My P7M8 bites...

J

JJCII

New member
No really, I was shooting my new (refurbished) P7M8 when the slide made contact with the fleshy part of the top of my hand. Has the ever happened to you? My fear of the slide bite ruined the rest of my shooting with this gun. Before the big bite/s occured I was getting great groups off-hand at 30 ft. shooting American Eagle (Federal) 115 fmj. Any suggestions for modifying my grip? I favor a thumb-over-thumb high position grip which causes the problem.

To make matters worse, the two dot inserts in my rear site were jettisoned after 50 rounds! Should I send it to HK or have a local smith repair the sights?

My recent problems have not tarnished my opinion of this pistol, it still represents the most innovative design in a medium frame pistol in my mind.
 
Your Screwd,

This gun represents a real POS. Overpriced and fragile. Out of the goodness of my heart, I have started a foundation that helps people like yourself. Just send an E-Mail to me and I will arrange for $100 to be sent to you for you P7. Please, don't wait another day, you don't deserve to be burdened with such a terrible gun :).

Seriously,

The biting problem is very rare with the P7. I have small, chunky hands so I have never had trouble with any hold. A friend of mine who has 2 has thin hands with long fingers--he doesn't have trouble. I have seen a few posts here, at HKPRO or at Cult of the P7 dealing with this.

The problem with your sites is a common one with P7's, especially the refurbs. Why? I have no idea. Some say they just masked the sites while hot-blueing it. Some think they were loosend when they were removed for re-blueing. Who knows? A good bud of mine (thefederalistweasel), had this problem with his refurb (but not his 81' PSP). He actually lost his. He found a piece of plastic sprue and filed it down until it just fit in the hole. He then superglued it in and painted it with a dab of white paint. Worked great. Just get some NS from Meprolite for $65 and be done with it.

GHB
 
Thank you for your generous offer Mr. Bell, but I must regretfully decline due to the fact that I have a clue.

I remembered that I had experienced the slide bite problem before with my Glock M-21. I adjusted my grip to pocket the heel of the pistol a bit more toward my thumb. I am going to try this today at the range. Hopefully it'll work as one of the hardest places to attempt weight loss is in the hands. If my new grip doesn't work the pistol will chew away any excess meat, leaving me with a new and improved svelte right hand.

I agree with you on the sites issue, no need to send it back for something as minor as lost dots. My local gunsmith does work on H&K pistols and if he finishes my Kimber in the next couple of weeks, I was going to have the P7 reblued in his QPR Diamond Blue finish. He can fix the sites then. Additionally, I plan to purchase some fancy wood grips and have my initials engraved into the place where the badge number was milled off of the slide. Thanks for the information, I truly appreciate it.

JJCII
 
Sights and bites

On the subject of sights I had one of the white vials pop out of my P7M8 and found that dropping in a couple of drops of white fingernail polish fixed the problem just fine. Just wipe off any excess spillage. You don't need to send it to a gunsmith for that.

Since Mr. Bell's offer was quite miserly I'll generously offer you $150.00 for your P7 and rid you of your problem. I'm due for my one good deed a month as it is so I might as well help out a fellow gun owner. :D

Best

Pete
 
It has been posted that HK will send you new inserts for a nominal or nothing price. It has also been posted that trijicon inserts will directly fit the existing holes.
 
Hmm, I did not notice it until I got home after purchasing a refurb P7 a couple of months ago that my right rear sight had the plastic insert missing and in its place was paint. It wasn't really a big deal except that the center had a hole in it after the paint had dried and cause the entire dot to look dull as coompared to the front and left dots. I had sent HK a letter concerning this and guess what? They sent me a new Genuine HK rear sight at no cost! Now all I need is a good sight adjustment tool to put it on (as well as adjust the sights for other guns).
 
Sorry to hear of your problems. Stinks when you spend $600 + on a gun and it has problems.

Since the refurbs hit the market a year ago, probably 10 percent of the owners have had their white vials pop out of their sight housing. Most just had a local gunsmith specializing in sights epoxy them back in or get some tritium vials direct from HK so you then have night sights.

Of the 200 + members who own P7s on Park Cities and the 200 + members on HKPro, I have never heard of a P7 biting someone. Adjusting your grip may be the answer.

But don't sell it, the refurbs have dried up!
 
Mine bites also, but I'm getting it fixed. On mine, the slide and cocking serrations cut into my thumb. This happens because of the way I hold the gun. My hand position is the same as when I shoot my USP. I ride the safety with my thumb and I grab the gun as high as possible. With the P7, there's no safety to ride, but my thumb is in the same position. It just happens that the slide is also there.

The problem with the sights is common among P7's. P7's are also known to destroy adjustable sights, basically the sight gets ejected off the gun. This is because the slide speed is much higher on the P7 than any other gun out there, also why brass get sent about 30 feet. In addition to glueing the inserts back, you can fill the hole with paint, or mix some epoxy with white pigment (or any other color) and fill in the whole.
 
KO5A,

The bite occurs when shooting using two hands. It does not when I shoot one handed, left or right.

Scooter2,

What are you planning to do to "fix" your P7? At this point I'm trying to adjust my grip, which is difficult since I shoot all autos with the same grip.

Thanks to all for responding to this post.

JJCII
 
possible solution....

JJCII,
My hands are very large..8" x 4"-- very large.
I had the same problem with my German PPK
collection.
Choking down on the grip, adjusting it so
your triger finger is in line with the trigger.
This will help with the straight back trigger pull.
Don't grip the gun so high..
The P7 is cut high along the backstrap, and I find
that I get better accuracy by adopting more of a
PPK grip, ie. choking down.
I have never had a slide bite the web of my hand,
esp. the P7.
Hope this helps.........
 
DAKODAKID,

Sounds like we're in the same boat hand size wise. Thanks for the suggestion. I've tried moving my grip downward on the pistol. This seems to work pretty well, but feels a bit awkward to me right now. Oh well, I'll get used to it.

JJCII
 
Changing your grip maybe fine for the casual shooter. I've tried doing that, but I naturally revert to my original grip. I can't be thinking about how to grip my gun in the middle of a match. Moving your hand downward eliminates the advantages of having a bore that's close to the hand.

JJCII, as for my fix, I'm planning to give my gun to a gunsmith to fill the area around the take down button. He's done this fix before on P7's. You could probably have a beavertail welded to the back end to solve your problem.
 
Moving my grip down works well on my PPK
and also works on my P7, but I find myself
adopting the regular grip on my P7 also without
thinking about it.
My P7 has never bit my hand.
The beaver tail sounds like a nice feature scooter2
Is there any pictures of the P7 with this modification?

The only "problem" I have had with my P7 is that I tend
to pull the trigger too fast which makes me shoot alittle
off. When I slow down with the trigger, the P7 is one of the
most accurate guns I have ever shot.....
 
Scooter2,

Thanks for the suggestion. Now I'm wondering if a set of after-market grips might help with my problem. The P7's grip seems a bit small. Wooden grips might add just enough thickness to pull the fat on my hand out of the way. I was planning to put a nice set of wood grips on this pistol anyway.

JJCII
 
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