Ive got two Glocks in .40 S&W. A 22 and a 27. I’ve always shot to the left with them and now I’m thinking I just might need/want a different gun.
I like my Glocks. It they have ways felt kind of odd in my hands. I’ve been looking and I think the P30 might be the way for me to go.
How hard is cleaning/maintaining the HK pistols? I’ve been spoiled with the Glocks cause you can ignore them and they still work.
Anyone else switch from Glock to HK able to offer some insights?
excellent, i’ll read up on it.
Thanks.
I thought about switching to a P30 from a G19 at one point. I went and rented one and shot a few hundred rounds through it to try and decide. I found that my thumbs forward grip had to be altered because of the P30’s slide lock. I didnt buy it. Nice shooting gun though.
Hopefully my local range has one I can rent so I can try it out.
3 years ago i bought a p30(i’m left-handed and liked the ambi contorls on the hks),and was impressed with its eroognomics and feel. in the interim i sold my early-gen2 glock 19.
the hk p30 is easy to maintain, and shoots well.
i personally couldn’t get used to its trigger, despite work by bill springfield and other.
this seems to be the main, most comon complaint about the hks in general and p30 in particular- their triggers leaves alot to be desired). same for my now sold hk p2000sk.
i replaced them with the new walther PPQ, which mates great ergonomics with a terrific trigger right out of the box.
just to complet the cycle, on a whim, i also added a gen4 glock 19 as my BUG pistol. i think that glock has done a great job in redesigning their gen 4(despite the several hickups initally). it feels better and is more accurate then my previous gen2g19.
About the HK triggers. Are the complaints only about the sa/da triggers or also the lem triggers?
I had an H&K45 with a Bill Trigger job. Both pulls were good. Im a 1911 guy mainly so I carried and shot it cocked and locked. Would do the same with a p30 if I had it. They are fine. Not custom 1911 good but certainly not a hinderance. At least the examples Ive had/shot were
mine were the v3 ,da/sa version.
i prefer striker-fired orientation…
I owned a P30 for about 2 years and sold it due to the trigger. It was a standard DA/SA and I would have preferred the LEM trigger. The gun was accurate, ergonomic, and had the typical HK reliability.
Personally, I shoot my Glocks better than all of my HK’s. The lower bore axis of the Glock combined with the trigger, makes the Glock suit me better. I would rather have the lighter Glock trigger pull and shorter reset.
The Smith and Wesson M&P has great ergonomics that are similar to the P30. That gun may be worth checking out as well. Take a M&P and throw in some Apex Tactical Parts, and you will have a great shooter at a fraction of the price of the HK. Good luck.
If the sights are zerod then shooting left isn’t the guns fault. A different gun may help alleviate/hide what you are doing wrong. Have you tried different connectors or tirgger springs in the glock? I greatly prefer my g23 with a (-) connector over stock.
I had a Gen4 G17 that I traded for a used P-30. The Glock functioned just fine, I just couldn’t shoot it as well as I would have liked. I also prefer the hammer fired DA/SA guns for the safety in unusual carry situations. With practice and dry fire the DA pull is still heavy but has smoothed out considerably, the SA pull is light and crisp with a lot of take up. The reset is long compared to a Glock or a government model. HK’s are expensive and if I had not found a lightly used one at a good price I might be with something else.
While shooting left/low left is often a sign of poor trigger control and/or anticipation, quite a few Glocks do shoot left. There have been discussions in this regard here and elsewhere. I know of multiple excellent shooters who had to drift their sights. My own G-19, with negative connector, shot left in hands of multi-time IDPA and USPSA National champion whose particular claim to fame is winning those matches with DA/SA guns (read: dude knows about trigger control). I hear that propensity shooting to left is more prevalent in Gen4 guns, but this has not been substantiated.
On the armorer level, i.e. detail strip, P30 is a bit more difficult. On end-user level, no difference in care and maintenance.
I am in a process of switching from Glock to P30 LEM. Expect delays and grip adjustment, as well as increased cost of magazines. You’ll probably need to spend some money on better sights with P30 (same with Glock but there are more options here). It takes time and dedication to figure the trigger. You might be frustrated with a longer reset. It took me about 500 rounds to start hitting as well as I do with Glock at slow pace, and I am still not quite there in trigger manipulations. A rewarding part, though, that groups shrank, owing to better inherent accuracy of P30.
Basically, as with any change towards different gun, especially with harder trigger, you should expect temporary decline and be ready to deal with. I am back to ball and dummy drills and slow dry-fire, things I’ve not had to do with Glock for some time.
Which ever way you go it will work out good enough as they’re both fine pistols. The search for the grail will go on and on. I’ve seen several high volume training shooters report changing from the P30 - even with light LEM - back to Glocks, and others that stay HK.
I rented and ran just 50 rounds through a P30 to see what all the fuss was about and it was a nice pistol. If I was made of $$$ I’d get one but while it was very nice and if that’s what I had I’d be happy, I didn’t find anything about it that tempted me to change.
A long term test was referenced above. They are great reads. He’s at about 45K rds through his Gen 4 17. On a thread about which to pick for a ccw choice, he candidly leaned P30 followed by the 17. As he notes, there’s more to a choice than just purely splits or slow fire precision or etc etc etc. For some it may come down to carry method. Many dialed in folks are adopting appendix inside the waistband (AIWB). Many of those strongly prefer a hammer gun (P30) over a striker gun for the margin of safety during re-holstering. The whole “system” needs to be factored in.
The reset, even with LEM, sucks.
Check out the Walther PPQ. Feels as good, if not better, than a P30 in the hand and has a nice “Glock-style” trigger with a very short reset.
For folks that love the P30 but hate the H&K trigger options, the PPQ might be a good option.
Only downside is the Walther mag release, which some can’t seem to warm up to. And the relative scarcity of accessories when compared to Glock, M&P, etc.
If you decide to go over to the P30, go with an LEM trigger.
I prefer the P30 over the G19 simply for ergonomics. Right now, there isn’t anything else that comes close.
I have attempted to displace/replace my G19 several times, once with the P30 but also a couple of times with M&P’s. Each time I came back to the G19.
True, it doesn’t feel as natural in-the-hand as far as shape, but I found that I can more easily get a vise-like grip on the Glock’s blocky profile, which better locks it into my hand and translates into greater control. The others tended to twist around more, and as a result were a lot more difficult to shoot accurately with speed.
My best friend and fellow shooter just started shooting Glocks a few months ago switching over from 1911’s. He also had a shooting to the left issue he installed a after market beaver tail/back strap and problem solved.
As much as I like HKs you should at least give the Glock a fair chance. With that being said, I’m sure the P30 will serve you well.
Good luck.
I agree totally. The P30 feels better, but does not “lock” into my hand the same way my G19 RTF2, does. No other pistol does, for that matter.
Both are truly excellent guns. For years, I’ve been tempted by the siren song of the HK P30/HK45/45C/2000.
However…before pulling the financial trigger, I realize that I’m exceptionally pleased with my Glocks-how they shoot, how easy they are to maintain and detail-disassemble (and re-assemble), how inexpensive parts are (and how rarely you actually really need replacement parts), and how available parts and magazines are. And, of course, how I’ve already got the requisite holsters/magazine pouches/spare magazines on hand…
None of the above is really an inditment against the HK gun(s). For a shooter initially choosing between one and the other, I think that the HK P30 has better ergonomics/ergonomic flexibility (thanks to the numerous sideplate and backstrap permutations available), and arguably greater intrinsic component quality. They’re relatively low maintenance, but to do a detailed disassembly, you’d better be an engineer, and have 3 hands and skilled hand/eye coordination…And triggerpulls/resets have been the recipient of a steady drumbeat of criticism over the years; rectifiable, but often requiring somewhat expensive/difficult to obtain parts/gunsmithing efforts-considering the relatively high initial cost of the guns, this seems a bit much to ask of the user, and something that HK should clean up as an inherent part of manufacturing (especially at their selling prices).
On the other hand, Glocks are significantly less expensive, and you quickly end up “adjusting to the tool” in little time with relatively little drama. Component quality is more than adequate for the platform and actual use. Triggerpulls and trigger resets are usually quite decent, and modifications/improvements via either parts swapping and/or action polishing/work are easily accomplished-often by the user.
The shooting to the left syndrome may be several things-a software/training issue, or a hardware one (regarding the hardware, I suggest replacing the slidelock and slidelock spring for starters and see if things improve).
Some shooters simply shoot better with some guns than with others. At the end of the day, there really isn’t a bad decision to be made here. But I would do some due diligence research before jumping from one platform to another-you might find that there are some easy and inexpensive fixes regarding your performance concerns with your Glock.
Best, Jon