P7M8's are intricate machines. They're supposed to be super accurate but I never found it to outshoot modern HK's and the example I shot for me anyway was less accurate than a 9mm 1911 or the walther P99 and PPQ.
I wanted to mention something about accuracy as well. This is more for noobs than for Gundoggy, but Gundoggy's comment got me thinking about this. One thing you have to keep in mind with the P7 series, is that the concept of the trigger is somewhat "backwards" from more traditional guns. Guns like the classic SIGs, Beretta 92, and even newer designs like the USP/P2000/P30... when firing in single action the trigger will move rearward and "take up" to a break-point. That distance, from the "rest" position to the break-point, will be most of the range of movement of the trigger. The distance beyond the break-point (the overtravel) will be much shorter than the distance the trigger moves before it breaks. The trigger then must move backwards some distance in order to re-set. Many shooters consider the distance to reset to be THE crucial factor in their shooting style and success (this is where GLOCK-type triggers are popular. Very short re-set by most (non-1911) standards), others don't shoot that way and don't think that way - so they like SIG or Beretta or whatever.
The P7's, on the other hand, are "backwards" as I say. The break-point of the trigger is up closer to the front of the range of movement of the trigger, and most of the distance the trigger will travel is actually behind the break-point. You have to adjust your mind to this when learning to shoot P7. I think of it as... letting the trigger
all the way back out, and then the break point is
right there for you... bang.... let it all the way back out... bang, etc. Once you adjust your thinking to this approach, the gun becomes just deadly fast and accurate. The beauty of it is, you only need to keep the gun completely still at that initial break-point up front, all the rest of the travel of the trigger, forward and back, the bullet is long since gone and exited the barrel.
A gun like, say a classic SIG without the SRT, the trigger control is more like... take it up to the breakpoint... squeeze (bang)... let it out to the re-set... bring it back to the breakpoint... squeeze (bang), etc. If you practice with that system, you can get as good as anybody using anything else, but its a different way of thinking. If you try and transport those skills over to the P7, you won't really have success in my view, and will have to learn a new way of shooting to succeed with the P7.
GLOCK, with its spongy-springy little trigger with its short re-set, works great... if you get used to thinking that way. Quality 1911's usually have a tiny take-up, very light break point, and a tiny re-set. That is why so many people consider them the ultimate competition pistol, in my view.
My point is that accuracy is mostly in your head with pistols. Your head and your hands. Which ever system jives with the way your brain works, and allows you to break shots quickly without moving the gun around as you are in the process of breaking the shot, will be the gun that works best for you.
A quality 1911 is pretty hard to beat in this area (tiny take-up, light trigger, tiny re-set), but other people like other triggers as well. The P7 has a fixed barrel (unlike virtually every other 9mm pistol except for the Steyr GB, the P08 Luger and a few others) but the accuracy doesn't really come from that. I am a firm believer that with all pistols, the lack of accuracy comes from moving the gun while in the process of releasing the striker or hammer. 1911's are accurate for most people not because of the way the barrel locks up, or because of the length of the barrel or whatever (allthough these could be factors for really advanced shooters), it is because of the triggers they have.
HK P7's can be frighteningly fast and accurate little guns, once you start to think like a P7!
This is a confusing topic to explain in words. I could explain this to a Noob much faster at the range by showing him or her the actual pistols.
Hope this is of some assistance to someone!
