#xm9

Heckler & Koch XM9

Developed for the US military's Joint Service Small Arms pistol program, the HK XM9 was a refined version of the P7 pistol, initially developed for the West German Police pistol trials. 

When the trials began in the late 1970s, Heckler & Koch submitted the P9S and the VP70. Trials officers rejected both of these pistols due to various issues with accuracy and ergonomics. When the second phase of trials was launched in the early 1980s Heckler & Koch submitted a version of their P7 pistol which had been successful in the recent West German pistol trials.

P7A10 XM9 submission with an extended 10 round magazine with lanyard loop (source)

Heckler & Koch submitted three versions of the pistol, the first in June 1981, was the P7 in its original spec. They followed this with the P7A10, simply a P7 with an extended 10-round magazine and finally the P7A13 with a double-stack 13 round magazine and a US-style magazine release. The P7A13 was later sold commercially as the P7M13. 

The trials resumed in 1981 and continued until 1983. The winning pistol had to fulfil 85 specific requirements, of these 72 were essential and 13 were desirable. All four pistols submitted, the Beretta 92, SIG Sauer P226, Smith & Wesson 459M and the Heckler & Koch entry all failed. In 1984, the US launched a second round of testing with new entries including the Colt SSP, the FN Double Action Hi-Power, the Steyr GB, and another German entry the Walther P88. For this round of testing Heckler & Koch submitted the P7A13.

While the P7A13 performed well in the reliability, accuracy and mud tests it lost out to the Beretta 92 and SIG P226 which were both simpler and cheaper to produce. 

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