The P7\u2019s most distinctive feature was its fire control mechanism. It was a squeeze-cocker: striker-fired, its striker was at rest and its trigger floating dead until the shooter\u2019s hand depressed the lever on the front of the grip frame. This cocked the striker, with an end protruding from the rear of the slide as a cocking indicator, and now<\/em> the trigger was alive \u2014 with one of the crispest, sweetest trigger pulls ever found in a service pistol, since the trigger mechanism had been relieved of any cocking mission. The original PSP came with a butt-heel release, its lever exposed; HK soon offered a sleeker second generation with the grip reshaped to protect the lever. I opted for the upgrade with my early specimen and never regretted it.<\/p>\n Developed for German police, the HK P7 got a huge boost when it was adopted by the elite GSG-9 counterterrorist unit. In the US, it got another adrenaline hit of sales when New Jersey chose the M8 for their state troopers. The original PSP and P7\u2019s butt-heel release was anathema to American cops accustomed to the side-button mag release of the Colt 1911, the Browning Hi-Power, and the S&W 39 that was adopted by the Illinois State Police, the first troopers in America to go auto from the traditional service revolver. NJSP was roughly tied with Connecticut, which chose the Beretta 92, for the second state police agency to transfer the service revolver from the police armory to the police museum, circa 1983. The NJSP instructors at the Academy at Sea Girt told HK they\u2019d adopt it if they could re-design it so the support hand didn\u2019t have to rip an empty magazine past the butt heel release. Unable to install an American-style release button due to the squeeze-cocker design, HK came up with an ambidextrous flipper behind the trigger guard. This became what I believe to be the most popular version of the pistol, the P7 M8, the latter figure connoting its magazine capacity. The Jersey troopers loved everything about it, except that occasionally the seat belt crossing the holster would hit the flipper and drop the magazine. More than one trooper there told me the protocol became \u201cPut vehicle in park, unfasten seat belt, use thumb to check that magazine is still in, exit the vehicle.\u201d But they loved it despite all that, for its endearing qualities of shooting, not to mention its sleek, comfortable ease of plainclothes\/off-duty carry.<\/p>\n The higher capacity S&W Model 59 had led the charge to \u201chigh-capacity wonder-nines\u201d and some looked askance at the eight-round magazine of HK\u2019s strange-looking 9mm. NJSP addressed that issue by issuing four spare magazines in a quad pouch. Utah\u2019s state troopers took a different approach: they waited until HK came out with a fat-gripped version with a double-stack 13-round magazine, the P7 M13.<\/p>\n Over the years HK made the clunky 10+1 .40 caliber P7 M10 and the smaller P7 K3 in .32 ACP, .380, and .22 LR. They even made half a dozen prototypes of the never-offered P7 M7 in .45 ACP. \u00a0However, the single most popular by far was the original 9mm 8+1 configuration. For a deeper dive into the mechanics of the P7 series check out Ian McCollum\u2019s Forgotten Weapons entry, here:<\/p>\n![\"Mas](\"https:\/\/gunmagwarehouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/HK-P7-Mas-mag-MFA.jpg\")