It took a while to find one in the current craziness, and then I had to endure California’s 10-day waiting period, plus a couple days beyond that because I’m pretty busy these days… but finally, I picked up my new P2000sk LEM (v2) in 9mm yesterday morning. Surprisingly I was even able to get one for considerably under MSRP.
This gun is intended to replace the Glock 26 that was my EDC for a while, until I became frustrated with getting hit in the face with brass + the occasional stovepipe, and none of the standard fixes worked. On weekdays I’m mostly in the office, out seeing clients, or in meetings so for those situations I need a gun that’s easy to conceal in normal business attire. Yes, it’s possible to hide a bigger gun, in fact I’ve been doing it for a few weeks while waiting on the current solution and will need to do it a while longer while I order a good holster for the new gun and get it added to my permit. But it’s much easier to carry a subcompact gun especially when I’m around the same people for hours at a time. My woods gun, carried mostly on weekends and at most 10% of the time, is typically larger (currently a M&P 45) and I’m not anticipating any need to change that soon.
Back to the H&K: last night I field stripped and cleaned it, and this morning put 100 rounds of American Eagle 124gr FMJ and about 30 rounds of WWB 115gr through it.
As expected the gun was flawless, no malfunctions of any kind. I’m going to need to spend a little time getting used to the LEM trigger, at 15 yards there were a few flyers during the first couple of mags. But the reset is distinct, and by the end of the day I was able to snap off double taps with no issues. For a CCW gun the trigger is fine, I’d originally thought about ordering the springs for the lighter v1 conversion (about 5lbs pull vs the approx. 7 for the v2), but right now I’m thinking that may not be necessary. I’ll let things wear in for a while and then re-evaluate.
I’d expected the Euro-style mag release to take some getting used to, but within the first 20 rounds I was able to drop mags easily without looking and without shifting my grip, for my hands it was easiest using the middle finger. I probably will order and install the larger/extended 45c mag release though.
To test ease of concealment I jammed the gun in a G26 IWB holster (pretty tight fit because the HK trigger guard is wider), and the gun just disappears under a dark-colored tee-shirt. That surprised me because the grip is a good quarter-inch longer than a G26, but apparently the narrower top of the slide and the melted corners more than make up for that. It’s a double bonus, because I can get all of my fingers on the grip of the HK with the standard mags, they’re slightly scrunched together but if anything that makes for a more secure grip. For good measure, it’s fairly easy to load the full 10 rounds into the brand new magazines.
Finally, the quality of the gun is obvious just handling it. It’s a very minimalist design, the only controls on the side of the gun are the slide release and the mag release, nothing else in the way and no distractions. It’s also fully ambidextrous, which became very important to me a couple of years ago when a shoulder injury forced me to carry weak side for a few months.
So… looks like I have a new favorite EDC. I’m very happy thus far with the P2000sk, and am seriously considering replacing a couple of my other guns with larger HKs. The only disappointment is that I waited this long.
