H&K P2000 uh oh...

[Bill Steele]

I was shooting my H&K P2000 this afternoon. This gun has become my favorite 9. When I first bought it I didn't like the trigger final pull (V2 LEM trigger), so I had the V1 (light LEM) springs installed. The gun is now perfect, or at least, was perfect.

While shooting away I started to squeeze the trigger for followup shot and nothing, no hammer break, no boom.

Something broke inside (maybe the sear, hammer strut, something, but the hammer doesn't cock). The trigger works and the trigger bar actuates everything normally up top, but something is not allowing the hammer to energize the hammer spring.

Now I have to decide whether I want to spend the money to ship it back for warranty work, or just fix it myself, for sure whatever broke won't be more than $10-20 in parts cost.

Another part of the bad news is this gun is going to have to go back into the range rotation and will not be relied upon for anything more serious for a couple thousand more flawless rounds after I get things repaired. Bummer, as I love the way this gun handles and shoots.

[Bill Steele]

Mea culpa...

So I felt I better post the results of what I learned about my P2000 as it probably would not be fair to just leave things as "My P2000 broke."

I decided (with my USAA discount) to ship the gun back to H&K and get it fixed under warranty. Unlike many, I had pretty good luck when I sent it in to have the V1 spring installed, so I went ahead and did it.

I called a week later and asked how things were going. I got Debbie in repair (she had done my V1 spring upgrade) and she said she had just finished my gun. She said nothing had broken and that a small piece of debris had lodged between the trigger and the housing keeping the trigger from getting all the way to where it would trip the sear.

I told her the gun had never been out of its case except when shooting at the range and that I cleaned it after each session. I was wondering out loud how something would have gotten up in there. She said, "well, maybe you got some back splash that landed right there when the action was open, maybe a one in a million chance. Anyway, it is fine, just waiting test firing and we will send it back."

I got the gun back and took it to the range the other day. Everything went fine, but I was still really puzzled about my "one in a million failure."

I think I got the answer last night. I had the batch of brass I had shot in the last few range trips and was decapping them when I came upon some that had no primer. I realized what had happend right away. The brass was some ex-NATO rounds with crimped primers I had de-crimped with a Hornaday chamfer bit and an electric drill. I guess I had over did the chamfering and made the primer pocket too loose.

I am almost certain now, what had gotten lodged in my trigger mechanism was one of the spent primers that had popped out of the over chamfered case.

Man, I am going to have to do a bunch of mea culpa's to H&K for all the bad things I was saying about my P2000. No wonder they say, "No Reloads!" in their manuals. They want to avoid dealing with numbskulls like me.

Sorry H&K, my bad.

[Rivers]

Thanks for the posts. No mechanical device is immune from failure for whatever reason. You are to be commended for admitting "user error, contrary to the manual" and dispelling the myth about HK's customer service. I've likewise had very good experiences with them for custom work I've ordered.

Now go shoot some good ammo - or at least use better brass!

[corvetteguy]

Thanks for sharing! It takes a good person to admit that a mistake is theirs. Some people would have never posted the follow up with conclusions.

Thanks again for sharing!

David

[HCz]

That is indeed a one in a million.