The strange, and a little revolutionary, HK VP70 (VIDEOS)

Designed as a forward-looking firearm, Heckler & Koch’s circa 1970 entry into the polymer market had a lot going on.

The VP70, or Volkspistole 70, you should remember, was the German company’s polymer-framed, striker-fired 9mm handgun of the disco era. An 18-shot select-fire gun, it had a theoretical rate of fire of 2,200 rounds per minute and the ability to use a detachable stock that, like the old C96 Mauser, doubled as a bulky holster.

While it beat Gaston Glock’s G17 to the “plastic pistol” market by a generation, it never really caught on and was something of, well, a turkey. It plodded along until it was quietly discontinued in 1989, only garnering a few sales to third world military forces and limited import to the U.S. as the semi-auto and stockless VP70Z.

HK went back to the drawing board and came up with the VP9/VP40. That polymer framed volkspistole was introduced in 2014– 44 years after the VP70’s debut– and has been a lot better received.

American Rifleman TV covers the gun and its peculiarities in the above video.

For a deeper dive on the classic combat tupperware, check out the below from Tim with the Military Arms Channel.

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