Holy Mackeral!  This is a great gun!  I decided that I had had enough of working on my POS truck, so I packed up a couple of guns and headed for the range.  I had just bought the P9S at the Hampton, VA gunshow for $350 (yes I'm bragging) and hand't had a chanse to shoot it yet.  I decided to bring along it's cousin the P7M8 and a Sig P226 as a control.

It's an indoor range, so conditions were excellent and constant through out the session.  I used your basic no-name range ammo, 9mmFMJ, 115gr.

First up was the P7M8.  I figured I should warm up first, and the P7 has always been a constnt performer.  At 7yds there was only a ragged hole and a couple flyers left (in the 8 ring).  At 25yds, max for this range, I was able to turn in 3-4 inch groups, standing off-hand (no support using a modified weaver).  I shoot at a speed that would constitute "rapid fire" on most ranges, though not anything like the rapidity of IPSC or IPDA between shots.  I was throwing a couple here and there, but I was calling those due to poor trigger control.  This has been about average for this gun.  As any P7 owner knows, they are very easy to shoot.

I was then ready to try the P9S.  It only came with the one mag, so it was a bit slower firing.  The trigger is suprisingly good in this pistol.  Crisp and light, and really clean.  No spongy feeling like many SA/DA guns give.  I ran through the first mag at 7 yds as well.  Again, one ragged hole, but the hole was much smaller and no flyers at all.  What amazed me was the lack of recoil.  It was there, but spread out over time.  The roller delay gives a strange feeling.  You can feel the gun unlock and the slide move back, all feeling as though it's slow motion.  Recoil was less than the P7.  Enough that you could really feel the difference.  It was like shooting a 4" HB .38spec with wadcutters.  The gun itself put the bullet hole anywhere I wanted.  I mean exactly where I wanted.  I even tried to draw a smiley face like "Lethal Weapon", only at closer range.  It succeeded easily, though the eyes were a bit off.  Rapid fire was the same.  fully controlled, due to the lower preceived recoil.  I moved the target out to 25yds, and it performed better than the P7 again, turning in a group about 1 inch smaller, and rounder (i.e. no flyers at all).  I then switched targets and tried some DA/SA transitions.  This would take practice to get better with.  I am used to the Sig DA/SA pull, and the lighter HK pull was throwing me.  I was expecting heavier trigger pulls and was thowing rounds around badly.  It will take quite a bit of practice for me to get better at the DA/SA transition.  The DA pull is smoother and lighter than the Sig, but seems longer.  The SA pull is lighter as well but seems shorter.  Sorta like there's a larger gap between the two than on a Sig, though both trigger pulls were lighter than a Sig.  Practice required.

Last up was the Sig.  It was my P226 and performed about the same as the P7.  I shoot either my P228 or P226 ALOT more than any other gun, so I was expecting good performance.  The P226 didn't disappoint me, but I thought I would have been slightly better with it than the P9S, simply because I train so much with it.  The fact was that I shot the P9S in SA mode better than any handgun I have ever owned after just a box of rounds.  I'm far better at DA/SA transition with the Sig.  

I found the HKP9S to deserve the reputation it has.  The fact that it's so good, and somewhat uncommon e