HK VP9K A1 Review

The HK VP9K A1. Let’s check it out.

 

HK originally introduced their VP9 in 2014.

So for the past 11 years we’ve had one of the best polymer striker fire pistols on the market. One of the reasons that it’s been so successful, it’s really a striker fired version of their P30, which has gone through extreme torture tests, up to 90,000 rounds through a single P30. I mean, these guns are built like tanks, but yet they have a lot of refinements and they’re just good quality.

One of the big things is the ergonomics. Today, we’re going to take a look at the VP9K A1. This is a new design from HK.

A lot of upgrades have been made to the original VP9 and a little bit shorter grip denotes the K, but they also have a full size model that they’re introducing. So we’re going to take a look at the different features, take it out and shoot it. But I can tell you right now with HK, they’re just excellent guns.

And personally, one of my favorite handguns. In fact, both my sons own HK and depend on them for home defense or even for concealed carry. But with the K model, we’ve got a little more concealability.

And the big thing is they are now optics ready. And we want to give a big thank you to HK for sending the VP9K A1 for this review. The HK VP9K A1.

This is a new upgrade over the original VP9 series. And we’re going to take a good look. The K is for the shorter grip.

There’s also a full size offering, which is the VP9F A1. The A1s designate the new upgrades and they’re still carrying the standard VP9 series. But there are some additions to the A1 model.

And before we get started, we’re going to drop our 15 round magazine. It’s standard HK with the zipper back. This is a shorter magazine because it’s a shorter grip.

And we’re going to look at an upgrade on the magazine as well. But let’s go ahead and check the chamber and the guns empty. Now, before we get started into comparisons, because one of the biggest questions I had when I saw this was what are the differences between this and the original VP9.

And I wanted to go ahead and show the F model. It is full size, a little bit longer slide than your standard VP9, same grip. So they’re going with a little bit of a shorter grip and extending the slide.

But one of the big pluses for the A1 series is that they are optics ready. There are adapter plates available. You get one free and then you can choose whatever adapter plates you want.

And I believe there are nine different plates. So it gives you a lot of options. The VP9K is a four inch barrel while the VP9F is a 4.53 inch barrel, just about a half inch difference and in grip length as well.

In fact, we’ll go ahead and show these. Now we’re going to do a full review on the F model because there are some things about it that I do want to point out, but you can see half inch and pretty much half inch. So just a little more concealable.

Now, one of the things about both of these models is that it’s really a go-between or a hybrid from the VP9 standard. Of course you have the VP9SK and you have larger long slide versions, tactical versions. HK really has expanded the VP9 line.

This is definitely in a different direction. But here we have the standard VP9 and we’re going to just kind of compare because I really want to get into that. I know you guys want to know what are the differences.

First off to me is that with the original, we have some slight, but still there finger grooves, just some small little bumps. It’s not too pronounced like your Glock Gen 3 or Gen 4. I have been pretty comfortable with these finger grooves, but with the new model, you’re just going to get that straight down grip, which honestly I prefer. Another big plus for the A1 series is that we have a beveled magwell.

Now it’s very muted and it just kind of flares out just a touch. So it gives you magwell capability, but yet it doesn’t get in the way and it allows those magazines to go in really fast. Another big plus is we have 15 rounds with this magazine.

On the original VP9, we have 15 rounds and yet it’s a larger magazine. So they’ve brought the mag capacity up really with the size of the mag. But now the VP9 has been upgraded to a 17 round magazine and it’s the exact same size.

So now with your standard VP9, you’re going to be able to use the 17 round magazines. And so that gives you two extra rounds. So that in itself is a big plus with the A1 series.

And by the way, all of these guns that we’re handling are safety checked, but this comes standard with your F model and all these mags will still work. If you have a lot of VP9 or P30 mags, because they work in both, you’re going to be able to use these. And these are the zipper type back mags, very high quality, nitride finish on it, nice base plate.

It’s a rubberized type feel to it. It’s not just a hard plastic. But one of the big differences with the K model is that it has these little divots.

So where we have our mag well coming out, it gives you a little bit of gripping to be able to pull these mags out. And so that is an additional feature and they will have the black followers instead of the orange followers. And your standard VP9 magazines will fit of course in the K model, they’ll just hang off just a touch.

Now they are offering 10 round magazines, 15 rounds, 17 round, and they’re offering 20 round mags. And here we have the 20 round mag. You can see that it extends out to the base pad and on the standard, it’s going to fit flush and of course on the full size.

And then with the K model, it’s going to have just a little bit of hangover, but that does give you 20 rounds in a small pistol. But the slides are the exact same length. Both of them have the four inch barrel.

Now, one of the things about the barrel, and this is on all the HK’s, is that they are cold hammer forged barrels made from cannon grade steel. And again, like I mentioned at the beginning, they have put these barrels through 90,000 rounds through the barrel and it retains decent accuracy. I mean, that’s huge.

They have the polygonal grooves, which of course Glock uses as well, but that actually increases the life of the barrel. Plus it gives you a slight increase in velocity. So the barrel itself is just an excellent system.

One thing also you’ll notice is that the serrations are a little bit deeper and we have more serrations, even on the front. And they’re a little bit easier to grab. They grip to your fingers a little bit better than the originals because they do stick out just a touch more.

Now with this wing on the back, and that’s one of the things that HK, the VP9 is known for, this is actually an insert that slides in and this gives you more leverage when you’re pulling back. And you can see the wing. Now with the new model, it’s been upgraded a little bit larger and we have line serrations.

And so you’re able to grab that slide and pull it back. Of course, press checks. You can do that as well on your standard serrations, but this just gives you more leverage.

Also with the sights, one of the things about the Novak sight, and for me, I love to have a cocking shelf on my sight. And to me, that is imperative with a self-defense handgun, because honestly the odds are, if you do get shot, it will be in the extremities, which if you lose an arm, you’re going to need to be able to possibly reload. And this is going to give you the ability to do that.

You can do this on a belt, a table, on the back of your boot. It gives you the option for that, or for that matter, even on your holster. And so with the Novak style sights, they’re just slick.

Now they don’t snag, and that was one of the reasons, but with this, it gives you that capability. And they are blacked out in the rear, and we have a tritium sight at the front, and it has a green circle around it, and it is dovetailed in. And I’m sure that VP9, there’ll be a number of different options that you can switch those out if you want.

I love how they bevel the ends, which they’ve been doing originally. Now on the Picatinny rail, and this is with all the VP9s, this has been strengthened to the point it can hold up to 5.6 ounces on the front. And to give you an idea about weight, the Surefire X300 Ultra weighs just over four ounces.

With the Olight, and this is the PL Turbo Valkyrie, it’s 4.6 ounces. So we still have an ounce difference. These lights can be heavy, mainly because of the battery.

So this gives you just that additional strength at the front of your pick rail. But on both handguns, the Picatinny rail section is the same, except for the B model, is that it has the paddle mag release. And so you can use that.

That is European design typically, but I’m going to tell you guys, it is very intuitive. I love that mag release right here, but honestly, I’m a big fan of the paddle mag release. And again, if you don’t like that, you can get the B series.

I don’t know that they’re offering that at this point with the A1, but I’m sure that will come in because a lot of guys just are really, they really like that mag release right there in that normal position. But man, just your trigger finger, it just drops it really easy. And of course, with the optics ready, and that is one of the big pluses for the A1.

So all the A1 series handguns will be optics ready. And the original slide on the VP9 will interchange with the new A1 models. But here on the original VP9, you can see that it does have divots actually in the grip.

And so with the magazines, it was fine. But of course, with this new model, you do have that extra and it won’t interfere with the flare. Now both grips still retain the lanyard option if you want it.

It still retains that cocked striker indicator. And that just means the striker’s cocked. It doesn’t mean that there’s a round in the chamber.

So when you pull the trigger, it just disappears. But right here on the extractor, you can barely see a touch of red. And we’re going to drop a dummy round in the magazine to test it.

And this is your loaded chamber indicator. And so then you can see that the red comes out. It’s tactile, just barely, and you can see it.

But then of course, you know that it’s ready to fire. Another addition to the frame is we have these serrations right here, and this gives you a memory pad to put your finger when you’re bringing it out of the trigger guard, you can just place it here. And you can get some recoil mitigation by just placing it on those serrations.

So it gives you a really high ride grip, and yet you can do a little recoil mitigation here. Now your slide stop’s right here, and we have an ambidextrous slide stop on the other side. And one of the problems with a slide stop that’s very accessible is when you’re using a high ride grip, you can rest your thumb on that slide stop, and it will keep it from holding open when the magazine’s empty on that last round.

We did experience that. I was holding my hand up that high grip, and when I was shooting it, I didn’t realize that I was holding it. You need to be cognizant of that, and you need to be careful when you get your grip, and you just consider that.

That’s one of the things about training, because this is fairly easy to hit. And now we’ll go with the VP9SK. This is their subcompact.

It’s very small, kind of similar to the Glock 26, and you have a much shortened grip, shortened slide, and then we have the K. So this actually comes in between the original and the K. You’re getting a lot smaller type of firearm and more concealable. One of the things about the HK is that it’s a fairly thicker gun, just like you would with the Model 26 and the Glock. It’s a thick gun, and we’ve seen a lot of micro-9s.

I will say one thing about it though, guys, and I’m big on these micro-9s. They’re easy to carry, but if I was honestly going into a situation, I would much rather have a thicker grip where I could have more control over the firearm and just be able to handle it a little better. Now, you’ve got to weigh that out with convenience, but I’ve tended now to go more toward that more medium-sized, maybe not just the compact or subcompact, but go to more of a medium-sized type carry.

And so it just gives you more capability. First off, the magazines, we have a 10-round magazine. One of the things that I do like about the HK VP9SK is that I carry it with the finger groove.

This gives me, honestly, a full grip on the handgun, and it still has the finger grooves, and it ends up being a finger groove at the end. Then they have their extended round with 13-round capacity, and it just hangs off. And this gives you a really solid grip with a much shorter slide.

So these are options that have been available for a good while. And of course, obviously you have your flush fit, but this is going to be in between. So really the VP9K comes in between the SK and their standard model.

And then if you want to now go with a larger, more standard size, the F model. And then again, you have your tactical long slides and a lot of other options. In fact, we had the long slide version and my son Seth has commandeered it.

Now the HK VP9 and P30 are one of the most adaptable grips on the market. And the big reason is we have a number of different grip back straps, which are typical for a lot of guns. Here’s the large, medium, and then here’s the small.

This allows you to be able to get a better length of pull to the trigger to suit you. Sometimes if guys have really big hands, their fingers come all the way out and they end up hitting it back over here. You really need to be able to hit it with the pad of your finger.

And so you need to adjust your back strap to get that perfect fit with the pad on the back. One thing about this too, is they do have a extra large and an extra small that you can order from HK if you need to. And then they have palm swales.

And that’s really one of the big keys is I can switch out the medium palm swale for either the large or the small. And I can have large on one side, I can have small on the other. And so there are actually 27 different configurations with the grip options given.

But honestly, this feels really good, just like it is. It is so ergonomic. The texturing is kind of some squiggly lines, and it hasn’t changed a lot.

I think it’s a little more aggressive than the original, but not necessarily. Those feel pretty good, both of them. Another plus that they’ve done with the VP9 series is they’re going with a better trigger.

They’re going with a nickel Teflon coated trigger bar, which makes it super smooth. They do have their trigger safety, and this keeps it from inadvertently getting hit. You’ve got to depress the safety to get it.

And so here we go to a wall, and a nice break. Reset, right there, quick reset. With the original VP9, we go to a wall, right here.

There’s a little bit of resistance. You can feel the trigger bar rubbing against something, right there. A little bit of stacking, and then we have a break, a nice break, very similar to the A1.

Reset, right there. So definitely a much more improved trigger with the A1. Now let’s check the trigger pull weight with our Lyman trigger gauge from Brown Ales.

Four pounds, 9.2 ounces. Four pounds, 9.5 ounces. You can see the nickel Teflon on the trigger bar, right there.

Weight on the VP9K, 25.6 ounces. Big thank you to Fiocchi for sponsoring our ammo. All made in the USA, one of the biggest suppliers of ammunition in the country.

And also, we want to give a big thank you to Lula Loaders for making range day easier. Guys, when it comes to the HKVP9, it’s really the P30, which is a double action, single action, but yet it’s in the striker fire system. So it really brings it at a better price.

The P30 is one of those real classic premium firearms, but so is the VP9. Now with this little shorter grip with the A1, you have the full size with a little bit longer slide and a full grip, and they’re really adding to that line, which to me, HK has some of the best quality out there. Of course, German engineering with the optics cut, that’s a big deal.

Just overall, it’s one of the most ergonomic pistols out on the market, and you can change these grips in so many ways. Comes with a 15 round magazine, but you can use your standard VP9 mags as well. Very pointable, very ergonomic.

The sights are easy to see. Of course, that front sight’s just a glowing dot, and then we have the black outline at the back. Again, guys, it’s that ergonomics that really makes the VP9 just in a world by itself.

Very similar to the Walders. The Walders are very ergonomic as well, but honestly, I think that the HK VP9s and the P30 might have it beat. Of course, those palmswells really help, so you can get your grip just like you want it.

I mean, it makes shooting just very natural. Now, one thing that we’ve noticed is that we can’t get the slide to hold back on the last round with both magazines, but with an empty mag, it’ll stay open. So we have tried it with the regular VP9 mags, and they actually hold the slide open, but this is the only thing that we’ve had any issues with whatsoever.

But they’ve redesigned the cocking ears a little bit, and I love that. It just makes it so easy. You’re not going to slip off that slide.

You’ve got those cocking ears to give you a break. And some of the other changes, they’re incremental, but yet it just makes the VP9 a better handgun. But I’ll tell you guys, the VP9 series is one of my very favorites.

Both of my sons, they carry the VP9. I carry the VP9 as well with other options, but for a good combat-proven home defense gun, the VP9’s hard to beat. And then with the K model, with that little bit of a shorter grip, just allows you to print a little bit less.

And it’s really great to see HK coming back out with a new offering. All right, guys. For disassembly, we’re going to drop our magazine, check the chamber.

The gun is clear. One thing I do want to mention before we disassemble the firearm is that with the magazine inserted in the mag well, the takedown lever does not work. It is locked.

It’s locked into position. So once you remove your magazine, even with the slide back, it’s still locked. Now you can bring down the lever and then you don’t have to pull the trigger.

The slide comes right off. And so that way you don’t have to worry about it. We have a flat recoil spring.

Now this really aids in recoil mitigation. And it’s one of the things that HK really started doing up front early on, but this does help. And then of course we have our barrel, which is cold hammer forged, cannon grade steel barrel.

Again, up to 90,000 rounds tested. So this is an excellent barrel. Inside the handgun, I mean, no tooling marks.

It’s just beautifully finished. It’s a little dirty because we did shoot this quite a bit at the range. A little bit different configuration than a lot of your striker fire polymer frame pistols.

And then we have our frame, nice locking block, a decent size rail. Sometimes with polymer striker fire pistols, they have really short rails front and back. But overall, I mean, it’s just a polymer striker fire pistol, but very well done.

And this one’s dirty. So very simple to disassemble. And of course to reassemble, just drop in your barrel and then bring in our recoil spring and guide rod.

And then we can just bring it right back over the frame, go to slide lock, bring your lever around, and then disengage. Test for function. And we are back in business.

When it comes to the box, I’m not a big fan of boxes, but this is a beautiful box. That black and red, of course you see the ring here, but this is a cool box. Open it up and we have a really cool gun case.

Now this is solid. Of course you have your red lettering on the front. We have pulls for our zippers and comes all the way around.

Open it up and you do have your owner’s manual. You have a net here and we have our back straps and we have our lock. Then we have a padded protective part that comes over and then we have the gun.

Now this is cool. And what I mean by cool is this. This was on the gun.

When I opened the box, I was like, that is cool. But this has a little pick rail and this just fits on the gun. I would not recommend carrying this while you’re carrying it concealed, but that’s cool.

And then we have two slots for your magazines. There are slots on the other side as well for additional magazines. And of course, you may not be carrying all this.

I would stick that in the box. We have the pistol that is velcroed, two straps just to put it into place. So a really cool system that I think is very user-friendly.

And I like that better than even a hard plastic box or definitely just a standard box. But that’s just cool. MSRP on the VP9K A1 is $979.

It’s an H&K price. They’re a little bit more expensive. Obviously there’s a lot that’s going on here, especially with the modular strap option and the barrel system and just the engineering that goes behind these.

With the standard VP9, it still retails for $839. And you’re getting it down to more toward your Glock model Gen 5 handguns, but this one does not have the optics ready version. And of course, there are those upgrades we looked at.

So it’s a little bit more pricey than the standard. What are some pros and cons? Okay. First off pro is that it’s an HK VP9.

They’re excellent handguns of the quality. Whether you choose to carry this for concealment, I mean, it is a fairly large pistol. It’s actually just a touch bigger than your Glock 19, but it does have that shorter grip and you still have 15 plus one in the magazine and you get two mags.

The grip system is just incredible. I mean, you can really tailor this to whatever you want. I love the rear cocking notches, the sight upgrades are huge.

And again, it is optics ready. You do have to order the plates. That’ll be a little bit of a con.

I like it now. There’s a lot of multi-foot print systems that are direct slide fit. That’s my preference.

The polymer is reinforced and it really is great for whatever optic you’re going to put on here. Trigger system has been improved and slide serrations are improved. It’s an overall improvement over the original VP9, but is VP9 now out of date? No, this is still an excellent handgun.

The trigger is still decent, but this is definitely a big upgrade. But overall, I mean, it’s just a solid handgun and these have been proven over and over. Of course, this is an heir to the P30 series, which is one of the best handguns ever on the market as far as a polymer frame pistol.

The cold hammer forged barrel and forged slide and the finish, the hostile environment finish with that black nitride type carbon nitride finish. It’s going to give you really a battle proven design. That’s one of the things about HK is that it is a hardened proven firearm system all across the board.

Again, we will be doing just a full review on the VP9F A1, mainly because I just want another excuse to go through a lot of these details because I love the VP9 series. So guys, if you like the Striker Fire system, you love durability, reliability, and you love great ergonomics, and now optics ready, check out the HK VP line. They are some of the best Striker Fire polymer frame pistols on the market.

And with HK quality in their engineering and their cannon grade steel with the barrel, this is a go to war gun. And yet, it can be great for concealed carry every day. And again, a big thank you to HK for sending the VP9K A1 for this review.

Be strong, be of good courage. God bless America. Long live the Republic.

 

-Don