Whether you know it or not, the HK USP Compact seems to be the most popular HK contract pistol around the world. Most of the nations using them have the compacts for whatever reason. For this reason, I feel that H&K decided that the USP Compact was an obvious choice for upgrading. And for this reason, you now have the H&K P2000 which is not too popular. Though this may change as soon as the USP compact contracts are up. Who knows though, right? We shall have to wait and see. Now onto my reasons for the switch to the P2000.
First thing I wanted was an HK that I could carry comfortably and the P30/VP9 were a bit out of my range of comfort at 5.3 inches or so. I wanted something just a tad smaller like 5 inches flat. Something comparable to my Beretta PX4 Compact. The USP comact and the P2000 were my best bet. With a Flush baseplate, the P2000 comes in just a tad shorter than the PX4 compact, but with a close OAL.
The ambidextrous slide stops on the P2000 seems pointless to me. I never find myself using the right side slide stop at all. But since that is my only gripe, it is a fair tradeoff. The size of the slide stop is acceptable for me, but I feel like the exposed area of the slide stop is a bit excessive. But we must remember that HK is one of the few manufacturers that caters the construction of their slide stop to perform as a release.
The magazine release on the P2000 is a step back from the P30 and is the same style paddle release as the USP. It can be exchanged for the HK45 magazine release and I may end up giving it that upgrade since I have another one on hand.
The double action pull on my specific model was very smoot out of the box and got even better with the help of some SLIP2000 EWL. The single action out of the box had the feeling of a broken in P30 single action. The trigger reset, for those who care, is the same as the P30, which is classified as long, but seems short when you are shooting fast.
As I write this, I have only 100 rounds through this pistol, but I got a good look at what I got myself into right in that first 100. I will simply tell you that the recoil on this pistol is noticeably softer than the P30. I can not answer why that is, but it is just the facts. I found that with minimal effort, you can control this pistol. You do not want to fight the recoil much or you risk sending your followup shots low. The pistol was not lubricated or cleaned of the factory oils prior to shooting but it functioned so smoothly. I did not intend to go unlubed for the first 100, but it just ended up happening that way.
I cannot express enough how happy I am with this pistol already. My performance with it was impressive right out of the box. The pistol is only gonna get better from here and I am excited to see the gains. I definitely look forward to putting out followup articles and videos on this pistol. Quite a winner and it is very clear now why people love their P2000 the most out of all their other HK pistols.