Review: Heckler & Koch CC9

President John F. Kennedy, an NRA Life Member, famously addressed the people of Berlin in 1963, as the communist East Germans erected the Berlin Wall, saying “Ich bin ein Berliner!” to show the solidarity between the United States and the non-communist West Germans as they faced Soviet aggression at the height of the Cold War. The proper translation of the remark, owing to the inclusion of “ein,” is “I am a Berliner,” which is a type of pastry (think, “I am a Hamburger” had Kennedy given the speech in Hamburg). He was trying to say something along the lines of “I am a citizen of Berlin,” which would be “Ich bin Berliner.” But, posterity cares not, because we won the war that successfully neutered German military power, so we remind our European allies that, but for the United States, they’d be speaking German. Therefore, we can botch a phrase in German, since without us, our Teutonic friends would be speaking Russian.

A year after Kennedy’s speech, arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch of Oberndorf am Necker in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, began development of what might be its most iconic firearm: the legendary MP5 submachine gun. When it entered service in 1966, it began its slow rise to replace the Israeli Uzi as the most iconic submachine gun in service. Through its use in multiple hostage-rescue missions—in real life and in film—the MP5 came to symbolize its maker in a way few other guns have.

Heckler & Koch has long had a presence in the United States to facilitate imports for the civilian, law enforcement and military markets, with particular attention paid to the latter two until the last decade or so. Earlier this year, Heckler & Koch combined its American divisions into HK USA, based in Columbus, GA, to enhance customer service and, most interestingly, manufacturing.

Which leads us to today, and the new H&K CC9 handgun, the company’s first pistol made right here in the United States. You read that correctly: there’s a Heckler & Koch gun made in America. But why, you ask? It’s not like H&K—or most products made in Germany—suffer from a reputation of poor quality. Quite the contrary, in fact. But, firearms pose a unique challenge when it comes to importing and exporting, owing to laws in both Germany and the United States. U.S. law sets defined lower limits to handgun size (among many other things) for legal imports, while German export law puts draconian burdens on manufacturers to prevent firearms from being sold to unsavory regimes or non-state actors, and Germany’s definition of unsavory is (ironically, given its history) insanely strict. So, making a firearm here in the U.S. eliminates those concerns, as any such gun would not be subject to those restrictions.

This is not a new idea. SIG Sauer, while German owned (and previously made), is now essentially an American company, with its firearm manufacturing almost entirely conducted in New Hampshire. Glock, while Austrian, also makes some of its handguns in Smyrna, GA. Other foreign companies, like IWI, FN and many more, also make significant parts of their firearms for sale in America—if not entire guns—in the U.S.

But enough about the “why” of the CC9. While its American origins are certainly exciting, the gun itself more than lives up to the anticipation. A double-stack, striker-fired, micro-compact 9 mm, the CC9 is H&K’s first effort to compete with the Taurus GX4, SIG Sauer P365, Springfield Armory Hellcat, Smith & Wesson Shield Plus, Ruger Max-9, Stoeger STR-9MC, Kimber R7 Mako and FN Reflex, to name but a few.

H&K is hyping three aspects of the CC9, all of which I found to be outstanding. First, the company touts the CC9’s reliability. H&K firearms are known to work—all the time, always, in any environmental conditions—and the CC9 is no different. The company claims it put 750,000 rounds through the platform in its development, including in adverse conditions like sand, dust and mud. I ran into zero problems of any kind in my testing, which was several orders of magnitude less extensive for reasons of time, cost and sanity. Both the slide and the barrel are DLC coated to promote durability.

Next, H&K promotes the CC9’s shootability. The pistol features interchangeable backstraps to fit it to your hand, the ability for most hands to achieve a full, four-finger grip with the flush-fit, 10-round magazine, and the same length-of-pull (the distance between the front of the trigger and the spot on the backstrap where the web of the hand is placed) as the full-size H&K VP9. Furthermore, the company sensibly textured the grip on its sides, backstrap and frontstrap to provide about the perfect amount of purchase without being abrasive. A further small textured spot on either side of the frame above the front of the trigger guard provides an index point for the shooter’s trigger finger when its off the bang switch.

I found it incredibly comfortable to shoot, which is a welcome attribute for a tiny 9 mm. Often, shootability is sacrificed for concealability, but the CC9 surrenders much less than most pistols in its class when it comes to shooter comfort.

Lastly, the CC9’s concealability is likewise outstanding. Even with an MRDS optic mounted, it is eminently concealable and comfortable to carry. Using a DeSantis holster, I carried the CC9 extensively in testing. It did not print through cover garments and was incredibly comfortable on my hip. While similar in size to its many competitors, its sub-1-inch width helps the CC9 fit snug against the body and aids in concealing the pistol. To me, it was as good or better in this respect than any other double-stack, micro-compact 9 mm on the market.

Accuracy is also excellent. The CC9 benefits from well-designed iron sights, specifically a blacked-out, serrated rear sight paired with a Hi Viz tritium front post. It also allows mounting pistol optics thanks to an RMSc-footprint cutout, of which I took advantage by mounting a Meprolight MPO-DS. Accuracy potential is further enhanced by the pistol’s German-made, cold-hammer-forged, cannon-grade steel barrel. The trigger—which is excellent—features the now-ubiquitous blade safety and its pull is as smooth as a bowling ball.

The CC9 is +P rated, which adds to its appeal for defensive purposes, and I found +P loads only slightly snappier through the pistol than standard-pressure 9 mm fodder. The handgun ships with two magazines: a 10-round, flush-fit unit and a 12-round version with a small pinkie extension. As mentioned, I could easily fit my hand on the gun with the flush-fit mag inserted, which is a rarity for the micro-compact class. The extended mag adds only .32 inch to the pistol’s height, so you won’t be sacrificing much in terms of concealability should you choose to carry the more capacious magazine in the gun.

Adding to its appeal, the CC9 features a truly ambidextrous magazine release and slide-stop lever. Both are mirrored on either side of the pistol, so lefties and righties will have identical manuals-of-arms, as will any shooter shooting with their weak hand. A two-slot rail section beneath the dustcover allows mounting a weaponlight or laser should you so desire, while the slide sports cocking serrations at its front and rear to aid in charging the handgun.

Shooting the CC9 was both boring and incredibly exciting. It was boring, as nearly every H&K handgun I’ve shot has been boring, because it was perfectly reliable, comfortable to shoot and accurate. Boring—when pertains to guns designed for self-defense—is perhaps the greatest compliment. But the CC9 was also quite exciting, because it is a micro-compact 9 mm that is perfectly reliable, comfortable to shoot and accurate. Many such pistols get one or two of those aspects spot on, but don’t live up to the hype for the third (whichever attribute that might be). To find one that excels in all three elements, is remarkably comfortable to carry, comes from one of the most respected names in gunmaking and is made right here in the USA is exciting beyond measure—even for a jaded industry veteran like your humble author. Heck, there are even multiple holster options available for it already, which leaves me with very little to complain about.

Very little, but not nothing. A couple of minor issues did rear their heads, but both are basically picking nits to find something wrong with an otherwise just-about-perfect handgun. A common annoyance with these micro-compact, double-stack magazines is they can be extremely difficult to fully load until they’ve broken in a great deal—we’re talking dozens upon dozens of loading and shooting cycles. In my time with the CC9, both magazines were insanely tough to get that last round inside. The magazines also proved ever-so-slightly more difficult to insert than I’d like, with both units requiring an assertive smack to seat properly, though they both dropped free without issue when the release was depressed. Again, these are extremely minor concerns, not deal breakers.

H&K’s reputation for quality is well deserved, but with that has come stratospheric pricing. Thankfully, that is not the case with the CC9. Though it is more expensive than some pistols in its class, it remains well within the meaty part of the curve for a tiny, double-stack 9 mm, particularly an example as excellent as this.

As an NRA Life Member like President Kennedy—although I speak better German than he did—there is no small measure of pride in knowing that folks who can say “Ich bin Amerikaner” made such an outstanding handgun.