HK P30 - Great... But No Soul

Status
Not open for further replies.
Where does assigning soul to a pistol begin? Apparently a plastic frame doesn't qualify, so using the 1911 as a guideline.
Does a $400 RIA have soul? If not why not? Its metal.
How about a $900 Colt? Did doubling the price or branding it with pony give it a soul?
How about Dan Wesson? Does lack of MIM equate to a soul?
I've got an Ed Brown. If the Colt has soul does this pistol have more soul? (If soul is equated with price).

Please God, don't let anyone bring up that "dark side" nonsense.

I agree with ya.

Years ago, I had kind of a special feeling for my very 1st 1911. After that - it's just a tool
 
Last edited:
Not sure why folks need to be willfully obtuse.

I’m sure the snarky responses will certainly change other people’s opinions...

Indeed. Guns may be "just a tool" but I'm not sure people typically have several dozen hammers of the same general class just laying around because some days they feel like using one hammer over another :). If they were indeed only tools I'd never buy another since there's nothing I need to do that my current "tools" don't already do :).

But yes, I tend to agree. If you need a "working gun" to carry for defensive purposes, or to keep in a nightstand safe/drawer, then the P30 is a good gun. If you already have those bases covered and want something interesting, fun, etc, then it (and I'd say most polymer framed guns) comes up a little short in that regard.
 
Having thought about it... I think just like the Sig P226... the gun is without soul...

Is this really a thing? I carry a Glock specifically because it's soulless. I have ZERO attachment to any gun I carry (really to any gun I own) because I know that if (God Forbid) I ever have to use it, it's going to vanish into the evidence locker and if I ever get it back it's probably going to be ruined and I won't really care because it's a Glock 19 and there are a million more just like it.


It is a terrific gun in terms of combat readiness and reliability... BUT, I don't feel like throwing it in the range bag.

So you discipline yourself and throw it in the range bag anyway
 
Funny, as far as tactical Tupperware goes, I find the P30 far more interesting then most.

That said I am speaking from a gun geek perspective not it’s just a tool perspective.

As far as guns go as just tools, barring any hyper specific need such as high end competition or deep concealment, they are all fairly equal to me. I mean assuming they are reliable and durable enough anything works about as well as the next. Hand me a Beretta 92, Glock 17, Ruger P95, 1911 etc. etc. etc. and I can shoot them all fairly well and I would be completely fine with any of them as an issued/forced upon/only choice kind of tool.

However, and may it always be so, I am lucky enough to enjoy firearms for sport, for pleasure, for history or for kinetic art. In such I am able to understand a person’s interest in a gun or vis a vis it having a certain “soul” to it. I drive cars that are not pure appliances too.

All that being said, the P30 isn’t my favorite bit it sure pegs my interest or soul meter if you will then say a Glock 19. But again these are only intangible opinions made by a guy who has been blessed enough to not have to shoot at people and who has no illusions or desires to ever do so. So my “tools” are far more like instruments and do hold their own individual interesting quirks or souls for me.

Everybody is different. Everybody sees firearms differently. You don’t buy an Ed Brown 1911 because you want a gun. Conversely you don’t buy a Glock 17 to throw in a tackle box because you want art.

My two cents.
 
Everybody is different. Everybody sees firearms differently. You don’t buy an Ed Brown 1911 because you want a gun.


Really? Are you just supposed to caress it with your silk gloves and stare lovingly at its beauty?
 
What I should of said is you don’t buy one just because you want a tool/weapon only. Yes a Brown/Wilson etc. etc. etc. make dandy firearms which is would make for dandy self defense pieces. That said I would argue that there are a minuscule number of buyers of these STRICTLY as “weapons”

Let’s be intellectually honest weapon for weapon something like a Glock 17 (for example) is superior in damn near every regard as a TOOL. This coming from an owner of both and somebody who is not a Glock fan boy.

I am just pointing out how some folks derive more intangible value from a firearm.
 
Let’s be intellectually honest weapon for weapon something like a Glock 17 (for example) is superior in damn near every regard as a TOOL. This coming from an owner of both and somebody who is not a Glock fan boy.

I own both too.. Capacity is absolutely the only thing it "trumps" over EB as a TOOL. If you're afraid of marks on your EB I dont know what to tell ya.. I treat all my guns the same.. Run em hard and put em up wet.
 
I own both too.. Capacity is absolutely the only thing it "trumps" over EB as a TOOL. If you're afraid of marks on your EB I dont know what to tell ya.. I treat all my guns the same.. Run em hard and put em up wet.

Eh, capacity sure, but also weight, cost of the pistol, cost of replacement parts, drop in ability/lack of fitting for replacement parts...
 
.......wear resistance, weather resistance, durability, maintenance interval/tolerance of lack of care.

I LOVE my 1911s especially my Brown and if I had to I would happily rely on it but the reality is that it’s a 100 year old gun, designed with 100 year old building and engineering methodology, designed around a 100 year old ball pistol load and at the end of the day one must take a little extra care in the handling and feeding of a 1911 vs something more modern.

Again the point is 1911 to 1911 you don’t buy a Brown or Wilson or Nighthawk etc. strictly because you want a 1911 WEAPON. There are plenty of inexpensive 1911s that will do the same thing. MOST folks drop the coin on these types of firearms as much for pride of ownership, attention to detail, old world craftsmanship etc. vs I just want a carry gun. Those intangibles/other things make it an interesting gun, they don’t make it a better weapon.

But again that is only my opinion.
 
I use to feel the same way about Glock all glocks are soul less. Then one day I bought a polymer80 frame on impulse while putting it together I had some issues with the frame and went out and bought a second stock stripped frame to use all the parts. The gun I built has a no name barrel a low budget slide all around cheap build the only upgrades were a fiber optic sight and a zev spring kit. This individual unit some how has soul and is the best shooting Glock I ever touched. I never realized it tell this but all guns have soul but you need to build a bond spend some time with it range and carry even night stand maybe buy it some nice leather to wear then see if that soul wakes up
 
Last edited:
Some people see guns only as tools. They make no connection with any of them beyond that of a tool or an appliance. For some people, it's the same with cars; they see them as only a transportation appliance. Others of us see some of these devices differently and make some sort of connection with them, sometimes characterizing it by saying the inanimate object has "soul." We Love the Beast . If you're one of these people, you understand. Likewise, if you don't get it, you don't get it.
 
Last edited:
My Ed Brown, I've been carried quite a bit and I replaced the original sights with TFO.
Ruger is a 10mm Talo, (replaced the grips) I've carried it a little, its one of my "newer" pistols.
Pic5.JPG
Colt Delta I've carried quite a bit and used for something other than carry.
Delta Deer pic1.jpg
Glock 19 that I removed the finger protrusions and installed HD sights.
Not that enthusiastic about 9mm but I shoot this pistol quick and the sights work for my old eyes.
I've carried it quite a bit too.
Glock19two.jpg

Soul? Either all of these pistols have one or none of them do. ;)
I killed a deer with the Delta, but killed way more deer with a bow. Compound bow have soul?
Seems macabre to assign a soul to a tool based on killing.

If modifying and carrying assigns soul, the Glock qualifies; it aint going to purgatory. :neener:
 
.....I guess I don’t understand why you’d buy a second one since you clearly don’t care for it much......

While I have no idea the OP's reasoning...I can say the same thing about Glock's...almost. I love them for what they are, however they're not for me, trigger reach/pull, recoil impulse, the list goes on. I've purchased more than I can count over the years, knowing it's probably going to be the same ending...sold EVERYONE of them within a month. Figure I'd learn after all these years...nope purchased my last one couple months back (G31), put about 4 magazines through it and gone. Sold it to a guy at the range that I let try it out.
 
.......wear resistance, weather resistance, durability, maintenance interval/tolerance of lack of care.

I LOVE my 1911s especially my Brown and if I had to I would happily rely on it but the reality is that it’s a 100 year old gun, designed with 100 year old building and engineering methodology,.

So my Ferritic nitrocarburized, PVD and DLC coated 1911's dont offer the same resistance. :confused:
Got Ya.

Seems people still love to think of a 1911 as a 5" blued pistol. when you can get them in every alloy, coating and size imaginable.

Plastic pistols have been around 49 yrs now and 98% of them depend on the same action to run (Browning tilting barrel). Striker fired is also older than the 1911.

So "modern" isn't really a term we should be applying to handgun technology until we move away from cased projectiles IMO.

There are plenty of inexpensive 1911s that will do the same thing

A High Point does the same thing. Yet we all have our preferences.
 
Wow... At first I was going to say, Well I love my P30SK soul or not, but then you throw the 226 under the bus too, OUCH! haha

All joking aside ( and semantics/posturing about guns actually having souls) the 226 has as much "soul, it factor, pizazz" or more than damn near any pistol on the market in my ever so humble opinion.
 
I get it. But if soul was a requirement for inclusion in the range bag I'd only ever shoot my FN 1900 and my Walther PP. Oh, and the Glock 30. .45ACP Glocks have soul but the 9mm ones don't.
 
This discussion about "soul" reminds me of arguments about the term "stopping power." A word or phrase is being used to capture, in shorthand, something that is multi-variable and difficult to fully describe in detail, much less quantify.

Here, "soul" has to be read to mean "sparking joy or delight in the user." Of course, this means it's profoundly subjective, and not subject to a right or wrong answer.
 
In my opinion, soul in a gun doesn't come from the factory, but rather from the experiences with that gun. When/how/why you bought it, events that have happened with that particular gun, people you have shot it with, etc.

Don't give up on the P30 until you have some life experiences with it.

I've carried the same Glock27 (that almost everyone would call soulless) for over 20 years, believe me, that Glock and I share a soul.
 
This discussion about "soul" reminds me of arguments about the term "stopping power." A word or phrase is being used to capture, in shorthand, something that is multi-variable and difficult to fully describe in detail, much less quantify.

Here, "soul" has to be read to mean "sparking joy or delight in the user." Of course, this means it's profoundly subjective, and not subject to a right or wrong answer.

@ATLDave, you are the Marie Kondo of the firearms world. It's about time we had some one in here to tidy up. :D
 
I think the P30L and other HK just have a cold look. BTW rather dislike Sig 220 and 226. Pops loves his.

IMHO all service type autos....are boring.

Need a high cap bad guy popper? Good choice.

Pick a Sig, CZ, Ruger, Smith or Springield. If you want something slightly different....HK.

Still IMHO of the same group..just not in the middle.

What you like and shoot best is where its at.
Whatever that might be.

Me? Sigs look OK and i shoot them OK. Glocks are ugly but I shoot them very well. Have had 1911 and P35......and my choice for a polymer frame full size 9mm ......was HK.

Now to decide on a small one. VP 9 SK.....or SIG 365
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top