P7Pro pistols: a classic returns!
A small US company brings back to life the legendary Heckler & Koch P7 pistol, with a full line of newly-made models
P7Pro pistols: a classic returns!
First introduced in 1979 as the PSP, the Heckler & Koch P7 pistol revolutionized the world of service and defensive handguns: its striker-fired squeeze-cocked trigger and Barnitzke-type gas brake working system with a fixed barrel made it stand out as a lightweight, compact, easy to use high power handgun that was reliable and accurate.
Initially fed from a single-stack magazine holding eight rounds of 9mm Luger ammunition (PSP and P7M8 models), the P7 was later modified to feed from 13-rounds double-stack magazines: this variant, known as the P7M13, would become by far the most popular and sought after of the series, basically the epytome of the P7 design.
The starting point: the PSP pistol, first presented to German law enforcement in 1976, was the starting point for the P7 series
From the late 1970s to the early 2000s, the Heckler & Koch P7 was one of the world's most iconic and appreciated pistols
Later, a simple blowback-operated variant was launched, dubbed the P7K3, chambered in .380 ACP, featuring a hydraulic recoil buffer in lieu of the gas brake piston and a removable barrel that allowed conversion to .32 ACP or .22 Long Rifle.
A .40 Smith & Wesson version feeding from 10-rounds magazines, dubbed the P7M10, was also manufactured in very small quantities for the US market in the early 1990s, while a longer, 7-rounds .45 ACP variant tentatively called the P7M7 never evolved past the prototype stage.
The P7 series was phased out of production by Heckler & Koch in 2006, but is still held dear by many shooters who fear their samples will soon become useless as replacement parts run out and support dwindles. And that’s where the story of P7Pro begins.
A long-time P7 enthusiast, the founder of P7Pro LLC. started by making springs and small replacement parts for existing P7 pistols, stumbling across a setup of factory blueprints and spending a significant amount of time creating modern solid CAD models to make modifications.
Once obtained a Class 7 FFL and located an importer FFL with access to original spare P7 parts, the founder of P7Pro designed and had special barrel press jigs, barrel cross pin drill press jigs, fixtures etc to make sure the frames could be assembled with extremely high precision as they were designed to be.
By the end of 2022, P7Pro manufactured twenty-five P7M8s from 99% German parts, followed in early 2023 by six chrome ones and various small custom builds.
At the same time, in 2022, P7Pro started the process to have new barrels made; in order to match the quality of P7 barrels, P7Pro purchased the same steel used originally by HK from Aubert & Duval in France, and contracted Rim Country Manufacturing in Arizona for cold-hammer forging, stress relieving, finish machining, heat treating, cryogenic quenching, tempering and low-temperature plasma coating.
P7Pro also has had custom polygonal tooling mandrels made for cold hammer forging; the establishment of the supply chain took 18 months, but the results are reportedly fantastic, and P7Pro pistols immediately caught the attention of the American gun enthusiasts’ community, owing to the extreme attention to faithful reproduction to the best features of the original.
In early 2024, P7Pro debuted the Titanium model, with a titanium alloy frame.
After the full German clones and a set hybrid builds using a mix of original German parts and US-made components, P7Pro will move to full production with the all American P7M13 into larger production numbers.
Frames will be available in 7068 aluminum, steel, and titanium as a limited production item. P7K3’s are also planned for release in 2025 as a limited run item, with .380 being the primary focus.
P7Pro’s pistols are manufactured mostly using state-of-the-art CNC machinery, and can be ordered as faithful reproductions of the original Heckler & Koch models or as custom builds via the P7Pro configurator, with modernized features such as a rounded trigger guard, a railed frame, extended beavertail, optics-ready slide with front and rear serrations, and more.
After their highly acclaimed run of samples assembled using both US-made parts and original German components, all P7Pro pistols will only use parts entirely made in the United States
The P7Pro configurators offers a broad choice in terms of barrel, slide, frame and trigger guard lengths, styles, and designs
P7Pro pistols don’t come cheap: existing limited availability models built with original HK components start at $2,400, while the titanium frame models can reach up to $4,000.
Custom models ordered throughy the configurators start at $2,500, and depending from the selected features (slide, barrel and frame design, length, and style; night sights or optics-ready slides; threaded barrels or compensators; and much more) can easily offshoot the $4,000 threshold.
But they’re worth every penny; the P7Pro pistols are extremely fine guns, every bit as good as the originals if not better, and each sample is sold in a transport case with two magazines, a universal tool and instruction manual, and they’re covered by a lifetime warranty.
We hope that larger production numbers will allow at least a few samples to be exported to us in Europe; in the meanwhile, we can’t help but admire how American ingenuity and initiative is successfully bringing back a legend of European gunmaking that, many of us feel, was sent to the scrapheap way too soon.