5,514 rounds
0 stoppages, 0 malfunctions, 0 parts breakages
Sorry for the tardy “Thursday” report. The HK P30 LEM and I traveled from Georgia to Maryland to Wisconsin and back to Maryland during Week Four and today is the first chance to post an update.
Week Four began with one last practice session in Georgia with my good friend (and ATF Special Agent) Todd Kennedy, who earned a pistol-training.com F.A.S.T. Challenge Coin. I played around with the grip options on the P30 that day and determined that using the Medium sized left panel causes me to ride the slide release lever, preventing the gun from locking back when empty. I’ve gone back to the Large panel on the left and have had no such problems since.
Also this week, I taught an abbreviated version of the Aim Fast, Hit Fast program to 22 SWAT cops at the Midwest Tactical Officer’s Association annual conference in Wisconsin. The P30 not only proved its ability to run in the pouring rain, but with absolutely zero maintenance (or even a wipe down) afterwards, the gun’s finish has proven to be impervious to the elements, as well. Not a speck of corrosion has appeared on the gun.
On the second day of the conference, the P30 was treated to much nicer weather during the Spartan Tactical Training Group’s Advanced Pistol 2: Rapid Deployment Pistol Operator course at MTOA. The lone DAO pistol among a crowd almost completely consisting of Glock shooters, the LEM proved itself more than capable by taking top honors during the class Dueling Tree shoot-off.
Over the course of this week, the gun digested everything from light 115gr American Eagle loads to M882 (full NATO spec U.S. military 9mm ball) and 124gr +p Gold Dot without a single stoppage of any kind. It even fired a couple hundred rounds of Blazer without any trouble.
With regards to the Blazer, what we’re learning is that if you keep the gun (and especially the chamber) clean, the gun will eat the aluminum-cased ammo without any problem. But if you are somewhat lackadaisical about your cleaning regimen, brass-cased ammo is the surer bet.
One addition this week was the SmartCarry® holster. With only one day of testing before the Wisconsin trip it was impossible to form a detailed opinion but so far I’ve been amazed at how comfortable the SmartCarry is with a full sized HK P30 and spare magazine. The concealability of the SmartCarry is unparalleled, allowing you to wear almost any type of clothing (no belt, tucked in shirt … no problem). The draw is definitely slower than what’s possible with a good appendix IWB like the Custom Carry Concepts Looper the P30 has been carried in for the past four weeks, but when circumstances dictate a concealed carry-unfriendly mode of dress, the SmartCarry allows you to wear a full size gun and plenty of spare ammunition instead of the normal fallback of a j-frame or mouse gun. More on the SmartCarry next week after a chance to use it for a few days and to put the drawstroke on a shot timer.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
Previous P30 Endurance Test posts at pistol-training.com:
- Week Three
- Week Two
- Week One
- Initial Report
Nice write up, I am going to try the large side panel insert as well, since my thumbs forward grip interferes with the slide stop as well.
Very classy, Todd. Letting the pistol take credit for reigning victorious over the Glock shooters. Truly a humble reversal of what we all know to be true – it’s the indian, not the arrow. Well done.
I look forward to your P30 update threads. Please don’t be tardy again, lest I go into mental atrophy. 😀
Tim
Todd,
Maybe I’m dense but I’m not sure I get this:
“With regards to the Blazer, what we’re learning is that if you keep the gun (and especially the chamber) clean, the gun will eat the aluminum-cased ammo without any problem. But if you are somewhat lackadaisical about your cleaning regimen, brass-cased ammo is the surer bet.”
Are you talking about the P30, or about pistols in general? If you haven’t had any stoppages, how would you know?
John — From Week One:
Gotcha, thanks.
Todd,
I hate to keep hijacking these threads with Sig talk, but you keep bringing up things about the P30 that I’m having issues with with the P226 and I figure you’re a good one to ask having worked for Sig in the past. 😉
I’m having issues with slide lock because the position of the slide release on the Sig is where I’m used to resting my strong hand thumb on guns with frame mount safeties like the USP. I’ve been told in the past to flag that thumb up on Sigs to avoid this, but I have such large hands that I’m still bumping the release every 2 or 3 mags. I’m considering just wrapping my stronghand thumb around the ball of my weakhand, but was wondering if you had any better suggestions.
Thanks again!
Todd – still looking for a comparison of the P30 versus M&P, ala me Rogers suggestion. Do you have any plans to take the P30 out and shoot an IDPA qualifier with it? Would like to see how it stacks up against your personal best M&P qualifier time.
commandar — When I was shooting SIGs (and it applies to some folks with the long HK P30 slide release, too) all I did was shift my right thumb outboard by half an inch. It still rests atop the slide of the palm/weak thumb.
John Taylor — I may shoot the IDPA Classifier with it at some point, but it would still be somewhat apples to oranges because now I carry in an appendix holster (which isn’t legal for IDPA).
Recommend that you shoot an “informal” classifier using appendix w/ cover, and let us know what the times were for comparison purposes. I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m personally not as concerned w/ you meeting the technical IDPA classifier requirements as I am in seeing how the pistol performs in the same hands on the same course of fire as compared to a known quality and quantity, the M&P. If you shoot the classifier from cover, appendix or otherwise, I think it will be a fair enough comparison…not exact but fair. Something like that would be a great way to compare the LEM trigger against a more traditional DAO trigger. Just a thought…or two…:-)