Heckler & Koch P7

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Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 July 2009 13:57 Written by Administrator Thursday, 02 July 2009 12:52

The Heckler & Koch P7 is a semiautomatic pistol designed in West Germany by Helmut Weldle. It was designed in 1977 and production began from 1979 and continued till 2007.

The need for a better weapon arose after the 1972 Summer Olympics incident. Subsequently, three different pistols were considered: The SIG-Sauer P225, the P7 and the Walther P5. However, the P7 was ultimately selected and production was started in the year 1979. It was adopted by the German Army’s Special Forces and by the GCG 9 (Federal Police’s counter terrorism unit).

Initially, the P7 was manufactured only by Heckler & Koch. However, subsequently in was also license manufactured in Greece by the Hellenic Arms Industry and in Mexico by DIM. The P7 was also exported to several other countries.

Several variants of the P7 have been designed. These include:

>> P7PT8: This version was designed primarily as a training pistol and used the 9x19mm PT training round with plastic bullets. About 200 numbers of this variant were manufactured and used mainly to simulate firing in enclosed spaces.

>> P7M13: The P7M13 is P7 variant with a double-column 13-round magazine. This version was offered the US Army, but was not adopted. A variant of the P7M13 was also designed and produced in limited numbers for use by German Special Forces.

>> P7K3: The P7L3 is a shortened version of the P7 and has a removable barrel. It is modular in design and by swapping the barrel and magazine it can be used to fire a number of different cartridges such as .380 ACP, .32 ACP and .22 LR.

>> P7M10: This version was launched in the American market in 1991. However, limited numbers were manufactured because of high costs and complexity of manufacturing.