Hi all,
Got done shooting today and on a whim I drove by a lgs. To my great surprise a salesman was showing off a LH9 to a customer. Haven't seen one yet in the New England area, was very surprised. I managed to snag it away for a minute or two and here are some initial impressions.
The gun seems very well made, easily as well made as say a 3rd Gen S&W and to me that's a good compliment. The finish seemed very nice and the fit was excellent. Slide was like butter. The grip was a bit thick, but not more so than say a SIG. In fact the grip length was very similar to a P228, but with a lower bore axis. The grip texture was nice and grippy but I see how it might annoy some folks (I like stippling and G10 grips). It's surprisingly light for an alloy gun, think lighter than a P228. That really surprised me. The trigger was nice as well. Decent reset. The DA pull was long and to me heavier than the advertised 10 lbs.
Now on to the Double Action Plus as Lionheart calls it. Folks can look it up for detailed explanation, but in short it's very similar to a Walther P99 AS mode (or the other way around). By cocking the hammer, manually or racking the slide, the user can push the hammer forward. When the trigger is then pulled the length of the pull is similar to DA but the pull weight is more like SA (hammer is pre-cocked as it were). Many folks compare it to a 2-stage trigger, but it's a bit different. At a certain point in the trigger pull the trigger snaps back as the hammer snaps back into SA mode. While you're traveling that full DA distance, a lot of it is very abbreviated due to this spring action. I can see why folks would like this if they don't like long heavy trigger pulls (though why you're buying a DA/SA pistol then is beyond me). I find the snapping back of the trigger to the SA point a bit disconcerting. I can see how it might interrupt the sight picture a tad. I imagine with training it wouldn't be an issue, but I also imagine some time to adjust from typical DA would be required.
My bigger issue is the idea of carrying in Douple Action Plus concealed. Nutnfancy (I know he's not the most liked and I often roll my eyes too, but every once in a while he is right) touched upon this in his review and I agree to an extent. When that hammer is moved back forward into the DA+ mode, it takes very little effort to re-cock the hammer. I mean very little. My imagination can visualize a situation where the hammer gets snagged, even slightly, on clothing or what not if drawing from concealment and the hammer is cocked. Now the trigger is truly SA and the possibility of a negligent discharge goes up. Keep your booger hook off the bangswitch and all that, but this is noticeably different than traditional DA autos or even the Walther P99 AS mode. If the pistol also had a dedicated decocker I'd say to heck with it, but it doesn't. You'd have to lower the hammer manually. I carry hammer guns and I've never had a major snag on the draw, so a part of me says it won't be an issue at all. But again, it takes dramatically less effort to cock the pistol than say a traditional DA auto.
Has anyone else noticed the ease to recock into SA when in DA+, and has anyone had experience carrying this pistol concealed? Lionheart seems to be doing a good job marketing this pistol and I hope it's successful as I think it is a nice gun.
-TR
Got done shooting today and on a whim I drove by a lgs. To my great surprise a salesman was showing off a LH9 to a customer. Haven't seen one yet in the New England area, was very surprised. I managed to snag it away for a minute or two and here are some initial impressions.
The gun seems very well made, easily as well made as say a 3rd Gen S&W and to me that's a good compliment. The finish seemed very nice and the fit was excellent. Slide was like butter. The grip was a bit thick, but not more so than say a SIG. In fact the grip length was very similar to a P228, but with a lower bore axis. The grip texture was nice and grippy but I see how it might annoy some folks (I like stippling and G10 grips). It's surprisingly light for an alloy gun, think lighter than a P228. That really surprised me. The trigger was nice as well. Decent reset. The DA pull was long and to me heavier than the advertised 10 lbs.
Now on to the Double Action Plus as Lionheart calls it. Folks can look it up for detailed explanation, but in short it's very similar to a Walther P99 AS mode (or the other way around). By cocking the hammer, manually or racking the slide, the user can push the hammer forward. When the trigger is then pulled the length of the pull is similar to DA but the pull weight is more like SA (hammer is pre-cocked as it were). Many folks compare it to a 2-stage trigger, but it's a bit different. At a certain point in the trigger pull the trigger snaps back as the hammer snaps back into SA mode. While you're traveling that full DA distance, a lot of it is very abbreviated due to this spring action. I can see why folks would like this if they don't like long heavy trigger pulls (though why you're buying a DA/SA pistol then is beyond me). I find the snapping back of the trigger to the SA point a bit disconcerting. I can see how it might interrupt the sight picture a tad. I imagine with training it wouldn't be an issue, but I also imagine some time to adjust from typical DA would be required.
My bigger issue is the idea of carrying in Douple Action Plus concealed. Nutnfancy (I know he's not the most liked and I often roll my eyes too, but every once in a while he is right) touched upon this in his review and I agree to an extent. When that hammer is moved back forward into the DA+ mode, it takes very little effort to re-cock the hammer. I mean very little. My imagination can visualize a situation where the hammer gets snagged, even slightly, on clothing or what not if drawing from concealment and the hammer is cocked. Now the trigger is truly SA and the possibility of a negligent discharge goes up. Keep your booger hook off the bangswitch and all that, but this is noticeably different than traditional DA autos or even the Walther P99 AS mode. If the pistol also had a dedicated decocker I'd say to heck with it, but it doesn't. You'd have to lower the hammer manually. I carry hammer guns and I've never had a major snag on the draw, so a part of me says it won't be an issue at all. But again, it takes dramatically less effort to cock the pistol than say a traditional DA auto.
Has anyone else noticed the ease to recock into SA when in DA+, and has anyone had experience carrying this pistol concealed? Lionheart seems to be doing a good job marketing this pistol and I hope it's successful as I think it is a nice gun.
-TR
