I first became aware of the Hudson H9 when a buddy asked if I’d take a look at them while I was at the SHOT Show in 2017. When we got back, a friend that I was at the show with, ordered one immediately from Adam at A&P Armory out here in Magnolia. Though I really liked what I’d seen in the H9, I initially held off ordering one of my own because I was convinced that I wanted an Arsenal Stryk B, thinking it’s availability was right around the corner. Ten months or so later, my friend’s gun was delivered and even though I’d not yet seen his, I couldn’t resist and ordered my own the same day. I’ve since mostly given up on the Stryk after the many false starts since first seeing it at the show way back in 2016. My own H9 arrived at A&P a couple of weeks ago and I made a trip over to Saddle River Range the day after I picked it up. Below is mostly a copy and paste of a text messaged range report that I sent to the same buddy that made me aware of the gun last year. I’ve edited it a little bit to reflect some of my additional thoughts since that first outing, but it still kind of reads like a report maybe sent to a friend in a long winded text message. By the way, Adam is a super good dude, and A&P should for sure be considered by anyone looking to make a firearm related purchase. So here goes....
Well, the H9 was 100% through about 125 of the 200 rounds I took to the range today. 100 of them were 115s and the remaining were 147s. All were FMJ round nose. My gun seems to shoot a little left and a little low, but oddly not as low as my buddy’s gun, nor as low as some of the other reviews have indicated. I took my Shadow along to compare, and the H9 doesn’t seem to be quite as accurate. It’s an accurate gun, but my Shadow is a tough act to follow. I love the sights on the Shadow but not so much the sights (front sight mainly) on the H9 and fully expect my groups with it will tighten considerably when I have a better/narrower/lower replacement at least for the front. As far as recoil goes, the H9 shoots noticeably softer and flatter than the Shadow which is a pretty damn soft shooter. It’s detectable, but to be honest it’s soft nature doesn’t jump out at you. At least for me, having the two guns to shoot one after the other was needed to realize the difference at first. It’s kinda weird in that though the difference seems slight, I quickly ended up preferring the feel of the H9’s recoil impulse. I found that I really wanted to shoot it more and more, even though my Shadow was more accurate, has better sights, and has a much better trigger. The total package that is the H9 is just really enjoyable to shoot, and more enjoyable than the slight difference in muzzle flip by itself would seem to suggest. Smooth is a good way to describe it. I’d have put more rounds through the Hudson and fewer through the Shadow if not for wanting to wanting to focus getting a solid feel for two gun’s differences. I’ll have to shoot it back to back with my CZ Tactical Sports 9mm to see how much of a difference the TS’s almost 9oz of greater weight makes.
As far as knocks on the gun, they’re fairly slight. I’ve already mentioned the dislike for the front sight and noted that the trigger doesn’t compare to my SAO Shadow, so I’ll expand a little on them. The front sight is too wide for my taste and and I don’t like the orange circle with the tritium dot in the middle. As bright as it appears at first glance, I found it to be hard to pick up quickly and difficultly be precise with. (Since the range trip, I’ve switched it for a Dawson FO site that allows for some more light around the front when viewed through the (fixed) U notch rear.) The H9’s trigger is a little gritty and a little heavy feeling until you get used to it. Some of the gritty feel is due to the compression of the spring in the trigger safety as it’s pressed rearward against the trigger face. That trigger safety’s travel causes the overall trigger travel to feel quite a bit longer than the typical 1911, which it is supposed to mimic. Once the trigger safety is compressed, the trigger feels much more 1911 like. It is crisp though, and after cleaning and a a good bit of dry firing, the reset is quite nice too. I don’t want to too harsh about the trigger though. It’s just that it’s design invites comparison to the 1911 and if you’ve felt a nice 1911 trigger, you’ll naturally want to compare it to that. Put it next to another striker fired gun’s factory trigger, and you can’t help being anything but impressed. Hudson has mentioned that there will be a thumb safety (right side, left side or ambi) kit available and I’m hoping that when it’s available, trigger safety delete will also be an option. Another minor gripe is that the mags seem a little lightly built. They function just fine and it’s not like they flex when I squeeze them, but the metal looks thin. No one else seems to mind, so maybe that’s just me. My final complaint has to do with the grips and relates only to how I intend to use the gun. They’re attractive and comfortably sized G10 VZ grips but they don’t have much in the way of aggressive texture. If I were going to carry this gun, they’d be just about perfect, but daily carry isn’t what I plan to do with the H9. I intend to shoot IDPA with it, and for that I’d prefer something with more grip.
All in all, I’m pretty excited about the Hudson H9’s potential. Having put less than 200 rounds through it, I obviously can’t comment too much on its ultimate reliability, only on its feel and function so far. With these, I’m very impressed. While I don’t own any multi thousand dollar pistols, I do have several that cost more than the Hudson H9 so I like it because I like it, and not because of any need to justify its expense. I’m not at all likely to start selling off guns because I own it, but I am sure that my Hudson will get the lions share of trigger time for the immediate future.
Oh and for those that don’t know, Hudson Mfg is a Texas based company. Having LaRue and STI in my safe already, I got a little thrill just from adding another Texas made gun to it.
Well, the H9 was 100% through about 125 of the 200 rounds I took to the range today. 100 of them were 115s and the remaining were 147s. All were FMJ round nose. My gun seems to shoot a little left and a little low, but oddly not as low as my buddy’s gun, nor as low as some of the other reviews have indicated. I took my Shadow along to compare, and the H9 doesn’t seem to be quite as accurate. It’s an accurate gun, but my Shadow is a tough act to follow. I love the sights on the Shadow but not so much the sights (front sight mainly) on the H9 and fully expect my groups with it will tighten considerably when I have a better/narrower/lower replacement at least for the front. As far as recoil goes, the H9 shoots noticeably softer and flatter than the Shadow which is a pretty damn soft shooter. It’s detectable, but to be honest it’s soft nature doesn’t jump out at you. At least for me, having the two guns to shoot one after the other was needed to realize the difference at first. It’s kinda weird in that though the difference seems slight, I quickly ended up preferring the feel of the H9’s recoil impulse. I found that I really wanted to shoot it more and more, even though my Shadow was more accurate, has better sights, and has a much better trigger. The total package that is the H9 is just really enjoyable to shoot, and more enjoyable than the slight difference in muzzle flip by itself would seem to suggest. Smooth is a good way to describe it. I’d have put more rounds through the Hudson and fewer through the Shadow if not for wanting to wanting to focus getting a solid feel for two gun’s differences. I’ll have to shoot it back to back with my CZ Tactical Sports 9mm to see how much of a difference the TS’s almost 9oz of greater weight makes.
As far as knocks on the gun, they’re fairly slight. I’ve already mentioned the dislike for the front sight and noted that the trigger doesn’t compare to my SAO Shadow, so I’ll expand a little on them. The front sight is too wide for my taste and and I don’t like the orange circle with the tritium dot in the middle. As bright as it appears at first glance, I found it to be hard to pick up quickly and difficultly be precise with. (Since the range trip, I’ve switched it for a Dawson FO site that allows for some more light around the front when viewed through the (fixed) U notch rear.) The H9’s trigger is a little gritty and a little heavy feeling until you get used to it. Some of the gritty feel is due to the compression of the spring in the trigger safety as it’s pressed rearward against the trigger face. That trigger safety’s travel causes the overall trigger travel to feel quite a bit longer than the typical 1911, which it is supposed to mimic. Once the trigger safety is compressed, the trigger feels much more 1911 like. It is crisp though, and after cleaning and a a good bit of dry firing, the reset is quite nice too. I don’t want to too harsh about the trigger though. It’s just that it’s design invites comparison to the 1911 and if you’ve felt a nice 1911 trigger, you’ll naturally want to compare it to that. Put it next to another striker fired gun’s factory trigger, and you can’t help being anything but impressed. Hudson has mentioned that there will be a thumb safety (right side, left side or ambi) kit available and I’m hoping that when it’s available, trigger safety delete will also be an option. Another minor gripe is that the mags seem a little lightly built. They function just fine and it’s not like they flex when I squeeze them, but the metal looks thin. No one else seems to mind, so maybe that’s just me. My final complaint has to do with the grips and relates only to how I intend to use the gun. They’re attractive and comfortably sized G10 VZ grips but they don’t have much in the way of aggressive texture. If I were going to carry this gun, they’d be just about perfect, but daily carry isn’t what I plan to do with the H9. I intend to shoot IDPA with it, and for that I’d prefer something with more grip.
All in all, I’m pretty excited about the Hudson H9’s potential. Having put less than 200 rounds through it, I obviously can’t comment too much on its ultimate reliability, only on its feel and function so far. With these, I’m very impressed. While I don’t own any multi thousand dollar pistols, I do have several that cost more than the Hudson H9 so I like it because I like it, and not because of any need to justify its expense. I’m not at all likely to start selling off guns because I own it, but I am sure that my Hudson will get the lions share of trigger time for the immediate future.
Oh and for those that don’t know, Hudson Mfg is a Texas based company. Having LaRue and STI in my safe already, I got a little thrill just from adding another Texas made gun to it.
