HK VP9 & P30 Retrofit 17+1 Magazine Kit Sootch00 Review

Most full size firearms carry 15 rounds, which has been the standard for firearms. However, there are some exceptions like the Glock 17 which holds 17 and then there are others that do have a little bit of a higher mag capacity. HK just introduced their retrofit kit that will take your standard 15 round magazine for your VP9 or for your P30 and move it up to 17 rounds. The real advantage is you’re moving your firearm up to 17 rounds, but there is no grip extension and there’s no magazine base that is hanging off the bottom. To me, that is a huge plus and is really where we should be going. We’re also going to take a look at some higher capacity options.

I’m a huge fan of HK, whether it’s their P30 – which is one of my all time favorites – or the VP9 which came a little bit later on. The P30 is a double single action pistol and then with the VP9 you have your striker fired pistol. One of the great things about the P30 and the VP9 is that they use the same magazines which is a 15+1 and as far as these magazines are, they’re really high quality.

The magazines are riveted toward the back and they’re made in Germany. They’re just solid, kind of a rubberized base plate. Now, you’re seeing all these advancements with these micro guns that are high capacity going from the original 10 to now 15 rounds in a much smaller pistol. So we’re seeing the larger frame guns needing to be upgraded. The VP9 is just a touch bigger than your Glock 19, so it’s not quite the size of a Glock 17 but it’s still a lot bigger than your SIG P365. Really to compete, you need to have a little more mag capacity.
One thing about it when I want to say “compete” is really that these full size guns to me, if I was going into a self defense situation, I would much rather have a full size firearm with me because it typically handles better. A full size firearm is just quicker to get on target so I would of course just prefer that.

The Retrofit Magazine Kit from HK has all the parts you need to be able to retrofit your standard 15 round magazine into a 17 round magazine. With the kit you get your spring which is a little bit longer than the standard 15 round spring, you get your follower, you get a base plate, you get your locking plate, and you also get your instructions in German and in English. Building the kit is really easy to do and it’s just part of your standard maintenance to keep your magazines clean or if you ever need to change out your springs.

We brought about 300 rounds down to the range just to do an initial test and we really appreciate Fiocchi for sponsoring the ammo, all made in the USA. We are using .115 grain Full Metal Jacket. We found that these magazines on the HK feed about anything. We also really appreciate Lula Loaders for saving our thumbs, especially with these extra two rounds.

As far as the range testing, we only shot about 300 rounds through the VP9, the P30 and then the VP9 longslide. They are HK factory mags and they just functioned. One thing that we did notice was that with the 17 round magazine, it really throws out the magazine. You can tell there’s a definite increase in force with this magazine coming out with the 17 round kit in it which is just a little bit of an added bonus.

One issue that I had was when firing in an odd position, I was kneeling behind a barrier, and after finishing the last round, it didn’t hold open. But overall, these magazines were great and I really expected them to be because they’re HK factory mags.