- Joined
- Feb 16, 2018
- Messages
- 127
I’ve had a Hudson H9 now for a couple of months. To start off, in all fairness, the pistol I acquired was not new. I took it in trade from a young man who wanted a Chambers Custom WMG. The claim was that the gun had a couple hundred rounds through it, which based on the wear patterns I would believe. Also it should be noted that my gun is a no letter prefix sub 075 serial number gun. Cy tells me it is actually one of the first 50 guns that were ever put together and sold so that’s pretty neat!
When I first saw the H9 in pictures I was very excited. The idea of having such a pistol with the combination of features like it had seemed quite enchanting. No external hammer, 1911ish trigger pull, grip safety, replaceable grips, decent sights, high cap 9mm, steel frame. What more could a fella want! Well, a .38super with aluminum frame body but, you know how it is.
Then I got one. I’ve spent a pretty good amount of time carrying it in various positions, shooting different ammo through it, watching friends shoot it, heck, I’ve even begun customizing it. So this will be a write up full of first impressions, minor experiences, thoughts and opinions from me.
No reason to lie here, after first getting my H9 I was disappointed in two things. First, it isn’t light in weight. Coming in at right around 3 pounds with a fully loaded mag is more than I expected. But, I do occasionally carry a full size 1911 .45 Auto with 9 rounds of 230g ammo, so it wasn’t that huge of a deal.
The second thing was my own fault, due to a preconceived notion based on pictures that the gun had a grip safety. I was utterly shocked that the gun didn’t have this feature. Call me a fudd, old timer, traditionalist or whatever you will, I was kind of excited about the idea of a grip safety on the gun. And the pictures made it look like, in my mind, that there was one. Alas, my inner 1911 self got all worked up over nothing.
The lack of a thumb safety wasn’t really a big deal to me. After all, JMB didn’t design the original 1911 with one either. But there is just something about a gun that only has a trigger safety that makes me cautious about trying to carry it in any way other than OWB. Good thing my trade deal included five holsters in various configurations!
The trigger pull on the gun I got wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. It was around 8 pounds with a fairly crisp break. The reset was short and concise. But the trigger fit to the frame was a bit looser than my liking having a bit of vertical play (ok, those of you who know me caught me, I’m being kind here). This is pretty common in production type guns so it wasn’t completely unexpected. I’m working on a solution to the vertical play.
The front sight on this particular gun had been replaced by someone with a fiber optic front. That was a nice bonus since my eyes are not getting any younger. I have found the rear U notch easy to align. The only issue I’ve had is the front sight shifted and when I tapped it back in place I found out that whomever made this front sight made it out of mud because a brass punch should NOT mush real steel like that.
The slide action is very smooth. It’s not as smooth as one of my custom 1911’s but it is far smoother than many production guns I’ve had over the years.
The grip fits nicely in the hand and allows for a very pointable gun with a low bore to hand axis. I do find the grip to be a bit slick on the front and back. The checkering on the front and back is a tad fine for my taste but it also isn’t prone to snagging or hanging up on a cover garment. So that is a plus. I have since remedied that by grinding off the anemic checkering and stippling the front strap.
The controls on the gun are something I like very much. The fact that the mag catch can easily be switched for a lefty is a great feature. The ambi slide stop is well placed and functioned quite well until I broke the left side of mine off. In all fairness, we’ve been shooting a steady diet of NATO powered 125 grain loads through the gun for several weeks and at some point, it simply disappeared. No worries though, a new one is on the way!
When I first saw the H9 in pictures I was very excited. The idea of having such a pistol with the combination of features like it had seemed quite enchanting. No external hammer, 1911ish trigger pull, grip safety, replaceable grips, decent sights, high cap 9mm, steel frame. What more could a fella want! Well, a .38super with aluminum frame body but, you know how it is.
Then I got one. I’ve spent a pretty good amount of time carrying it in various positions, shooting different ammo through it, watching friends shoot it, heck, I’ve even begun customizing it. So this will be a write up full of first impressions, minor experiences, thoughts and opinions from me.
No reason to lie here, after first getting my H9 I was disappointed in two things. First, it isn’t light in weight. Coming in at right around 3 pounds with a fully loaded mag is more than I expected. But, I do occasionally carry a full size 1911 .45 Auto with 9 rounds of 230g ammo, so it wasn’t that huge of a deal.
The second thing was my own fault, due to a preconceived notion based on pictures that the gun had a grip safety. I was utterly shocked that the gun didn’t have this feature. Call me a fudd, old timer, traditionalist or whatever you will, I was kind of excited about the idea of a grip safety on the gun. And the pictures made it look like, in my mind, that there was one. Alas, my inner 1911 self got all worked up over nothing.
The lack of a thumb safety wasn’t really a big deal to me. After all, JMB didn’t design the original 1911 with one either. But there is just something about a gun that only has a trigger safety that makes me cautious about trying to carry it in any way other than OWB. Good thing my trade deal included five holsters in various configurations!
The trigger pull on the gun I got wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. It was around 8 pounds with a fairly crisp break. The reset was short and concise. But the trigger fit to the frame was a bit looser than my liking having a bit of vertical play (ok, those of you who know me caught me, I’m being kind here). This is pretty common in production type guns so it wasn’t completely unexpected. I’m working on a solution to the vertical play.
The front sight on this particular gun had been replaced by someone with a fiber optic front. That was a nice bonus since my eyes are not getting any younger. I have found the rear U notch easy to align. The only issue I’ve had is the front sight shifted and when I tapped it back in place I found out that whomever made this front sight made it out of mud because a brass punch should NOT mush real steel like that.
The slide action is very smooth. It’s not as smooth as one of my custom 1911’s but it is far smoother than many production guns I’ve had over the years.
The grip fits nicely in the hand and allows for a very pointable gun with a low bore to hand axis. I do find the grip to be a bit slick on the front and back. The checkering on the front and back is a tad fine for my taste but it also isn’t prone to snagging or hanging up on a cover garment. So that is a plus. I have since remedied that by grinding off the anemic checkering and stippling the front strap.
The controls on the gun are something I like very much. The fact that the mag catch can easily be switched for a lefty is a great feature. The ambi slide stop is well placed and functioned quite well until I broke the left side of mine off. In all fairness, we’ve been shooting a steady diet of NATO powered 125 grain loads through the gun for several weeks and at some point, it simply disappeared. No worries though, a new one is on the way!