P30 Issues

[geoff]

I eagerly awaited the release of the P30 last year and I ended up being one of the first to buy one. On paper this gun is my ideal gun. I want something that is SA/DA, ambidextrous, lightweight, has a rail and is high quality. After only putting a few hundred rounds through this gun it has left me a little disappointed though. Here is a list of problems I have encountered with it:

1) There is something wrong with my trigger. After I dry fire with a snapcap the hammer ends up fully decocked like it should be. Once it is in this fully decocked position if the hammer is partially pulled back (either by pulling it back manually or slightly pulling the trigger) there is a slight clicking sound and the hammer cocks back a couple millimeters further than it should be in the decocked position. The ONLY way to get the hammer to its fully decocked position again is to dry fire the gun. The decocker button will not do it. I can actually see the metal piece when the frame is off the gun that clicks in front of the hammer. I'm not sure how to describe this problem any further or why it would be happening, but I do know that the gun did not do this when I purchased it NIB.

2) I have had a few stovepipe jams with this gun. This only seems to happen with weaker rounds (Remmington I got at Walmart), but never the less I was hoping it wouldn't jam with any type of ammo. I've owned other guns that would reliably cycle with anything I felt like shooting including crappy reloads.

3) The finish on the slide levers on this gun is pretty bad. My gun has been babied and the finish started coming off almost as soon as I took it out of the box.

4) The slide doesn't always lock back after the final round. I know this is a common problem with these guns, and I am willing to accept it. I just wanted to note that my gun does it, and that in a situation where you need to reload quickly it isn't ideal.

5) The slide lever on my gun rattles around quite noticeably whenever I move the gun around. Not really a big deal, but still worth mentioning.

6) When I first brought it home the first thing I did was read the manual. I wanted to learn the proper way of field stripping the gun. The manual told me that the slide release lever needed to be completely removed. Since this was my first HK I only learned this was wrong by posting a question on here.


Despite all of these problems I still really like this gun and plan on keeping it around unless I find something that better suits my needs. I just expected more from a polymer gun of this price.

Anyway, I didn't start this thread to bash HK. I still love HK weapons and will continue to be an HK enthusiast. I'm just giving the gun an honest review. I'd also like some insight on what to do about these issues. In particular the first one I listed. Has anyone else experienced this? I really don't like having to dry fire the gun to fully decock it.

[Tspeis]

I eagerly awaited the release of the P30 last year and I ended up being one of the first to buy one. On paper this gun is my ideal gun. I want something that is SA/DA, ambidextrous, lightweight, has a rail and is high quality. After only putting a few hundred rounds through this gun it has left me a little disappointed though. Here is a list of problems I have encountered with it:

1) There is something wrong with my trigger. After I dry fire with a snapcap the hammer ends up fully decocked like it should be. Once it is in this fully decocked position if the hammer is partially pulled back (either by pulling it back manually or slightly pulling the trigger) there is a slight clicking sound and the hammer cocks back a couple millimeters further than it should be in the decocked position. The ONLY way to get the hammer to its fully decocked position again is to dry fire the gun. The decocker button will not do it. I can actually see the metal piece when the frame is off the gun that clicks in front of the hammer. I'm not sure how to describe this problem any further or why it would be happening, but I do know that the gun did not do this when I purchased it NIB.
- This is normal. The pistol has a hammer intercept notch that keeps the hammer from actually striking the firing pin durng decocking.

2) I have had a few stovepipe jams with this gun. This only seems to happen with weaker rounds (Remmington I got at Walmart), but never the less I was hoping it wouldn't jam with any type of ammo. I've owned other guns that would reliably cycle with anything I felt like shooting including crappy reloads.
- Are you by any chance using Remington UMC? If so, try running some decent ammo through the gun and share the results with us.

3) The finish on the slide levers on this gun is pretty bad. My gun has been babied and the finish started coming off almost as soon as I took it out of the box.
- Completely normal. Read around the boards a bit, you'll find plenty of info on that subject.

4) The slide doesn't always lock back after the final round. I know this is a common problem with these guns, and I am willing to accept it. I just wanted to note that my gun does it, and that in a situation where you need to reload quickly it isn't ideal.
- Since you say you're using weak ammo, I'd suggest running some better ammo through the gun as stated above. There's a possibility that your firing grip may be causing this. Check your thumb positioning to make sure you're not holding the release down during firing. If that doesn't do it, it could be your magazine spring. Does the slide fail to lock back with all your mags?

5) The slide lever on my gun rattles around quite noticeably whenever I move the gun around. Not really a big deal, but still worth mentioning.
- Non issue.

6) When I first brought it home the first thing I did was read the manual. I wanted to learn the proper way of field stripping the gun. The manual told me that the slide release lever needed to be completely removed. Since this was my first HK I only learned this was wrong by posting a question on here.


Despite all of these problems I still really like this gun and plan on keeping it around unless I find something that better suits my needs. I just expected more from a polymer gun of this price.
Not problems really. There's a plethora of information available on this site. Feel free to read around, you'll learn quite a bit. :)

Anyway, I didn't start this thread to bash HK. I still love HK weapons and will continue to be an HK enthusiast. I'm just giving the gun an honest review. I'd also like some insight on what to do about these issues. In particular the first one I listed. Has anyone else experienced this? I really don't like having to dry fire the gun to fully decock it.

Tspeis

[geoff]

- This is normal. The pistol has a hammer intercept notch that keeps the hammer from actually striking the firing pin durng decocking.

Well if it's normal then that's nice to know. I thought I had a problem with the gun. For some reason I was pretty sure it didn't always do this. I just haven't experienced such an obvious click on other guns where it keeps the hammer that far back. It's almost as if I have three pulls to learn instead of two.

- Are you by any chance using Remington UMC? If so, try running some decent ammo through the gun and share the results with us.

I had this happen with some type of Remington I bought at Walmart... I forget what it was. I also had it happen with some Winchester target rounds. I have run a variety of ammo through the gun and it does fine with the higher quality stuff. I'm just disappointed that it jams with some ammo. My other guns never do this. Decent ammo or not.

- Completely normal. Read around the boards a bit, you'll find plenty of info on that subject.

It might be typical, but it is still a quality control issue. If a certain make of car has paint that chips off the cars they make it doesn't make it okay just because it consistently chips off of all of the cars and not just some of them.

- Since you say you're using weak ammo, I'd suggest running some better ammo through the gun as stated above. There's a possibility that your firing grip may be causing this. Check your thumb positioning to make sure you're not holding the release down during firing. If that doesn't do it, it could be your magazine spring. Does the slide fail to lock back with all your mags?

It's only happened a couple times so far. It happened with decent ammo though. I'm not sure if it happens with both mags or not. I only have two and they are both brand new. You might be right about my thumb though. I'll check the positioning next time I shoot it. This is the first gun I've shot with large slide release levers on both sides, so you might be right.

- Non issue.

Yeah, I guess as far as the gun's function goes it doesn't really matter. From what I've been reading some of them do this and some of them do not. It just sucks to have something rattling around on the side of the gun.





Not problems really. There's a plethora of information available on this site. Feel free to read around, you'll learn quite a bit.

Thanks for the response.

Geoff

[KURT]

Geoff, the metal hardness of the extractor and the slide cath / release lever prevents them to take the bluing and other dyes effectively. That is the main reason for them loosing some color and getting a little bit purple.

I had the same slide catching problems with my P2K.
I changed my magazine springs with XP Wolff springs and the problem solved.

I do confirm that the HK pistols like hotter ammo better, too.

Just calm down and enjoy your HK.

[geoff]

Geoff, the metal hardness of the extractor and the slide cath / release lever prevents them to take the bluing and other dyes effectively. That is the main reason for them loosing some color and getting a little bit purple.

Ahhh so the metal used is better than metal that stays black? Cool... I didn't think I'd find an answer for this one that I liked, but I did.

I had the same slide catching problems with my P2K.
I changed my magazine springs with XP Wolff springs and the problem solved.

You'd think the most expensive magazines on the market would have springs that functioned correctly out of the box. If I keep having this issue I'll look into the after market springs though. Thanks for the solution!

I do confirm that the HK pistols like hotter ammo better, too.

Yeah, I can live with this. I guess I was just expecting too much. As long as I'm not going to get a jam when it counts it's not a big deal. It's just hard to be sure it won't do it with the good ammo since I hate practicing with the $1+ each rounds I use for self defense. It gets expensive.

Just calm down and enjoy your HK.

Haha okay fair enough. Like I said I still do enjoy the gun and I don't plan on getting rid of it anytime soon. :D

Geoff

[Sobriquet]

You don't need to use the really expensive stuff, Geoff. There's a happy medium. Try the Winchester White Box first (often called WWB here on the forums). It can be found in Wal-Mart. I've had good results with it in .45 ACP with my HK45. It's cheap.

Beyond that, I'll leave it to the board to make a recommendation. I've never really had to purchase 9mm.

[CyberH&K]

For ammo buy the Eagle 124. My P30 loves it. Plus I have 3000 rounds thru her. I've had zero problems since I stopped using BB 115. But that was many rounds ago.

[terrible1one3]

The P30 should not be picky about ammo. AT ALL

I cram anything in it from aluminum cased CCI, WWB, Ranger +P+, Independence in 124 and 115.

I have 1k rounds into my P30 without one issue of any kind. Never has the slide not locked, never has it failed in any manor.

I did not notice any difference between the 124 and 115 other than the 124 felt a little bit more like my HK45. Accuracy I shot the 115 better but many people experience the opposite... I think it is a moot point between 115 and 124 factory ammo.

I could probably go to the mis fire box (a box the ranger keeps to put rounds that did not go boom when the primer was struck) and pick out all the 9mm rounds that failed, put them in the P30 and I bet they would all go boom no problem.

First I would call HK, get a hold of them, ask them about the stuff. They may want you to send it in, they will shoot it, then send it back and say it is fine, maybe polish up some parts but I don't know, no experience with any firearms customer service.

If I were you I would be quite peeved, the HK should be dead on reliable. Like both of mine are.

If you don't want to send it in, find a good gunsmith and let him work on it, clean up internals, polish, clean, lube and that might help with issues.

If I pulled the trigger on my P30 or HK45 and it didn't fire. I would be extremely surprised.

Maybe these are fairly tall expectations, but if the glocks and smiths I've owned before can obtain pretty much 100% reliability I expect nothing less from HK.

You don't exactly get what you pay for with Polymers as you do with the 1911's it seems. You can't base your expectations on what's paid, you have to look at the company, their reputation, and the response of their community, all that while keeping the focus on the firearm itself. HKPro posts are what makes me think my gun should have 100% reliability, there are a ton of people on this board, and if all the people post that have issues, well then there aren't that many issues with that gun compared to the general population.

I hate to use company slogans but you shouldn't compromise, because HK is Perfection... to hell and back... perfection.

[Bentonville]

I started out using Blazer Brass and the gun wouldn't eject forcefully. The brass usually ended up on my cap bill. I used 100 rounds of Fiocchi then changed to Federal American Eagle, at the suggestion of Travis Teague at HK Trussville and never have had one problem after about 1500 rounds thus far. I experimented with various combinations of side and rear panels and finally arrived at M on the right, s all others and this brought my out the best natural pointing/sighting grip for me. Before I thought the gun was off but of course, no way with HK. Others have said it, none of your problems are really problems. Relax and get to know your gun. Even mag. springs are fine in all of mine. Leave them fully loaded for a couple of days in your safe and then try it. Worked for me, that's all I can say about it.
Good luck. You have one of the best firearms available today, in my opinion, which is worth absolutely nothing.

[geoff]

If I were you I would be quite peeved, the HK should be dead on reliable. Like both of mine are.

Maybe these are fairly tall expectations, but if the glocks and smiths I've owned before can obtain pretty much 100% reliability I expect nothing less from HK.

Exactly!!! This is the way I was looking at it. People on here can imply I am a moron for using weak ammo, but that's not the point. I would never use bad ammo in a self defense situation unless it was all I had. My point is this is one of the most expensive polymer guns ever made, and it should be little more consistent. Much lesser guns have been able to shoot pretty much any round I feel like feeding them with 100% reliability.

The problem is from what I have been reading on here my case is not an isolated one. There have been others with the same problems as me. It seems like jams with weaker ammo are fairly common. It also seems like the slide occasionally not locking back and the slide releasing on its own are very common issues. Some P30s seem to have the rattling slide release lever issue and some do not. This all makes me wonder why these things are coming from Germany NIB in such inconsistent conditions. Why do some of them work reliably 100% of the time and other have the quirks mine does?

I guess the good news is none of these common problems would actually prevent the gun from firing. If I ever had a failure of that type I would immediately find a different gun to rely on. I just don't get why my HK has all these minor annoyances. Why should I have to choose my ammo so carefully and worry about an aftermarket mag spring on what is supposed to be the most reliable gun in my safe?

I have given the gun a very thorough cleaning and lubricating. I'll probably go shoot it sometime in the next couple of days. Right now I have a white box of Winchester target rounds, a white box of Winchester "self defense" and a box of Blazer. Basically the cheap stuff you can get at Walmart, but this is what I like shooting for fun. I get to shoot more when it costs me less. For actual self defense situations I have some Hydrashock and Corbon. I don't plan on shooting much of that stuff though. I also don't plan on buying anymore Remington. Next time I buy ammo I'll probably pick up a couple boxes of Federal AE depending on how it's priced.


Thanks to all who have replied so far