Image credit
- Title
- File:P7M8 cortland.jpg
- Author
- Cortland
- Licence
- Public domain
- Source
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:P7M8_cortland.jpg
How Muzzle energy is calculated
E = ½ · m · v²
Not calculated: v has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Muzzle velocity is calculated
no sourced velocity for this load
Not calculated: muzzle velocity has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
No input on this calculation carries a clickable source yet.
How Loaded mass is calculated
m_loaded = m_empty + m_magazine + n · m_cartridge
Not calculated: m_empty has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- One magazine, filled to the stated capacity. Spare magazines, optics, slings and lights are the owner’s, not the arm’s.
1 of 4 inputs link to their source.
How Free recoil is calculated
E_recoil = ½ · m_firearm · v_recoil²
Not calculated: m_firearm has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- Propellant gas momentum is excluded: ARMAG does not record charge weights (SPEC.md §14). This is therefore a lower bound on the real free recoil, consistent between entries but smaller than a figure that includes the gas term.
- Free recoil: the arm is unrestrained. Stock design, muzzle devices, stance and shooter mass are not modelled, because none of them is a property of the arm.
No input on this calculation carries a clickable source yet.
How Capacity is calculated
as published for the primary chambering
Inputs
- capacity8verifiedsourceDetachable box magazine; the P7M13 holds thirteen.
1 of 1 inputs link to their source.
Derived figures
Computed from the sourced values above. Open ƒ on any figure for the formula, its inputs, and the assumptions it makes.
How Momentum is calculated
p = m · v
Not calculated: v has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Sectional density is calculated
SD = mass(gr) / (7000 · diameter(in)²)
Inputs
- mass7.452 g115.0 grverifiedsource115 gr as published, converted to grams.
- diameter9.03 mm0.3555 inverifiedsourceCartridge maximum, dimension G1.
Assumptions
- Reported in the conventional lb/in² so it is directly comparable with published figures.
2 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Power factor is calculated
PF = mass(gr) · velocity(fps) / 1000
Not calculated: velocity has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- A competition classification defined by the IPSC and USPSA rulebooks, stated in their units. It describes a scoring category, not an effect.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Magazine dump is calculated
t = (n − 1) / (rpm / 60)
Not calculated: rpm has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- Cyclic rate held for the whole magazine, no stoppages, trigger held down. A theoretical figure for comparing mechanisms, not a measured one.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Sight error at 1 mm is calculated
θ = atan(misalignment / sight radius)
Not calculated: sight radius has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- Shows what a stated aiming error costs. The misalignment is the reader’s figure; the site does not claim how well anyone aims.
No input on this calculation carries a clickable source yet.
Specifications
Every row here is generated from the schema, so a figure recorded on this entry cannot be missing from the table — and the same rows, read the same way, are what the comparison shows.
Identity
- Type
- Pistol
- Action
- Self-loading
- Fire modes
- Semi-automatic
- Operating system
- Blowback, gas-delayed
- Designed in
- Germany
- Produced in
- Introduced
- 1979
- Production
- 1979–2008
Dimensions and mass
- Mass, empty
- not recorded
- Magazine, empty
- not recorded
- Length
- not recorded
- Length, folded
- not recorded
- Width
- not recorded
- Height
- not recorded
- Barrel length
- not recorded
Sights and rifling
- Sight radius
- not recorded
- Sight height over bore
- not recorded
- Rifling twist
- not recorded
- Twist direction
- not recorded
- Grooves
- not recorded
- Sight graduation
- not recorded
Operation
- Cyclic rate
- not recorded
- Trigger pull
- not recorded
- Effective range
- not recorded
- Units produced
- not recorded
- Launch price
- not recorded
Chamberings
- 9x19mm Parabellumprimary8 rounds
Scale
A to-scale outline against family siblings. The dimensions are sourced; the shape is a representative outline for the type, and says so.
Representative outline — the dimensions are sourced, the shape is not. Overall length, and barrel length where recorded, are drawn from this entry's own figures; the profile is a generic one for the firearm type and says nothing about this arm's actual contours.
Not drawn: Heckler & Koch P7 (no sourced overall length).
Detail
West German police wrote a specification in 1976 that no existing pistol met: carried loaded and chambered, safe if dropped, and ready to fire without operating any control. Heckler & Koch’s answer was to put the safety in the grip. Squeezing a lever across the front of the frame cocks the striker; releasing it de-cocks. There is no manual safety, no decocking lever and no hammer.
The breech is held by gas rather than by a lock. A port near the chamber bleeds propellant gas into a cylinder under the barrel, where it pushes a piston attached to the slide forwards — against the slide’s rearward travel — until pressure drops. The barrel is therefore fixed, which is why the pistol is as accurate as it is, and the cylinder gets hot enough after fifty rounds to be a documented complaint.
It is the only gas-delayed blowback pistol to have been issued in quantity anywhere, and Heckler & Koch stopped making it in 2008 because it cost several times what a Glock did to build.
The cited article publishes no weight, no length and no barrel length for any variant, so this entry records none of them.
References
This entry's own bibliography. Every citation key on this page resolves into this list.
- Heckler & Koch P7 · Wikipedia · 1362866466 · read 2026-08-31 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Last verified 2026-08-31 · review status: agent-populated