Hudson H9

[Rudukai13]

Nick, can you tell us a comparison between the H9 trigger and a true 1911 trigger? How close were they able to get it?

[Magsz]

Rud,

 

Im not Nick but I can chime in here.

 

The actual stroke and break are basically a 1911. They feel EXACTLY the same.  What kind of throw's the whole experience off is the trigger safety which gives you the illusion of a longer trigger throw or stroke.

 

Having said that, you only feel this when you're slow firing the gun as you are conscious of taking up that slack in the trigger safety.  At speed, you dont feel that hinge at all and you can slap the shit out of the trigger just as well as any 1911.  One thing to keep in mind is that the gun has an almost six pound break so its a tad harder to slaparoo at speed than a nicely tuned 1911 trigger at a much lighter weight.

 

All in all, the trigger is VERY nice for a striker fired pistol and it is extremely easy to shoot well.

[JKW]

Copy and paste of a range report I posted on a local forum A lot of that post was taken from a text I sent to a friend, so it may read a lot like something sent to an individual. It’s somewhat wordy, but probably much more relevant here. Ive edited it a little to remove some local references, but may have missed some.

 

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 through a local dealer pretty quickly. 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 and thought it’d be fun to shoot it and the H9 back to back. 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 a couple of weeks ago and I made a trip over to Saddle River Range the day after I picked it up.

 
My 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 (converted to SAO) 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 difficult to be 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 feeling, 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, a 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. 

[JKW]

And here’s a follow up posted in the same thread:

Update here for those interested. Though I’m really not a fan of indoor ranges, I took the H9 out for another shooting session. This time to “compare” it to two of my other full sized 9mm pistols, and to see if the front sight change helped shift POI to where it should be. The Shadow stayed at home and I took my STI Trojan and my CZ Tactical Sports along in its place. I only shot 115gr factory Federal fmj this time.
Though I called it a comparison, I don’t mean to suggest that I think they are the same gun. They share a number of traits, but they all have different character. Shooting them in an indoor public range setting does kind of narrow your focus enough that such comparison becomes somewhat valid though. Mainly I concentrated on muzzle flip and my ability to settle the front sight back on target, slow fire accuracy, and (admittedly subjective) “feel” through the recoil impulse. 
Starting with the big CZ, I’ve got to say that it’s in a class by itself here. It’s got a big heavy frame, a long sight radius, great sights, and a sub 2lb. trigger. With the grip reduction work and the higher than factory cuts under the trigger guard and beaver tail, it fits my hands like it was made for them. It’s also got CZ’s huge extended left side safety that feels like you’ve got a shelf mounted to the frame to press downward on. Accurate follow up shots are so fast that, as I’ve described to my friends, you feel like a hero... Especially when you’re stacking holes, while the poor guy in the lane next to you is having trouble staying on the paper at half the distance. Slow fire reveals it to be an overachiever in the accuracy department too. Hell, if this thing were IDPA legal and I were to practice every once in a while, I might be able to finish better than mid pack in local matches. It also continued its 100% reliability record even though I tried to limp wrist it into failure. 
My STI Trojan is the prettiest of the bunch in my opinion, but It’s not just a pretty face. It’s a veteran of several matches and has never let me down. Though the trigger is still at factory specs, it’s pretty nice and very predictable. I see the fiber optic front sight easily and with it’s decent trigger I can shoot very nice groups with it. Recoil and muzzle flip are mild, but the sights do not settle nearly as quickly as with the CZ TS. The best way to describe the recoil is smooth, but slightly chunky feeling. Though I haven’t weighed it, the slide feels like it’s got a fair bit more mass than the CZ and the Hudson. I had an unexplained malfunction at the range. The trigger basically went dead. Hammer was back, but the trigger felt as though the thumb safety was on. Grip safety was fully depressed too. Without thinking, I slid the slide back enough to reset the trigger but not eject the round, and the gun worked normally afterwards. I wish I’d paid more attention to exactly what happened, because it never happened again for me to troubleshoot further. 
And finally, my Hudson. It’s still super interesting to me and I’m very happy with it. The new front sight took care of my slightly low and left hits on target. It’s narrower and lower than the factory sight, and I can now use a sight hold I’m used to. I still can’t shoot the kind of groups that I can with the other two, but they’re getting better. The trigger still causes me some grief when trying for ultimate accuracy, but I suspect it’s more noticeable because of what I’ve shooting it back to back with. As mentioned, both CZs have great triggers and though it doesn’t compare, the STI has a good one. Recoil and flip aren’t as soft feeling or as flat seeming as the CZ TS, nor is the impulse as “smooth” as the Trojan. It has a quickness and lightness in its feel that the 1911 lacks, but the sights come back and line up more quickly than it for sure. They don’t settle with the same supernatural ease as the TS, but the work Hudson did here is very evident. I wonder how much better things would be if the sight radius was comparable to the (9oz heavier) CZ? I’d with 100% certainty add a 5” version of the H9 to my safe if Hudson chose to make one. In the mean time, I’ll continue to shoot and enjoy the one they did make.

[Blksheep]

Im liking it

[NickBlasta]

On 2/17/2018 at 8:45 PM, Rudukai13 said:

Nick, can you tell us a comparison between the H9 trigger and a true 1911 trigger? How close were they able to get it?

 

It's really very close. The trigger dingus is weird, but it stays folded once you pull it so if you don't let the dingus out on the reset it isn't any different from feel to a 1911 trigger. The trigger bow and sear spring are pretty close so the feel is more or less the same.

 

It is heavier though, like 5lbs, doesn't feel very heavy since the travel is limited. Upside of that is the reset is really positive so it's not hard to split fast when the trigger springs forwards so easily.

Edited February 20, 2018 by NickBlasta

[Tictacticaltimmy]

Thank you for the detailed range report, I agree that thumb safeties plus a deleted trigger dingus sounds like it would be a great option.

[Eliboudreaux]

Shot mine 300 rounds in total, some 147gr,124 and 115 +P+ jhp,seems to like and shoot soft flat in hot ammos.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[jkrispies]

1 hour ago, Tictacticaltimmy said:

Thank you for the detailed range report, I agree that thumb safeties plus a deleted trigger dingus sounds like it would be a great option.

This would be perfect, IMHO.  When I filled put the recent Ruger IDPA survey, it’s basically the gun I requested.  I’m not sure why “Striker fired” has to equal “hinged trigger safety”.  

[Magsz]

This is going to be a gun to watch as it develops and evolves.

 

It is incredibly soft shooting and the company seems VERY receptive towards advancing their platform as well as taking care of their customers.

[Rudukai13]

Odds on seeing a longslide competition model...?

[BritinUSA]

Its now on the USPSA Production List : https://uspsa.org/productionlist

[Rudukai13]

I'm weird like this, but I'd love to see an H9 built up into a full-house Open gun...

[NickBlasta]

On 2/27/2018 at 10:20 AM, Rudukai13 said:

I'm weird like this, but I'd love to see an H9 built up into a full-house Open gun...

 

I've thought about it. It'll be easier to test once they drop the threaded barrel obviously.

[Rudukai13]

On 2/28/2018 at 1:23 PM, NickBlasta said:

 

I've thought about it. It'll be easier to test once they drop the threaded barrel obviously.

 

Seems it would make a lot of sense for a 3 Gun Open pistol build where you're dumping the pistol in barrels often and wouldn't need to worry about a manual safety while still retaining most of the feel/benefits of a 2011 platform. Particularly if the trigger is as nice as it sounds

[NickBlasta]

1 hour ago, Rudukai13 said:

 

Seems it would make a lot of sense for a 3 Gun Open pistol build where you're dumping the pistol in barrels often and wouldn't need to worry about a manual safety while still retaining most of the feel/benefits of a 2011 platform. Particularly if the trigger is as nice as it sounds

 

It works fine with a 1 chamber comp in minor, sure.

 

Though they haven't released the drop in thumb safety yet, the trigger safety is actually deactivatable whenever you want, you just pull the trigger bow out of the gun and turn a screw on the back of the trigger shoe that folds the dingus in. So eventually one could run cocked + locked too if one wanted.

Edited March 13, 2018 by NickBlasta

[Rudukai13]

Innovative. Can't wait to see what companies start making for them for competition mods

[Garmil]

On ‎3‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 12:50 PM, Rudukai13 said:

 

Seems it would make a lot of sense for a 3 Gun Open pistol build where you're dumping the pistol in barrels often and wouldn't need to worry about a manual safety while still retaining most of the feel/benefits of a 2011 platform. Particularly if the trigger is as nice as it sounds

agreed, I bought one for this reason with a deltapoint pro mounted. might eventually go with a threaded barrel and comp but it shoots pretty flat as is not sure much is to be gained running minor.

[P.E. Kelley]

I just bought one and shot it as I do at a Steel Match for video review.  Curious anyone shoot groups with one?  I mean someone other

than the internet doofuses who can't shoot and won't beyond 7 yards?  

[Tictacticaltimmy]

Looking forward to the review P.E.

 

Why don't you accuracy test it like you have other guns at the end of your reviews?

You might want to use a laser instead of the sights, people complain that big front dot makes it hard to aim precisely

 

American Rifleman review showed extremely good accuracy, another gun rag showed moderate accuracy, and some youtubers have claimed poor accuracy.

[Norther]

Well, I stopped by a LGS yesterday because I heard they had one. I’ve been looking for a Production division gun I actually like enough to buy and wanted to handle this one. 

 

I immediately liked the H9. Felt enough like my 1911s so little adjustment should be necessary.  Trigger pull seemed acceptable. I did note there is less room on the frame for my left thumb, makes riding the slide more likely, but that’s minor. I read a bit about it overnight and went back and bought it today. 

 

Handling it at home, I noticed that the beaver tail is enough wider than a 1911s that it could form a hot spot on my right thumb knuckle. This is a problem I’ve had with other guns, as my grip is very high. If the beaver tail were narrower, though, the slide would tear chunks from that knuckle, there’s so little clearance. I think that my hand will toughen and a callus grow there so I’m not really worried. The barrel and slide have  more play than I would expect from a 1911 in this price range. 

 

Magazines are very stiff to load. One of the three I could barely get the 15th in, and I have strong thumbs. After I got it loaded, it did not seat in the gun nearly as easily as the others.  Maybe they’ll break in. 

 

I fired the only only box of (cheap) factory ammo I had on hand, Federal American Eagle 115 FMJs.  No malfunctions. I like the way it feels. I was not shooting for accuracy, just banging at steel plates, but a couple of things became immediately apparent. First, it shoots around 3” low at 10 yards. I expect the bullet to land at the top of the front sight; not even close.  Second, I really hate that fat front sight with the huge orange ball. I’ll be contacting Dawson Precision after further testing. I may need a new rear sight as well. 

 

Weighed the trigger pull on my Lyman digital gauge at 6-1/4 to 6-1/2 lbs, with a small amount of creep and overtravel. Not nearly as good as a 1911, but I think I can work with it. Maybe it can be improved. 

 

So, after very brief testing and handling, I am very hopeful. I need new sights, more magazines, a holster...some Dillon time. 

 

[P.E. Kelley]

On 5/29/2018 at 5:55 PM, Tictacticaltimmy said:

Looking forward to the review P.E.

 

Why don't you accuracy test it like you have other guns at the end of your reviews?

You might want to use a laser instead of the sights, people complain that big front dot makes it hard to aim precisely

 

American Rifleman review showed extremely good accuracy, another gun rag showed moderate accuracy, and some youtubers have claimed poor accuracy.

Oh I have accuracy tested. Looking for some other testers results.

[Jeff O]

A buddy of mine ordered this Red Hill Tactical holster for an H9 thinking he was ordering one for a Bersa LOL. If intrested PM me.

[m-cz-shadow-2]

For anybody that has shot one of these does the trigger truly feel like an SAO gun? Every striker fired gun I have ever shot feels a bit "squishy".  If the H9 does manage to eliminate that feeling, how did they go about doing so? Could other companies that make striker fired guns follow suit?