So here we are October of 2020. The world has become a giant amusement park. We have plague world, riot town, the hall of politics and eleventy billion new gun owners and all the souvenirs are sold out. Really kids when you read this ten years from now assuming you are not killed by an asteroid or the sound in the distance isn’t thunder but Godzilla keep in mind 2020 has brought forth a wee bit of unpleasantness. Seriously I saw three guys on horses asking if anybody had seen their buddy on riding the white one. Sigh, so instead of waiting for Stalin to give me a prostate exam next I figured I would burn a little steam by writing another entirely too long “review” of one of my guns. Don’t all clap at once. I am not making you read it, it’s my catharsis dammit you are just along for the ride.
So let’s go back to idyllic time 14 Octobers past. I time where nobody had ever used the words Murder Hornet in a sentence. As young….ish gun nut I was on a mission to collect the whole set and as part of that mission to experience everything there was to offer enter Heckler and Koch. What gun nut doesn’t want to own an HK at least once in their lives? So as I perused the local gun mongers wares I spied a fairly newish offering from HK called the P2000 in the golden caliber of the age .40 S&W, read a book kids it happened. I picked up and it melded to my hand. It was like being gifted a weapon from a long forgotten teutonic God. It also had a magnificent trigger mechanism known as LEM. The LEM was a marvel. A very light trigger, with a long take up for safety and fairly good break. Certainly better than the more pedestrian HK triggers. A pouch of gold later she would be mine. Literally I mean these damn things were EXPENSIVE back in the day, but I mean who REALLY needs TWO testicles.
I brought my new pride and joy home. I cleaned, oiled and marveled at the precision and basked in the awe that comes from owning an HK pistol. I too would soon be that kind of delta bravo. Alas twas not to be. The LEM trigger and I never would see eye to eye. I will link you to my original observations so many years back and leave you with one of my parting thoughts.
“So in my dissapointment I asked myself, "Self, what would John Wayne Do?. That is when I head the voice say...."Pilgrim, get rid of that Kraut Piece of Plastic and get yourself a good ole' American made piece of Walnut and Steel." Well when the duke talks to me I do two things.
1)Refill my prescription of Paxil
2)Listen to what he says.”
https://www.thehighroad.org/in...-a-contender.226513/
The gun that had fit so well and check so many boxes wasn’t to be. On to collecting the rest of the set.
Some 9 years later I was seeing prices drop on the P2000 and I remembered just how good that gun felt and just how many boxes it checked for me and how much I STILL hated the LEM trigger. I was at a bit of transitional point in my defensive firearms and was moving away from striker fired gun and back to DA/SA hammer fired guns like the troglodyte that I am. We are a simple people with simple needs. I figured what the hell, let’s give the old P2000 another go only this time in V3 or DA/SA guise.
Lack of impulse control…..check
Financial Sense of a Democratic Senator….check
Credit card with a limit no one in their right might should have approved for me……check
All systems GO.
So I ordered a .40 caliber V3 P2000 and you know what…………..sometimes you do get a second chance at a first love. Everything I hated about the LEM in the first pistol was gone with the DA/SA of the new pistol. It literally was the “one pistol” so to speak that I was looking for. I mean sure it certainly has an HK trigger and all the baggage that goes with that but for me that is not so much a hurdle and frankly a heavy DA first pull is desirable for me personally. So here we are 14 years later several P2000’s in two calibers and I am doing a review that is frankly 14 years too late.
So this brings me to my observations. HEY I SAID YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO READ THIS! I DON’T WANT TO HEAR "FINALLY!!!"
As always all of my observations are through the lens of this moment in time. They are my personal observations and in no way should they be construed as fact or “right” for everybody or frankly anybody but myself. I am not a gunfighter, I am not a cop, I am not a soldier, I have never been part of any secret squirrel, meat eating outfit, although if I had would I say so……but I digress. I am just a gun geek who has been lucky enough to experience a wide range of firearms and has been blessed to only use them in joy and not anger, may it ever be so. So what I am saying is I am NO subject matter expert. I am just some random idjit on the interwebz and my knowledge and skill is questionable at best. You have been warned. Go to your safe space if need be. All rating will be out of 5, so as Jerry Miculek would say……”HERE WE GO.”
VALUE - 5
In 2006 I gave this a 2 out of 10. It was an $800 plastic pistol. Let’s be honest HK or not. Blessed by Tibetan monks on the backs of naked virgins or not…….that’s just crazy talk. Today however this is a $550-$600ish dollar pistol with a great corporate pedigree, fantastic machining, all steel parts, real sights out of the box and in many cases 3 magazines. In today’s world this is truly a Glock 19 competitor and I believe does a great many things better and if you are one of those troglodytes who prefers a hammer fired pistol then this is an excellent Glock 19/23 alternative.
TRIGGER – 3/4
It’s is an HK double/single action trigger. It is what it is, a combat trigger designed as much for firing the gun when called upon as it is for NOT FIRING the gun when not called upon. It works great with gloved hands and frankly is fairly smooth and not as heavy as you would think. Reset is meh, single action break is meh, but at the end of the day it works for me and isn’t as bad as many folks would have you believe. I know, I know TWO WHOLE TRIGGER PULLS TO LEARN!!!!! I mean TWO!!!!!! There has to be app for that am I right????
I am going to rate this a 3 or a 4, a 3 for the masses and a 4 for me. Crappy triggers speak to me and it is FAR better than the LEM for ME PERSONALLY.Let me just state for the record the LEM trigger system is not inherently flawed or bad or dangerous or broken in any way. It is a perfectly viable product. It just tends to be a love hate affair and I hate it. So plain old, just ok DA/SA is right in my wheel house.
ERGOS - 4
The P2000 is sort of the forgotten red headed step child of the HK line. It is basically a USP Compact with the trigger and overall functionality of the P30. It only has replaceable back straps and has neither the super aggressive checkering of the USP or modularity of the P30. It is however perfect for me. Many folks complain about the slick sides. I personally find them to a huge benefit in carrying and the stippling for an aft provides me plenty of grip. The grip itself is made for actual human hands not life sized Lego MINIFIG hands like a certain competitor who’s name rhymes with a large bird who wakes you up in the morning. I KEED IKEED.
The control are large and fully ambidextrous. I personally like this. The minimalistic controls on a Glock are certainly not a bad thing but I like to have a fairly useable slide lock and release. The controls do not get in my way at all.
The magazine release is a ……… well it’s a come to Jesus type thing. You either love it or you hate. I happen to love paddle style magazine releases for a variety of reasons. Just a hint for those who might not think to do so, use your trigger or middle finger of your shooting hand to drop mags, its blazing fast and doesn’t require a grip change. That said if you hate paddle magazine releases…….well yeah then ERGOS gets a 1 for you.
The overall size of the P2000 is damn near identical to a Glock 19/23 yet FEELS smaller. The melting and rounded edges make it carry far better in my opinion and the grip, as I said actually fits human hands.
RELIABILITY - 5
I have a lots of rounds through 4 P2000’s in 9mm and .40 caliber and don’t think I can remember a stoppage to this point. Everything from powder puff stuff to HOT defensive stuff. That said I always caution those who are buying HK pistols to run a box or three of hotter and or heavier for caliber ammo through them to break them it. They are very tight, sprung heavily and usually have some plastic flashing that will wear off the frame rails. The 9mms especially may not like crappy 115 grain stuff at first, they will break in quickly and may very well not need any break in. Just a little forewarning and experience I have gleaned over the years.
HK magazines, in my experience, are excellent and USPc mags are not that expensive all things considered. No you will not get 144 of them for six bucks and a 12 pack of beer at the local Pep Boys like Glock magazines but they are not stupid money either.
DURABILITY – 5
ANY modern piece of tactical Tupperware is going to be a durable affair. They ride on steel rails, they soak up the recoil impulse in the polymer and most of the gun is fairly impervious to the elements. HK’s rate pretty much all their guns for 20,000 rounds. That isn’t to destruction, that is what they rate the recoil spring assemblies for and that’s pretty fantastic. The barrels are hell for stout and there are plenty of articles of various HKS running eleventy billion rounds through them just like Glocks and M&Ps and and and. The point is a modern polymer pistol is going to last through quite a lot of use.
RECOIL - 4
I think most HK’s tend to handle recoil better then competitive models. Now don’t go into this thinking this a night and day statement and they all feel like .22 magnums, that is not the case. I will say that the P2000 in both 9mm and especially .40 soak up recoil extremely well. You do have to contend with the higher bore axis so you will pay the piper a bit on muzzle flip but it’s nothing to write home about.
ACCURACY - 4
The P2000 is a fairly small, polymer pistol and with that comes a certain skill level needed to shoot them well. Mechanically they are VERY accurate with extremely nice barrels. In practical shooting accuracy for me personally I am more than happy as I can shoot them fairly fast and they point so naturally to me. That said I have neither the skill or knowledge to give any real world feedback accuracy as I may not be at the bottom of the class but I get them soda’s during detention. If anything lets down the practical accuracy it’s the lack of crispness in the trigger. Here are just some random range trips from the years.
CARRY-ABILITY - 5
I am going give this a 5. After many years of carrying and learning what works and what doesn’t I am going to say the P2000 makes a marvelous carry gun and I would go so far to say it does better than its smaller sibling the SK. The gun is melted where it needs to be and has curves that sort of nestle in perfectly, at least for me. The grip offers a full hold while still being unobtrusive with a flat floor plate and comfortable against bare skin. I have said it before but the P2000 FEELS smaller than a comparable Glock 19/23
EFFICIENCY - 2
HK has never been known for their efficiency or size to capacity. The P2000 in stock form gives up 1 round in .40 caliber and 2 rounds in 9mm to a comparable Glock 19/23. It will readily take 13, 15 or 17 round magazines from the P30, however and those do not add a huge amount of bulk. That said stock for stock the P2000 is not as efficient as its rivals. Now does 13 rounds vs 15 rounds make a practical difference? Well more ammo is only bad if you are swimming or on fire, but in my opinion I don’t feel the capacity difference makes for a statistically significant difference. If you find me dead at with my gun at slide stop……..you have my permission to chisel that statistical comment on my stone along with Nelson saying HA HA.
SIGHTS - 3
Today, we have FANTASTIC sight options. Bright colored large front sights, u notches, fiber optics, dots, radar guided heat seeking…..ok I am getting ahead of myself. Out of the box the sights on the P2000 are very good in either stock or night sight guise. They are REAL steel three dot sights. There are aftermarket options of course, but bone stock the sights on a P2000 are perfectly good sights and far better than the dovetail protectors that come on a Glock 19/23. Ok to be fair the GEN 5 Ameriglos are GREAT sights and better then the P2000’s.
FIT AND FINISH – 5+
HK’s make a fantastic product. The metal work, the polymer work, the barrels, the attention to detail, assembly, the magazines, everything has an air of precision and craftsmanship about it. Does any of that matter in the real world????? Not really, but I appreciate it.
TAKE DOWN - 4
Slide slide back a tick, push out slide lock lever, remove slide from frame. No muss, no fuss, no trigger pull, no issues if the trigger is fowled and cannot be pulled for some reason. I very much like this style of take down. I personally prefer it to the NUBS on most striker pistols and like not having to pull the trigger. None of that makes the average striker pistol take down BAD or HARD and in fact for a great many folks they would likely prefer the average striker take down and they are not wrong. At any rate I will give this a 4 only because you have an extra part laying around (The slide lock).
OTHER OBSERVATIONS
As I have said numerous times above the P2000 FEELS smaller than it is. The P30 and VP9 are similar in this regard. For being a fighting sized pistol that is equally at home on the night stand as it is IWB it is a remarkable comfortable pistol to both shoot and carry and those two attributes rarely come together.
I never thought I would associate HK pistols with value but with the current HK pricing model I would argue they are a better value than some competitors.
They are HK and they used to hate you. The reality is I have never had to use HK customer service but I have interacted with them with a few questions on several occasions and they were fast to reply, accurate in their information and a pleasure to deal with. Other folks have had great customer experiences over the last several years. So they might still hate you but at least they are gritting their teeth and hiding it now.
Why the hell would you want a hammer fired DA/SA pistol in 2020? Well because I am a troglodyte, I thought we addressed that. Seriously though for myself personally I find that administrative gun handling is far more likely then gun fighting and I prefer a heavy DA first pull. I also very much prefer the control scheme on most HK pistols. Strikers are easier and cheaper to make, easier to train on, are a more closed system and really the way forward for most folks. There is absolutely nothing wrong with them. I do, however, still feel there is a place for a good old, hammer fired DA/SA gun even in 2020 and although my reasons may not match yours, they are right for me.
Oddly enough I bought a second .40 caliber P2000 some time after the first and I got sequential serial numbers. I found that kind of cool.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The P2000 is my go to handgun for self defense, be it for carry, home defense, repelling boarders riding all the rides in the amusement park we call life right now. Although to most it is the red headed step child of the HK line for me personally, it is more akin to the Goldilocks in the line. Not too big, not too small, not hard to shoot, not hard to carry and will do anything I ask of it safely and reliably all while fitting me like a glove and frankly I can’t ask for more. I am glad I gave first love a second chance.
As always, take care and shoot safe,
Chris
And quit your ‘bitchin…..I told you didn’t have to read it!!
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