THE SUBCOMPACT VERSIONOF HK’S VP9 PROVIDESPLENTY OF PUNCH

DOUBLEDOWN

ED BROWN’SLONG SLIDE

• SMITH & WESSON AIRWEIGHT .357

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TWO NEW S&W686 REVOLVERS

A 10mm WORTHWAITING FOR

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INSIDE GLOCK’S NEW GEN 5

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TINYBY PATRICK SWEENEY

22 HANDGUNS JUNE/JULY 2018

HK SHRINKS ITS EXCELLENT VP9 PISTOL TO SUBCOMPACT SIZE. MEET THE VP9SK.

WWW.HANDGUNS.COM

Heckler & Koch has been on a roll thanks to

the solid, reliable and effective VP9, and now

the company has introduced a subcompact

version, the VP9SK. The VP9 line features

the HK precision strike trigger. This is a

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once you’ve pressed through the clean break, the reset

is shorter and cleaner.

I don’t want to sound too snarky, but it’s as if the

engineers were told to listen to shooters and make a

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safety mechanisms built in. The trigger has a safety

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pressed it out of the way. There’s also a striker safety,

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until the trigger has cammed this safety out of the way.

The only other control on the VP9SK, the slide stop,

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never caused a problem, even though I fully expected

it to.

Also ambidextrous is the magazine release, and here

HK and I part company. The magazine release is a dual

paddle design, where the paddles parallel the bottom

of the trigger guard. This is a clever, positive and solid

way to hold and release the magazine. Unfortunately,

my grip, developed back when gasoline was priced at 61

cents a gallon, is not a fan. My grip is so high and hard

on the frame that I can’t lever the magazine paddle

down to drop a mag without changing my grip on the

frame. But that’s me, and it may not be a problem for

you. Try it and see.

On the plus side, the trigger guard is wide and slight�

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some narrower ones are wont to do.

The takedown lever is on the left side, forward of

the slide stop, and rotates only when the slide is back

far enough to let the lever pass through the clearance

curve that’s cut in the bottom of the slide. The VP9SK

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order to disassemble it. Remove the magazine, ensure

the chamber is empty and lock the slide back. Rotate

the takedown lever. Press the slide stop lever while

restraining slide movement and ease the slide off the

front of the frame.

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bottom of the barrel, so once you remove the spring and

the barrel, you can scrub to your heart’s content.

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with interchangeable backstraps and side panels that

can be swapped to change the size and shape of the

grip. There are nine inserts in all: three sizes of

TINY TITAN

backstraps and three pairs of

side panels. You can mix and match

them in any combination to get just

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The panels are held in by the

backstrap, and the backstrap is

held on by means of a cross pin

through the frame. Drift out the

pin and you can remove the back-

strap and the panels. Assemble the

setup you want, then press the pin

back through. No, you can’t make

changes with your bare hands,

but how often are you going to be

swapping panels and backstraps,

anyway? The cross pin also serves

as a lanyard loop should you feel

the need to attach one of those.

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I long ago gave up on trying to get

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them. The VP9SK’s two grooves do

not have a radical ridge between

them, so I just use the design as

more of a non-slip grip surface. If

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the grooves fall where they may.

The dust cover has an abbrevi-

ated Picatinny rail. When Picatinny

rails on handguns were new, such

a short rail might have been a

problem. Today, with the popularity

of railed compact pistols, acces-

sory makers are producing plenty

of lights and lasers that are small

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The dust cover is also the loca-

tion of the serial number plate. The

VP9SK is not a chassis pistol, and

the polymer frame is the frame, so

the serial number has to be per-

manently attached to it. Putting it

there keeps it out of the way, but it

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inventory.

The bobbed slide is pure HK.

Machined from alloy steel, it has

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has been treated to be as corrosion-

resistant as an alloy can be. It

features cocking serrations fore

and aft, with the new signature HK

charging supports at the rear of the

slide. These small ridges extend out

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extra purchase when working the

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them, or don’t want them, HK has

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In operation, once I got over the

“What are these things?” feeling, I

never noticed them. However, some-

one with small hands or who has

had some loss of grip strength could

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work the slide, anything that helps,

helps.

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of spring steel that is pinned and

pivots to snap over the rim of a case.

It is powered by a coil spring in the

rear, and the very idea that it would

break or fail is absurd. The ejec-

tion port is generous, which helps

ensure you won’t have any malfunc-

tions.

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The VP9SK is available withphotoluminescent sights that can bequickly charged with a lashlight. Thepistol also features HK’s “chargingsupports” for easy slide manipulation.

ACCURACY RESULTS | HK VP9SKBullet Muzzle Standard Avg.

9mm Luger Weight (gr.) Velocity (fps) Deviation (fps) Group (in.)

SuperVel JHP 90 1,420 10.3 2.8

SIG EliteV-Crown 115 1,202 21.8 2.0

Wilson Combat XTP +P 124 1,138 32.4 2.5

Federal Premium Hydra-Shok 147 951 8.6 2.1

SIG Elite FMJ 147 969 10.2 2.3

Streak TMJ 147 945 11.8 2.4

Winchester Defend JHP 147 919 11.4 2.5

Notes: Accuracy results are the average of five five-shot groups from a Sinclair shooting rest at 25 yards. Velocities arethe average of 10 shots measured by a LabRadar chronograph set 15 feet from the muzzle. Abbreviations: FMJ, full metal jacket; JHP, jacketed hollowpoint; TMJ, total metal jacket

24 HANDGUNS JUNE/JULY 2018 WWW.HANDGUNS.COM

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The pistol features an ambidextrous slide lock lever. The magazine releaseis an ambidextrous paddle at the bottom of the trigger guard. The trigger is crisp, with a short reset.

German marking require-

ments dictate the serial number

must be on the slide and barrel as

well as the frame, and HK has laser-

engraved these below and forward

of the extractor, respectively. The

slide and barrel also bear the Ger-

man proof marks, showing they have

been inspected and tested and have

passed.

The barrel is something HK can

be proud of. It is cold hammer-

forged and features polygonal

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steel, and given the intense com-

petition between manufacturers, I

can understand why the company

wouldn’t want to provide the compe-

tition with the exact grade of steel

used.

Polygonal barrels are more than

happy to shoot accurately when they

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big fans of cast lead bullets. So if

you are planning on getting in lots

of practice with your VP9SK, you’ll

have to restrict your shooting to

ammo with jacketed or plated bul-

lets.

The sights are installed in

transverse dovetails, with the rear

a wedge shape, and you can have

your VP9SK with three-dot or night

sights. The standard three-dot

sights are photo luminescent. That

is, they will glow for a period of

time after they have been exposed

to sunlight. If you want to recharge

them, a few seconds of shining your

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do the trick.

This is an inexpensive way to

get some night-capacity sighting

on a pistol, but it isn’t the same as

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want those, you’ll have to spring for

the upcharge.

The pistol comes in a hard case

with all the usual goodies: own-

WWW.HANDGUNS.COM

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The right-side slide-lock lever is long but doesn’t get in the way, and thefront of the frame has a short Picatinny rail. Today’s light/laser makers offer plenty of small units that will it.

HECKLER & KOCH

PRICE:

TINY TITAN

er’s manual, magazine loader,

lock and a pair of magazines. One

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which extend up into relief cuts in

the frame.

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azine out in a malfunction drill. I

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a malfunction, and the designers

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out in a zigzag pattern, so when the

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the pattern adds reinforcement. If

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can’t imagine how that would hap�

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The VP9SK’s three sizes of backstraps and side-panel pairs allow you to completely customize the grip to it your hand.

TINY TITAN

28 HANDGUNS JUNE/JULY 2018 WWW.HANDGUNS.COM

Convenient, Reliable, Effective.

Ranger II

enough structural integrity to

work.

The VP9SK mags hold 10 rounds,

but the pistol works with larger-ca-

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those designed for the VP9 and

P30, both 13- and 15-rounders.

Shooting the VP9 SK was utterly

uneventful. Well, uneventful as

far as recoil and reliability were

concerned. It ate everything, it

functioned properly with every-

thing, and it hit to the point of aim.

It did so with an amazing level of

accuracy, considering it’s a subcom-

pact pistol and, due to our testing

protocols, was accuracy-tested at

25 yards. This pistol shot like it was

one of the bigger brothers, and my

hat is off to HK for this.

One note: I shot the VP9SK only

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zine is just too short for me to get a

proper grip on the frame. So if you

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as accurate as this one was, try the

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does the trick.

This, of course, poses a dilemma.

We get a subcompact pistol because it

is easier to carry and conceal, but if

we use the larger magazine for more

accuracy, how do we justify the sub-

compact? Because it is cool, it shoots,

and it is HK, that’s how.

<

Sweeney wasn’t able to get a full grip on the gun with the lat-base platemagazine installed. The supplied inger-hook mag solved the problem and will be a good option for many.

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30 HANDGUNS JUNE/JULY 2018 WWW.HANDGUNS.COM