how much I appreciate that post.

I completely agree with you in that the "Match" trigger feels only slightly worked on compared to factory. It was the weirdest $150 I've ever spent.

Also, yes. DA/SA was all I would shoot and it was never even a second of thought. Now, with that unlimited range time being gone I notice that the gaps in between range sessions, training sessions, etc are much wider. So there is a difference in how I am with DA/SA compared to before because I have less time.

Good observation on timing. LEM did seem to want to give a "striker-fired feel" to a hammer-fired gun. I guess the better and less awkward option is sticking to DA/SA or striker systems. I had a friend mention that as his gripe with LEM. That he feels he has to only shoot LEM and it messes him up to other more standard firing mechanisms.

I'm spoiled by SIG Sauer pistols that were highly broken in and fitted with GGI parts. I can't bounce back from those as my standard on what a DA/SA pistol was for me for 20/10 years, depending on when you want to count from. Faily, I'd say 10.


No apologies necessary.

I'm going to leave it alone. Already put enough money into it with minimal results. Still one of my favorite guns.
 
I voted LEM, though after carrying one on/off duty for about 14 years I switched to Glocks when I retired. I found the LEM difficult to shoot as good as I can shoot a Glock with out really trying. My duty gun I had 15,000 rounds thru. I tried to like the DA/SA when they were new in the 1970's and still kept going back to 1911's and DA revolvers for decades.
 
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