III. Firearm Information by Type

C. Semi-Automatic Pistols

2. Models and Manufacturers

i. Heckler and Koch

2. HK P7M13

1 General presentation.
 
I learned the existence of the P7M13 more than six years ago, when I
read a book written by a famous French firearms expert [1]. I was
immediately fascinated by the aesthetics, by the compactness and by the
mechanism of the gun.
 
A few months later, I saw one in my usual range. I committed the
terrible mistake to ask its owner to let me try it. I did still
resist to more weeks. Then, I visited my gunsmith to buy one.
 
Now, I own my P7M13 since a bit more than six years, and I did
never regret a single cent of the $1000 I had to pay to bring
this gun back home.
 
2 Description
 
This gun is one of the most compact 13 shots 9x19 on the market.
despite its compactness it is rather heavy. It is almost entirely
made of forged steel.
 
the P7M13 looks very smooth. There's very little control levers
around it and all the contours have been rounded for easy of draw 
and carry.
 
The P7M13 is one of the very rare simple blowback 9x19. The only other
one that I know is the Astra 400 of WWII. To slow the recoil of the
slide, the P7 uses a stiff recoil spring and a gas chamber. A piston
fixed to the muzzle end of the slide lies in this chamber. combustion
gas is taken from the chamber and exerts a strong pressure on the piston
delaying the recoil of the slide.
 
Despite the gas delaying, the recoil of the slide is one of the most
violent of all the 9x19. As a consequence, the P7M13 has to be
manufactured from especially high quality steel. This explains part of
its very high price. On another hand, it means that it is very durable.
 
The slide does recoil so violently that shooters must be careful when
replacing the standard sights. Most night sights won't resist it. If
memory serves me, Trijicon was able to develop night sights adapted to
this gun. I have also heard of a very unhappy experience with an
adjustable sight, which was ejected from the P7 on which it was fitted
after a few shots. So, be very careful when you order sights
replacements.
 
As the reader can find numerous detailed descriptions of the gun
and of its field strip procedures, I won't repeat them here.
 
The P7 has been created by HK after the dramatic end of the Muenchen
Olympic games in the early seventies. A big program was initiated
by Germany to improve the capabilities of its police units, in order
to fight terrorist groups.
 
3 Manipulations and shooting
 
The grips of the P7M13 are quite thick, but they are not the 
thickest (The Beretta 92F's ones are much thicker). They are 
however perfectly adapted to my personal hand, and people with 
small hands still have the option to get the P7M8 which is thinner. 
Despite the thickness of the grips, the gun remains very compact.
 
Both the magazine release and the takedown button are well placed
and can be used without difficulty.
 
The cocking lever is the most surprising feature of this gun. 
Although cocking the gun requires an important pressure, once
cocked, maintaining it in cocked position does require much 
less effort.
 
The trigger itself is wide which gives an excellent trigger
control. Its course is long, but light. When it is new, this
trigger is not completely smooth. But initial break in and
dry fire does make it completely smooth quite quickly.
 
When the cocking lever has not been depressed, the firing pin
is deeply inserted into its channel. It is surrounded by a
very strong spring, so he cannot be moved at all, even by
strong shocks. In this condition, the P7M13 can safely be used
as a football, if you forgot the real one at home.
The risk of accidental discharge is extremely small.
 
Depressing the cocking lever does retract the firing pin,
which protrudes out of its channel on the rear. Then, at
the end of the long trigger course, it is released.
 
As soon as the shooter ceases to exert the strength needed
to maintain the gun cocked, it de-cocks itself immediately.
 
In my experience, this gun points extremely well and shoots
extremely accurately. With this gun and the proper ammunition,
you can expect 25 yards groups clearly under 2 inches. On another
hand lead ammo cannot be used with this gun. Lead would fill
the small gas channels around the chamber and make it unusable.
 
It also has excellent sights, and the light trigger does help
to take profit of the gun's pointability and accuracy.
 
Although I noticed that I may shoot a bit better with a few
other guns (when I am in excellent condition), I am able
to shoot very well with my P7M13, even when I am in poor 
condition, tired, nervous and when my hands tremble. Most 
of the time, I get more than decent results under such 
conditions with this gun. I did not experience the same
thing with the other handguns I own.
 
Ayoob mentions that the P7M13 is his "orthopedic" gun in
his courses [2]. If a shooter has difficulties with the 
gun he brought, giving him the P7 does fix the problem 
quickly. He especially mentions tha women who have 
difficulties whit the (usually big) revolver they have
perform tremendously better and learn much quicker with
the P7M13.
 
Some people claim that it is much better to buy cheap guns (usually
Ruger's) and spend the money saved on the gun's purchase to buy ammo
for more training. My experience proved me that the P7M13 is really
easy to learn to shoot both quickly and accurately. with a few hundred
rounds, you get used to the gun and you can perform at least
well. This is certainly not true with most cheap guns. IMO, the money
invested in the purchase of a gun like the P7 is very well invested.
In some sense, the investment made on this gun, saves practice
ammo....
 
When it is shot intensively, the P7M13 heats quite quickly.
It may become moderately hot after 100 shots, according to
your shooting rhythm.
 
If you want to avoid that combustion material accumulate
definitively on the gas chamber, the P7 must be cleaned
at least once in every 250 shots.
 
Note that the accumulation of combustion material on the
gas chamber does cause very little trouble. Ayoob [2] mentions
that his P7M13 has been used for 4500 shots before a cleaning
was really required.
 
Cleaning this gun takes a bit more time than the cleaning of 
a more conventional gun. I usually do also get more dirt on
me during the process.
 
4 Evaluation for traditional target shooting (ISU)
 
The HK P7M13 does certainly have the accuracy required for formal ISU
target shooting. On another hand It's shorter line of sight makes it
less forgiving than 6" revolvers. It's trigger and its recoil are
heavier than the one of a .32SWL competition pistol. Its cocking lever
requires some special training for long offhand matches. Another
limitation is that it cannot use lead ammunition, which is often
mandatory in ISU centerfire matches.
 
Despite its match grade accuracy, this gun is not at its best in
ISU centerfire matches. On another hand, it may perform very well
on target matches requiring the use of "service" guns and ammo.
 
5 Evaluation for IPSC
 
It is true that the P7M13 is expensive. But, out of the box, it is
a top performer in IPSC limited class without any modification.
 
6 Evaluation for personal defense
 
Despite its double stack magazine, the P7M13 is one of the most
compact 9x19 on the market. It is thus well adapted to concealed
carry. It may even be used as a backup, although it is bit large
for this purpose.
 
For personal defense, the P7M13 has a tremendous advantage over
ALL the other guns: you cannot forget to de-cock this gun, it does
it automatically by itself. And it does it in a way which makes
an AD highly unlikely (of course, the user is still required to
keep its gun pointed in a safe direction).
 
Individuals will manipulate their personal defense gun mostly
on the range (for training) and at home for dry fire, plus the
regular loading/unloading sequences. As daily manipulations are
much more frequent than gunfights. the P7 does minimize the risk
of an AD during those manipulation in a way equaled by no other
gun on the world.
 
On another hand, its light trigger may be an inconvenience at
gunpoint. Individuals are most likely to face situations escalating
from yellow condition to red, or even worse, to black. But most of
these cases are confusing and happen in a very short time.  that's
where a heavier trigger, longer to operate, MAY give the user the
option to cancel his shot at the last fraction of second. This does
however require serious training.
 
7 Evaluation for more specialized uses
 
This gun can be drawn and fired very quickly and very accurately by
trained personnel. It is extremely reliable. For combat shooting (by 
SWAT teams for example), the P7M13 is one of the very best guns ever 
made, at least equaling the 1911A1.
 
[1] Roger Caranta
    Pistolets a grande puissance de feu
    Crepin-Leblond 1985
 
[2] Massad F. Ayoob
    The semiautomatic pistol in police service and self defense
    Police Bookshelf
    Second printing, 1987