Another insane GunBroker auction

[RevolverRob]

First time I shot a P7 was much like the first time I shot a P9S. I didn't get the fanfare love of the guns and all this time later I still don't.

I like USPs, P30s, and HK45s - those I get. Overbuilt, rugged, ugly, but functional and usable for hundreds of thousands of rounds, with almost disgusting levels of reliability and accuracy. Those are the HKs I like.

The silly footnote in the history of handguns, called the P7 is, I think, supremely overrated. Why would anyone want some ridiculous, low volume, gun that you can't fix and is incredibly rare?

Oh well, off to go shop Gunbroker for a Registered Magnum or a 3" Colt Python.

[TGS]

When you compare the P7 against the other similarly sized options of its heyday, I think it was a pretty compelling gun.

When you compare the P7 against modern guns on modern high-volume firing schedules, it certainly falls short......but so does everything else from its genre like the P5 and P6, both of which were significantly larger. If you wanted something P7 sized, you generally had to move down to 380.

Personally I never liked the ergonomics of squeeze-cocking mechanism, but man did that gun shoot like a laser. I think most people buy them these days for collector reasons, not as practical carry choices....even on HKPRO. They're certainly an interesting design, if you're the sort of person inclined to appreciate such matters.

@Rex G, didn't you use one as your stake out gun a few decades ago? What were the reasons you chose it over other pieces?

[LittleLebowski]

I don’t get it.

[Rex G]

When you compare the P7 against the other similarly sized options of its heyday, I think it was a pretty compelling gun.

When you compare the P7 against modern guns on modern high-volume firing schedules, it certainly falls short......but so does everything else from its genre like the P5 and P6, both of which were significantly larger. If you wanted something P7 sized, you generally had to move down to 380.

Personally I never liked the ergonomics of squeeze-cocking mechanism, but man did that gun shoot like a laser. I think most people buy them these days for collector reasons, not as practical carry choices....even on HKPRO. They're certainly an interesting design, if you're the sort of person inclined to appreciate such matters.

@Rex G, didn't you use one as your stake out gun a few decades ago? What were the reasons you chose it over other pieces?

I carried my P7 during that stake-out assignment, along with my S&W Model 58, because those were the fightin’ pistols that I had. I had a comfortable shoulder rig for my Model 58, and a decent concealment holster, the Bianchi Askins Avenger, for the P7. (We were in plain clothes. I wore my soft body armor; no “tactical” armore was offered to us.) I may or may not have had my Model 60 snub-gun with me, too, in its usual ankle holster.

Primary, of course, was my Howa-made, S&W-branded Model 3000 pump gun, a very-well-done design copy of the Remington 870, which had an “anti-jam” feature, before one could get a Remington with that feature. In the vernacular of the time, were a “shotgun squad,” though officially, we were simply on a “surveillance assignment.”

All of these were personally-owned weapons, of course.

[Rex G]

The early P7, a.k.a. PSP, did not have the heat shield, that appeared on the later M8 version. The heat transferred from the gas piston, during rapid fire, quickly taught the PSP owner to keep bare fingers and thumbs well away from the area forward of the trigger guard, and even the front portion of the trigger guard, itself. Back then, the thumbs-forward, two-handed grip was not yet in vogue; the P7 was a stand-on-your-hind-legs, shoot-one-handed kind of pistol, that does translate well to the more-modern ways of using the support hand.

[Tensaw]

I personally know a fed LE guy who had his pistol (Glock or something) taken from him and then the bad guy turned it around and shoved it in his face - finger on the trigger. Long, pregnant pause ensued. Instead of shooting him in the face, he merely jacked his car at that point. Fed subsequently bought and carried a P7 under the theory that most crooks would not be familiar with the squeeze cocker and it might provide a window to get the pistol back. Don't know if that theory holds water, but that's what happened.

[Rex G]

The early P7, a.k.a. PSP, did not have the heat shield, that appeared on the later M8 version. The heat transferred from the gas piston, during rapid fire, quickly taught the PSP owner to keep bare fingers and thumbs well away from the area forward of the trigger guard, and even the front portion of the trigger guard, itself. Back then, the thumbs-forward, two-handed grip was not yet in vogue; the P7 was a stand-on-your-hind-legs, shoot-one-handed kind of pistol, that does translate well to the more-modern ways of using the support hand.

I meant to say that the P7 does NOT translate well to the more-modern ways of using the support hand.

[Suvorov]

I think I’d rather blow $30K on Bring a Trailer. Then again, I d have happily spent that much money on a surrendered P35 from Major Winter’s collection that was for auction long ago if I had had the money.