This weekend I finally had a chance to get out and do something I haven’t been able to do in a while.. go to the shooting range. Let me first prep this story a bit.
A month or so back while I was visiting my mother, I was able to spend some time with a friend who lives in the country. While I was there, we did some shooting. This little bit of fun lit a fire in me that had been dormant for a few years. Before that day, it had been about four year since I shot a pistol. I was in California when I bought a Glock 27 
. I bought it because I wanted a small conceal carry gun, and the .40 caliber was plenty of stopping power to be effective.
Fast forward to last weekend, and here I am at the Mesquite Gun Show at Big Town. While I was there, I fell for a .40 S&W HK USP Compact. It was a nice pistol, and I’ve wanted to add an HK to my collection. Being a German gun, I knew it would be a great gun, so I bought one. While I browsed around the rest of the show, I saw another HK that I’ve wanted since I was in high school — the HK P7 . The problem is that this gun has always been very expensive for a few reasons. First, it is the first (and only to my knowledge) to have a squeeze cock mechanism. Meaning you have to squeeze the handle to cock (and then fire) the pistol. It’s an ingenious design. Secondly, HK stopped production of this pistol in 1991, which (Side note — they made 500 more in 2007) drove up the price. Rabbit trail coming:
As many of you know, I grew up around firearms, and have been around them most of my life. My father told me that when I turned 16, he would buy me a pistol. When they day came, he asked me which gun I wanted, and I told him that I wanted a P7. Back then, the gun was priced around $1200.00. My dad said I would need to choose another, so I ended up with the Beretta 92FS . My father affectionately referred to it as my paper weight, even though I could outshoot him with it. I never did get the P7, and the price continued to go up.
Back at Big Town, I stood before a used HK P7, and the price was only $699.00. The problem was that the blue was really worn. The dealer said it had been issued to the German police. For all I know, it didn’t even have all HK genuine parts in it, so I passed. The price was right, but there was too much risk. I started doing some research, and long story short, I ended up with a P7 this afternoon. I picked it up from a dealer at noon, and was on the firing range by 4:00 p.m. I finally have one in my collection. Dad would be so proud.
After firing it, it was all I had hoped for. The first target, as you can see below, shows the tight grouping of that pistol. It had very little recoil, and with the squeeze cocker offering a single action trigger pull, it was very pleasant to shoot. The price was high, but I am glad I got it. It is my new favorite pistol and will make a perfect conceal carry weapon.
Below are some photos I took this afternoon. I took a few guns to the range to shoot — My HK USP and P7, Glock 27 and finally my Ruger Mark IV with the bull barrel. I had a friend who wanted to shoot a .22 and then didn’t show. Thanks Kyle! :) I couldn’t get the other 11 guns in the car to take, but I need to get them out and get some ammunition through them. My brother, Terry, is sending me Dad’s Sig 228 this week. Ready for another rabbit trail? Okay, here goes:
Several years back, Terry bought a Sig 228 for Dad for Father’s Day. His only request was that if anything ever happen to Dad, he wanted it back. Of course, the request was honored, and when Dad passed, Terry took it back to Tennessee with him. I was disappointed because I loved that gun. I remember when Dad took it out the first time, and he let me shoot the first clip through it. Right out of the box, the Sig 228 grouped 10 rounds that could be covered by a half dollar at 20 paces. I couldn’t believe that a pistol fresh out of the box would shoot that well. Most pistols require a few hundred rounds just to break in the rifling. Anyway, it was a great shooting pistol.
While Terry was in Oklahoma for Mom’s funeral, he asked me if I wanted it. He said that he didn’t have a son to pass it to, so he thought it would be cool if Alex or Andrew would eventually inherit Grandpa’s gun. I almost teared up. Yes, we are a weird family.. a family of gun loving weirdo’s, I guess. I look forward to receiving that gun, though.
Sorry for the long rant. I guess I like talking about guns because its something I actually know quite a bit about. All of those years of ballistics reports in Gun & Ammo Magazine maybe paid off. When you visit next time, let’s go shooting!
All clear!
