When HK announced they were releasing a new micro compact pistol, I knew I had to do a full HK CC9 review, once I had enough time on the gun. Needless to say, I’ve had this pistol for several months, and put over a thousand rounds through it. I’ve found it to be a great concealed carry 9mm pistol that has some real strong points, and one or two drawbacks. Keep reading for the full review.
Readers of this website will know that I’ve done Heckler and Koch pistol reviews before. I’ve also carried a VP9 for the last 5 years, and I think it’s probably the best, polymer striker fired, full-size pistol currently on the market. Based on these positive experiences, I was excited to pick up the CC9 as my primary concealed carry gun.
For you impatient types, you can find the key points for this new micro compact striker-fired pistol from HK below.
Heckler & Koch CC9 Review Key Points
Pro’s
- Extremely comfortable to conceal
- Very accurate out to 100 yards
- Excellent magazine capacity (12+1)
- Optics ready from the factory
- Interchangeable backstraps
Con’s
- Price
- Snappy recoil
- Can stay out of battery
- Hard to find for sale
- Limited holster selection
If you want the video version of this HK CC9 review you can find that below. It should give you much of the same info here, with some additional details that are better captured via video.
Before we get to the details of the review, I want to cover a few important items. First, this isn’t a paid review. I purchased this pistol with my own money, so I can give you my honest feedback. Secondly, I will link to some companies we work with where you can purchase a CC9.
Those are affiliate links which means we get a referral fee if you purchase something after clicking. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, and it allows us to continue to do these reviews. Your support is much appreciated.
In the next section I will cover some of the general features of the gun, and then I will get into my experiences running a case of ammo through this American made gun from HK USA.
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Heckler and Koch CC9 Features and Specs
The new HK CC 9 was designed to compete against other popular pistols, in the micro-compact market, like the Sig P 365, Springfield Hellcat, and Glock 43x, amongst others. Like many things HK, they certainly aren’t first to the concealed carry market, but they try to be the best in the market.
The CC9 is billed as one of the most thoroughly tested firearms that HK has ever produced. They claim approximately 750,000 rounds were used to develop the gun. Moreover they conducted thorough drop testing, cold temperature, and hot temperature testing. They also conducted mud and sand testing to make sure it was reliable in any condition. This rigorous testing and quality control showed in my shooting experiences.
The pistol features a cannon grade, cold hammer-forged barrel, that is situated in a full +p rated chassis system. The slide and barrel are DLC, which is one of the most durable coatings available for hard use metals. Next up in this HK CC9 review let’s cover its out of the box features, and specs.
HK CC9 Specs
The CC9 ships with a Hi-viz tritium insert for the front sight, and blackout rear sight, although mine came with a non tritium front. It also comes with an optics plate covering the RMSc footprint. The slide features forward cocking serrations which I prefer for red dots. The frame has a picatinny accessory rail for mounting lights and lasers.
This pistol has ambidextrous controls including the slide stop, a slide release lever, as well as the non paddle mag release. One of the best features is the modular grip system with interchangeable backstraps. This allow you to change the length of pull for the trigger. HK claims that this small pistol actually retains the same length of pull as the VP9 series of pistols, with the larger backstrap.
The CC9 has several safety features including: trigger safety, firing pin / drop safety, and out of battery safety. It has a safe takedown feature as well. The pistol weights 27.4 ounces fully loaded, and 21.1 ounces empty, with the 12-round magazine inserted.
It’s overall size is less than one inch in width, and an overall length of 6.03 inches. It comes with a 10 or 12-round magazine. The 12 round magazine has a longer plate, which increases the grip length, accommodating a full grip for those with larger hands. Now that we’ve covered some of the basic specs, let’s get on to my shooting impressions.
HK CC9 Shooting Tests
Just like many of you, I was interested in the CC9 pistol as an EDC concealed carry gun. It was smaller than my previous pistol, which caused some issues when I was contemplating the purchase. Initially I was considering a Glock 43x as it’s a very reliable pistol with similar features. However, I just didn’t like the small grip it came with. I also didn’t like the grip angle change between my duty gun, and a possible CCW gun.
This lead me to go with the CC9, because it was optics ready from the factory, and featured a large backstrap that allowed for a more comfortable grip on the gun. I was quite happy that I was able to purchase the gun with the Holosun 407K optic right from the store.
Once this pistol came in I swapped the large backstrap onto the gun, and did a little dry fire with my new holster. As it turns out there really weren’t a lot of great options for holsters out there. I went with a somewhat expensive Tenicor holster. More on that later.
HK CC9 Review: Initial Shooting Impressions
Once I got to the range, I promptly ran a few mags through the gun. Initially I was struck by how snappy the gun felt. It’s a light weight polymer pistol, and it feels much snappier than my heavier duty, and competition guns. It’s worth noting that it feels like a P365 or Glock 43. The snappiness is inherent to all lightweight pistols.
Once I got over that, I started to run some doubles drills, and Bill Drills to see how it behaved during recoil. I found that I could run it quite hard. From concealment I was able to consistently run bill drills in the low 2 second range. My best was 2.17 with .18 second splits, at the 7 yard line.
For reference my bill drill times with my CZ Shadow 2, and full USPSA competition holster, is roughly 1.8 or so, with .15 splits, on average. However, that gun is over 50 ounces fully loaded, and has a super crisp double action trigger.
Given my slowish draws from concealment, I think this gun can run very well, provided you have the skill.
HK CC9 Slide Battery Issues
During this initial phase I did notice that the gun didn’t particularly like it when I sent the slide forward by slingshotting the slide. When loaded in this way, it would occasionally settle slightly out of battery. See the photo below.
If I used the slide release to send it forward, it would lock into battery without issue, every time. This issue became less pronounced as I shot it more. Eventually I realized that if I held on to the slide at all, thus adding drag as it went forward, it wouldn’t go into battery. If I was very careful not to touch the slide it would go forward this way.
It’s also worth noting that I attempted to fire the gun with it slightly out of battery and it did not fire, which is a good thing, because that would have been an ouchie.
The easiest fix for this minor issue is to use the slide release to send the slide forward, or manually run the slide forward and then push the final few millimeters into battery to make sure it’s set. Because no HK CC9 review would be complete without some accuracy testing, we’ll cover that next.
HK CC9 Accuracy Tests
I’m not going to sugar coat this, I’m not a fan of this style of testing. Bench rest accuracy doesn’t really tell you much, as any decent pistol won’t hold back 99% of shooters with their mechanical accuracy. However, I know some people are interested, so I did some testing.
Shooting braced off of a folding table, I was able to shoot a 5 shot group, from 25 yards, into a 1.8 inch group. If we take my best 4 shot group, it shrinks to 1.3 inches. I’m not particularly good at group shooting, and given these metrics, I think the gun is probably mechanically accurate to around one inch at 25 yards.
I then conducted a few practical accuracy tests, and decided to send some rounds at C-zone steel from some distance. From 50 yards I could run a 6 shot Bill drill with 100% accuracy in 5.39 seconds. The green dot of the Holosun certainly helps for these kind of accuracy drills.
I then moved back to 100 yards and found that I couldn’t connect with all six rounds on the plate. I was roughly 50% accurate at that distance, when shooting 6 round Bill drills. I also found that while I preferred the longer 12 round magazine, because it allowed a full four-finger firing grip, that the 10-round magazine didn’t affect my accuracy or shooting performance.
I want to point out that I’m currently a USPSA Master class shooter, and consequently have an above average competency with pistol shooting. I’m not guaranteeing that you can reproduced any of these accuracy metrics. I’m simply pointing out that the gun will not hinder your performance, no matter your skill level. Next up for this HK CC9 review, we’ll talk about my day to day impressions of this gun during concealed carry.
HK CC9 Every day Carry Experiences
As I mentioned previously, I only found a few holsters that looked decent for the CC9. Unfortunately none of them fit lights or lasers. I’m sure there must be some available but it wasn’t really a deal breaker for me. I chose the Tenicor Certum 3, which turned out to be a great pick.
The Certum 3 is an appendix inside the waistband holster (AIWB). It can also be carried at other positions like strong side, or at the five o’clock position. The Certum 3 features strong metal hooks, with a secondary catch, that keeps the holster from coming out during a draw. Check the video out for an in depth look at the holster
I found this holster to fit perfectly with the gun, and it provided enough retention to hold then pistol even when shaken upside down. It also kept the pistol at the right depth in my belt line to make sitting comfortable. Like most appendix holsters, it can be a bit uncomfortable to bend forward, but it was reasonable with this pistol and holster setup.
I also found that I could use this holster at the five o’clock position for times when I needed to wear a suit or tuck in a shirt. This holster gun combo was so comfortable that I was able to go on a 500 mile road trip while wearing it the whole time, with no issues. Most of the time I forgot I was wearing it in the truck. The slim profile really helped with overall comfort, as well as the reasonable grip texture.
The CC9 is a great gun to carry concealed, as it allows for good mobility, and flexible carry options that all provide a good deal of comfort. It’s also small enough that it’s impossible to see the gun in my waistband unless I lift my shirt up. Now let’s finish this HK CC9 review with some final thoughts.
Final Thoughts
During my testing of the CC9 I ran 1000 rounds through it between practice and self defense 9mm rounds. It ran flawlessly, with zero malfunctions. I would recommend that you periodically tighten the optic screws as I had them loosen up after a few hundred rounds, which caused a frustrating wandering zero, until I sorted the issue out.
Given the similar grip to my favorite HK VP 9, I found the CC9 to be a very comfortable carry pistol. If you need a new micro-compact pistol for self defense, or concealed carry, then the HK CC9 should be on your short list. This is especially true if you shoot other guns with a similar grip angle.
The only real negative is the availability and price. I was able to buy mine with the optic for about $950 from Gunbroker. However, they don’t always have that price on there. You can currently purchase the pistol (minus optic) from Buds Gun Shop for around $990, which seems to be what most guns are retailing for currently.
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