H&K VP9

[Dustie]

Would anyone have pictures of their VP9 with a mounted torch unit? Trying to get some inspiration for mine.

 

P.

[NonEx]

Since it is a replica of the real one, Google's got you covered

 

https://www.google.se/search?q=vp9+light&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjYrdOFn-3TAhVMKywKHdvFBDcQ_AUICigB&biw=1920&bih=1070

[Dustie]

Thanks.

 

P.

[CALLAHAN_88]

[Dj_komodo]

Would anyone have pictures of their VP9 with a mounted torch unit? Trying to get some inspiration for mine.

 

P.

 

I have the Surefire XC-1, X300, X300U, X300V, Inforce APL, Insight M3 & Streamlight TLR-1.

The XC-1 fits the VP9 a lot better than the rest in my eyes:

Edited May 14, 2017 by Dj_komodo

[NonEx]

Really glad I got myself that XC1 recently :-D

 

So cool!

[mimesis]

Just received the grey frame/"tactical" version.

 

I can confirm: long sequence of numbers on chamber/ejection port and repeated beneath it on the slide are completely missing.

 

In very small white print on right side of frame just above picatinny rail, added text Licensed Trademark of Heckler & Koch GmbH

 

Most else seems the same.  Red dot "pistol cocked" indicator works as advertised.

 

On the example I received, it was a real struggle to get the slide back on to the frame.  The spring guide needed a lot of wiggling and jiggling to allow the take-down lever to return to locked position.

 

Currently--brand new--when attempting to rack, slide in battery sometimes puts up a lot of resistance, and then finally releases and racks OK.  But it already seems to be getting smoother.

 

Any other questions?

Edited May 15, 2017 by mimesis

[NonEx]

Someone else mentioned that to me about issues getting the slide back on the frame.

 

Wondering if you don't have the disassembly lever rotated all the way down so that it gets caught up on that?

 

My gray one is inbound from AsiaAirsoft and then I am rebuilding mine with Asia Deluxe Edition Crusader slide, gray lower and A1A SilencerCo threaded outer barrel ;-)

[mimesis]

I tried every angle of that cam that the take-down lever controls.  Completely horizontal, and slightly angled in both directions.  Finally it was a question of holding the slide back under tension (not quite locked on the slide lock), aligning the tiny cut-out on the slide to the round base of the take-down level, and then with my third hand pushing the tip of the spring guide back and forth while simultaneously trying to return the lever to the locked position.

[NonEx]

I'll have to see if it's any different on my gray VP9 when it arrives.

[Inspector]

I recently got one of the new "Asia only" deluxe models in black. Having some of the same issues getting the slide back on as well. But overall not a bad gun. Thinking the Grey model is in the near future for me!

[NonEx]

Strange...

 

http://youtu.be/RVGnkO4nJYc?t=1030

 

I put mine back on here, is there any particular part/sub-step there where yours get caught up?

 

Granted I have just installed the Crusader steel takedown lever and Crusader steel recoil spring guide in this video but I didn't have any issues with the stock one either.

Edited May 16, 2017 by NonEx

[mimesis]

Slide goes on OK, and easy to position correctly.  It's all a question of swinging the take-down lever into locked position.  The cam inside the frame that the lever controls is hitting against something on the underside of the slide--either the end of the recoil guide or the front of the underside of the chamber.  When it was finally "just so" the lever swung back up easily.  It doesn't seem like something you can force--it's either all in alignment or not.

Edited May 16, 2017 by mimesis

[mimesis]

 

Currently--brand new--when attempting to rack, slide in battery sometimes puts up a lot of resistance, and then finally releases and racks OK.  But it already seems to be getting smoother.

 

 

It's the large silver hammer/striker unit that's putting up a good deal of resistance.  If you do a second rack without firing, there's minimal resistance.  When you rack after firing, there's a good deal of stubbornness to get it to move from battery; once the striker is in the "down" position, the rest of the rack travel/movement is perfectly smooth.

[mimesis]

Getting the slide back on the frame.  (With some comments on the stiff racking motion.)

 

I risked taking the slide off, and this time I could not--initially--get it back on for love nor money.

 

While it was off, I looked at the striker (hammer) again.  It's larger than on most striker-fired pistols, and engages with a vertical place inserted in the slide just to the rear of the BBU.  But what is most remarkable is that it's fitted with an extremely stiff spring (at least mine is), so that you really notice it when pushing the striker down with your thumb.  When you push it down by pulling back on the slide (and hence pulling that vertical plate back against it) there's a lot of resistance until it starts to rotate rearward and downward.  I don't know if this spring is typical of all the production.

 

Anyway, back to the slide.  I took the barrel assembly out and found the tiny spring on the underside of the outer barrel/hop-up chamber that attaches one to the other.  With tweezers I uncoupled them, allowing me to remove the inner barrel+hop-up chamber from the outer barrel.

 

The hop-up chamber has a "leg" on its underside that creates a slot that fits over a cross-member that is part of the metal inner frame assembly.  The slide is on the pistol, this has the effect of coupling the hop-up chamber to the frame so that it absolutely cannot move.  The outer barrel then "floats" on the inner barrel+chamber attached and controlled by that tiny spring, allowing for its motion when the slide is racked.

 

And so to the solution.  When you reinstall the slide on the frame, that tiny spring is conspiring to pull the hop-up chamber forward.  But the semi-circular locking cam inside the frame that is controlled by the take-down lever needs to rotate into the space immediately in front of the chamber, and if the chamber is being pulled forward, it will block the motion of the cam, leading to swear words and frustration.

 

So the solution--so simple!--is this.  When you've slid on the slide and locked it back, aligning the cut-out on the side of the slide with the take-down lever, you poke your little (aka pinky) finger inside the muzzle of the outer barrel and push the inner barrel back a little.  This of course has the effect of pushing the hop-up chamber back, which allows the take-down lever to rotate freely into the locked position.  Et viola!

 

Thought it was worth recording this...

Edited May 17, 2017 by mimesis

[NonEx]

Stupid question but do you pull the hammer after removing the slide from the frame and then not cock the hammer back down when trying to put the slide back on?

[mimesis]

Perhaps I made my last post overly complicated.  Also, the two issues are entirely unrelated.

 

To recap: if the take-down lever won't return to the locked position when reinstalling the slide on the frame, push the tip of the inner barrel in with your finger or another suitable object.

 

And on the VP9 grey model that I got, the hammer/striker has a very stiff spring installed as standard, which makes the initial part of the racking motion more effortful than you find with almost all GBB pistols (unless ferocious after-market springs have been installed).

 

Question: yes, the hammer/striker is depressed when the slide is racked in preparation for slide removal.  Likewise, if you've dry-fired the frame while the slide is off, you can depress it with your finger or else it will again be depressed when the slide is put back on.

 

My point was this.  When racking the slide, the hammer/striker is rotated backwards and downwards by that vertical plate behind the BBU.  That plate will engage the hammer/striker very near its pivot point, and while I don't know much about physics, trying to move something with strong spring resistance very close to its point of rotation will not be entirely easy.

 

Again, I'm assuming that on earlier iterations of the PPQ and even on other examples of the new grey-frame model, the racking motion wasn't noticeably different from other GBB pistols.  So I may be dealing with an anomaly.

[mimesis]

P.S.  I finally watched all the way through the video linked in post #54, which is very illuminating.  Among other things, he addresses the strange design of the striker/hammer, the plate that it engages with (which in fact flaps, needing to flap up as the slide returns to battery to allow the topmost part of the striker to pass underneath it).  At another point he also shows the internal design of the mechanism that controls the striker, and how stiff it is.  However, for him, this apparently results in a heavy trigger pull, rather than impacting the racking.  Definitely worth a view for its critique of the overall design.  I'd been tempted to get a Dark Duke or Taitan slide, but am now completely dissuaded.

[Mr Foxhound]

Ordered a grey frame VP9 from Ehobby and its been stuck in customs for two weeks.

Edited May 25, 2017 by Mr Foxhound

[NonEx]

Mine is ultra slow to arrive as well.. Been about 2 weeks now too and not even arrived in Sweden yet.

[NonEx]

Well, speak of the devil!

 

Postman just woke me up to deliver me my Umarex HK VP9 gray pistol

Edited May 26, 2017 by NonEx

[NonEx]

Piccy pic!

 

 

I can confirm that getting the slide back on the gray model is more difficult than on my original one.

 

Looking at it real quick it appears that the alignment/angle of the slide lock lever is off. 

 

So to get it working properly when putting the slide back on it should be rotated to 85-87-ish degrees rather than a straight 90 and it works a lot better

 

I think the gray one is based on the first release Euro models and maybe this was a design flaw that they fixed in the Asia black editions later on in the production.

Edited May 26, 2017 by NonEx

[mimesis]

Piccy pic!

 

 

I can confirm that getting the slide back on the gray model is more difficult than on my original one.

 

Looking at it real quick it appears that the alignment/angle of the slide lock lever is off. 

 

So to get it working properly when putting the slide back on it should be rotated to 85-87-ish degrees rather than a straight 90 and it works a lot better

 

I think the gray one is based on the first release Euro models and maybe this was a design flaw that they fixed in the Asia black editions later on in the production.

 

I don't think the alignment/angle is so much the problem, as the tiny spring that connects the outer barrel to the inner barrel+hop-up chamber.

 

The spring has the effect of pulling the hop-up chamber forward, which then blocks the rotation of the cam controlled by the take-down lever.

 

Pushing the inner barrel back with your pinky finger while rotating the lever resolves the problem.

[Mr Foxhound]

Weird I was just going to ask about this. Pushing the barrel like Mimesis said worked perfect.

 

Finally got the gun after 3 weeks in customs.

Edited June 1, 2017 by Mr Foxhound

[NonEx]

So...

 

There are some strange differences between the black Asia Edition and gray tactical version.

 

I tried putting the spring guide and inner barrel assembly of my black one in my gray one. No go

Had to use the gray inner barrel assembly in the gray lower for it to work.

 

And as stated by others the gray model gave me hell trying to get the slide and barrel back on.

Had to do the poking of the inner barrel trick to get it on there. Never had to do that on the black one... ?

 

Tried switching it up and using gray parts in black lower, and vice versa, and there are definitely some minor differences in the design of the hop up and locking mechanism.

 

And get this... The magazine in the gray model is thicker than the ones from my black one!

 

I noticed one of the magazines were a bit slow to drop out of the black lower.

 

Measured my 3 magazines in 3 different places (width) and the magazine that came with the gray gun was anywhere from 0.3mm - 0.9mm thicker. Da hell?

 

So yah... Gray VP9s are first edition Euro models and the black Asia Edition models are refined second editions IMHO. The "New Asia Edition" are probably, judging by the lack of full markings, Euro first edition VP9s too.

 

Oh and there's no cleaning rod in the gray VP9 box either

 

 

But I managed to build my super duper H&K VP9 tactical gray Deluxe Asia Edition with Crusader steel parts after some fiddling (which I have on video BTW)

 

Recorded unboxing of gray VP9. Comparison of gray vs. black Asia Edition and also installation video of the Ace 1 Arms barrel and slide/lower swap etc.

 

 

Some very *suitcasey* iPhone preview pics of my Umarex/VFC H&K VP9 tactical gray Asia Deluxe Custom Edition with Crusader steel parts 

 

Not a fan of the suppressor nor XC1 light on it. Gonna keep it clean.

 

But damn, dat H&K VP9 box doe

 

Umarex/VFC H&K VP9 Asia Deluxe Edition black slide with Crusader steel parts

Crusader Umarex/VFC H&K VP9 steel takedown lever

Crusader Umarex/VFC H&K VP9 recoil spring guide spring

Umarex/VFC H&K VP9 tactical gray with threaded outer barrel lower

Ace 1 Arms Umarex/VFC H&K VP9 SilencerCo threaded outer barrel replica

Ace 1 Arms SilencerCo Ti-Rant suppressor replica

ACM SureFirex XC1 weapons light replica

RS H&K VP9 pistol case

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 5, 2017 by NonEx