The Heckler & Koch VP9 with Law Enforcement Ammunition







My H&K VP9 currently has a total of 650 rounds through it (mostly hand-loads, mostly) and it has not had any malfunctions to date.  As the intended role of the VP9 is that of a service/self-defense weapon, I decided it was time to see how the VP9 handled some of the top performing 9mm law enforcement/self-defense ammunition currently available, namely:

Federal 124 grain (+P) HST
Federal 147 grain HST
Winchester 124 grain (+P) Ranger-T
Winchester 147 grain Ranger-T.

All shooting for this evaluation was conducted from the bench at a distance of 25 yards.  All groups consisted of 10-shots and every shot in a group was included in the measurements.  

Prior to shooting the duty loads, I fired a 10-shot control group using hand-loads seated with the Hornady 125 grain HAP bullet.  That group had an extreme spread of 1.6” and a mean radius of 0.46”.  For those of you who might not be familiar with the mean radius, you can view an explanation and demonstration of it at the link below:

Mean Radius









The Federal Tactical HST ammunition was tested first.  The 124 grain (+P) HST produced a 10-shot group with an extreme spread of 2.1” and a mean radius of 0.64”.









The Federal 147 grain HST turned in a 10-shot group with an extreme spread of 2.4” with a mean radius of 0.91”.









Next up, the Winchester Ranger-T series loads.  The 124 grain (+P) Ranger-T delivered a 10-shot group with an extreme spread of 2.2” and a mean radius of 0.78”.









Lastly, the Winchester 147 grain Ranger-T load came in with an extreme spread of 2.6” and a mean radius of 0.82”.









The VP9 had zero malfunctions while testing the law enforcement ammunition.  The accuracy (technically, precision) results of the evaluation are summarized in the table below.










….

Thank you

I have a HKP30S 9mm and have shot 7 different LE loads.  I didn't measure the groups , but all were acceptable meaning I could use any of them for SD.

CDuty 135
HST 147
HST124
Ranger 124 T+P
Ranger 147B
Ranger 127gr+P+
Rem GSBonded 124gr+P

This is my second pistol that isn't picky . first being a 98 P229 in 40S&W
BTW what type of rest did you use?

Welcome back Molon !

I have always enjoyed your posts. Very helpful on many levels.

( as a matter of fact I smiled when I saw the posting date is current ! )

Thank You for sharing !

Exactly what I was thinking. Good to see you posting again, Molon!

Welcome back!

Some additional testing has shown that my particular VP9 really likes the standard pressure Federal 124 grain HST load.  10-shot groups at 25 yards have approached the accuracy level that I obtained with my control handload.