75,000 rounds
10 stoppages, 0 malfunctions, 4 parts breakages
75,000 rounds down the barrel! Pictured above is Wayne Weber, President of HK-USA as he fires the big Seven Five Oh Oh Oh. He even wore a red hat to celebrate the holiday.
With the help of some water jugs (and a very understanding range staff) we captured the 124gr +p Federal HST bullet, which you see pictured with the gun in the photo at left. You can click on the photo for a higher-resolution version. There’s a very long story behind the whole photo shoot, but it’s very embarrassing because someone forgot to bring memory cards for the camera so we won’t discuss it. Ever.
The pistol actually fired 933 rounds that day as I got in a few final hours of practice before hitting the magic number. With a great big shooting bay all to myself, I had the chance to do a lot of drills that are normally impossible on a single lane.
- I ran El Presidente in 7.36 clean.
- I shot the M4Carbine.net “Timed Pistol Drill” in 5.04 seconds clean.
The P30 has surprisingly little wear given the fact that it’s gone 75,000 rounds and only been cleaned thirteen times during the entire test. At right, you can see the minor wear to the finish of the barrel (click photo for larger version). The frame rails look like new. The action — sear, trigger bar, disconnector, etc. — have definitely polished their contact points smooth but look perfectly fine with no metal being moved or removed. Internally, you’d be hard pressed to tell the gun has been fired far in excess of typical handgun service life requirements.
The external finish shows its age in some spots, primarily from holster wear. Firing 75,000 rounds means the gun was probably drawn from a holster somewhere in the neighborhood of 25,000 times between live fire and dry fire.
The picture at left (click for larger view) shows some of these wear spots, particularly on the slide release lever. The two slide release levers show almost identical amounts of wear even though the right (pictured above) is almost never used while the left lever is what I use to drop the slide after almost every reload. Again, this points to holster wear as the real culprit.
Here are the final numbers:
- 75,000 rounds
- 236 days
- 110 range trips (avg 682 rounds per trip)
- 420 total hours on the range (avg 179 rounds per hour)
- 15 different types of ammunition from 8 different manufacturers
- gun cleaned a total of 13 times between the first shot and the last (avg 5,769 rounds between cleanings)
Ironically, the long awaited Garrity AIWB (Appendix Inside the Waistband) holster finally arrived… the day after the 75,000 test ended!
Obviously, that leaves us with just one option. We’ll have to extend the test. So, thanks to the continued support of HK-USA, we’re going to be pushing the P30 to 100,000 rounds!
The endurance test pistol will be taking a holiday between now and SHOT Show in Las Vegas this coming January. HK has quite a nice display set up to show off the 75,000 round gun. The gun will be locked up behind the glass, however. It’s still the gun I carry every day, after all, and I don’t want twenty thousand people screwing around with it!
So P30 Thursday will be on hiatus until after the SHOT Show. Once the pistol is back from Las Vegas, we’ll start up again with a goal of reaching 100,000 before 1-May-2010, which will be the one year anniversary for the beginning of the test.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
Previous P30 Endurance Test posts at pistol-training.com:
- Week Thirty-Two
- Week Thirty-One
- Week Thirty
- Week Twenty-Nine
- Week Twenty-Eight
- Week Twenty-Seven
- Week Twenty-Six
- Week Twenty-Five
- Week Twenty-Four
- Week Twenty-Three
- Week Twenty-Two
- Week Twenty-One
- Week Twenty
- Week Nineteen
- Week Seventeen
- Week Sixteen
- Week Fifteen
- Week Fourteen
- Week Thirteen
- Week Twelve
- Week Eleven
- Week Ten
- Week Nine
- Week Eight
- Week Seven
- Week Six
- Week Five
- Week Four
- Week Three
- Week Two
- Week One
- Initial Report
Awesome work, Todd!
Do you know when will the Garrity AIWB holster be available for purchase?
Need more info on the IWB Appendix holster!
You guys are too funny. “Seventy-five thousand rounds blah blah blah AIWB holster awesome!” 8)
I’ll have more details on the holster once I’ve been able to wear it around the house and around town for a few days. Given the complexity of the design (the final version will be made from cowhide, suede, kydex, a special foam, kangaroo leather lining, and optionally some parts in horse hide) to make sure every single part works ideally, be prepared for a pretty steep price… But if the holster works as intended, it’s going to be hands down the most concealable, comfortable, and functional leather AIWB in the universe.
Awesome Todd, congrats!
Nicely done dude. You going to keep that recovered round? Or maybe auction it off for charity? Did you do a final accuracy test?
Boo… They couldn’t find a way to incorporate some carbon fiber, titanium and tungsten into that holster design too, what a bunch of slackers…
that black-on-black hat is pretty sweet.
ooh good call on the hat! I wonder……..
Is there a way to easily review the stoppages and parts breakages?
Brian — Other than going through the P30 Thursday threads, not at this point. When we finally finally finally finish at 100,000 I’ll do a full review.
Have you had any issues with the slide not locking back after the last round in a magazine is fired? It may be my grip but i have a consistent problem with that and my p30. Before you ask, the mags are good…they allow for lock back, when i pull the slide all the way back.
Blake — I can guarantee it’s the slide release lever being pressed by your hand(s). If you read back through the P30 Thursday entries, you’ll see it’s not uncommon.
I have read all of the P30 Thursday updates and many of your M4C posts…. great stuff! I am up to speed on the P30 variants and that going from V2 to V4 is changing the firing pin block spring. Can you post the HK V4 part number for that? I got nowhere with HK customer service yesterday and its not clear to me which part to order in the P Series Op Manual. Many thanks, you do great things for all of us following you.
Jim — I don’t know the part number, sorry. But it is the standard (V3) firing pin block spring if that helps at all.
Brian…
Week 25 has some of the info you’re looking for… especially about the stoppages.
What is the latest news on the Heinie improved version of the P30 sights? Are they still locked in by the set screws or are they changing to a friction fit?
Jim — Both the front and rear have set screws, but they’re not necessary at least from the examples I have. In fact, I had to file my front sight to size because it was too tight to fit in the P30’s dovetail.
I just spoke to HK Customer Service regarding the change from LEM V2 to V4. The firing pin block spring is $5. Also, they said that they could do the change for something like $20-$30 if I send them the slide (no need to send the entire pistol which raises the cost due to paper work and legal ramifications). Has anyone done this change on their own? How difficult is it?
Thanks,
Dave
Todd,
I too am having the same problem as Blake. My slide will not lock back after firing the last shot. It will lock back manually on a empty magazine. I know it is not my grip cause it does it freestyle, strong hand, and weak hand only. It happens with all of the magazines. It has been shot approx. 3500 rnds, and until recently ran flawlessly.
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Marty
Mary — I’m willing to bet it’s your grip. Try this: shoot the gun one handed again, but be certain that you are closing your thumb down on the gun like making a fist (as opposed to having it straight forward along the frame).
Dangit Todd, you were right. I was sure I was not putting my thumb on the slide release, but I was just barely touching it. I mean barely barely touching it. Dang it is sensitive. I guess since I’ve been shooting my G34 so much, that I’ve acquired a hire grip than I used to have on the P30. Oh well, guess I’ll just have to concentrate more when firing the P30. Thanks again for the help and quick response. I really wish I would have been able to attend the class you had here in January, maybe I’ll get to do another class if you ever come back to Memphis. Thanks again
Marty — No worries. Glad it helped. The P30’s slide release is so much more pronounced than the G34’s, it’s no surprise you’re contacting it. With just a little practice and tuning your grip, the problem will go away. Also, you might want to play around with different sized grip panel configurations to find the one that gives you the best purchase on the gun without interfering with the controls.
gostei muito da hk p 30 9mm e muito boa e bonita