Hudson H9: TTAG Readers’ Choice Best New Handgun of 2017

I think I can deny it, actually. Here’s an admin console screen shot of the comments for this thread. There are zero in spam or trash or pending: http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/comment-screen-shot.jpg

Nick has the raw poll system data if you’re actually serious here and think some sort of proof is justified. People simply didn’t vote for the P-10.

In fact, I just texted Nick and he said it came in 7th!

The H9 has received orders of magnitude more interest on the site here in terms of views on articles related to it and on the review (for its relative age). Same when I post pics on Instagram and such. H9 stuff gets 10x the likes and comments of P-10 C stuff.

I realize “Best New Handgun” shouldn’t be a popularity contest, but my vote only counts for one just like yours and I believe this category had like 8,000 or some number of that sort votes.

I find it barely accurate enough for its intended purpose, which I believe is self defense based in a big part on the sights they’ve chosen to use.

But barely accurate enough is accurate enough, so it didn’t kill the gun’s rating like accuracy that actually wasn’t enough for its intended purpose would have.

Again though, the rating is, ultimately, pretty subjective and will vary greatly depending on each person’s expectations of accuracy, fit, finish, price, ergonomics, size/weight, etc.

From where I type, if I’ve provided you with all of the information you need to make an informed decision about the gun then it’s a good review.

I don’t think you’ll find any surprises should you go to the range and rent an H9. I think you’ll feel familiar and your expectations based on reading the review will be met. No surprises = I’ve done my job.

Arguing about whether it’s prettier or uglier than some other gun or too heavy to carry or not accurate enough for my needs vs. yours is not productive. I have zero expectations that opinions should align on these sorts of subjective matters.

BTW, as for “Handgun of the Year” I hope it’s clear that this is awarded from the reader poll where many thousands of our readers voted for these things. Most votes = winner. It has nothing to do with the ratings in TTAG reviews. We’ll be publishing an editors’ choice article soon, which will highlight some of the TTAG staff’s choices.

Jeremy S.,

Firstly, yes.
I do read TTAG daily and you’re one of the few places I even bother reading gun reviews; let alone trust those reviews. I do appreciate the subjective nature of gun reviewing; and appreciate the nuance involved when trying to reduce something abstract into an easily digestible form. You’ve done your job.

Secondly, my comments on the H9 being voted gun of the year by readers were meant to focus that I think it’s mostly hype and desire, rather than real world experience driving the votes. I’ve handled one, but not shot it, and I wasn’t $1100 impressed.

Further review on the internet has indeed shown accuracy concerns, as well as continued failures to feed well after a 500 round “break-in” and a disturbing lack of Customer Service from Hudson. Again highlighting and corroborating your due diligence in your review of the H9; as well as adding in a whole new dimension of problems that go along with buying a pistol from the new manufacturer in town.

I wish Hudson well, but they have to remember they’re trying to make it in a world where you can get a Glock from any LGS for around $500. Rent-and-then-some amounts of money for “just okay” probably isn’t going to cut it in the long haul, was my major theme.

Keep up the good work.

Thanks. I agree with you on the voting.

I have just shy of 1,000 rounds of mixed ammo through my H9 and it has been flawless (outside of the sand and mud torture testing). At the TTAG reader meet-up there were two H9s there and each of them was screaming hot from having rounds dumped through them non-stop for a couple hours and I don’t believe there were any stoppages. Speaking with Karl from InRange a few weeks ago, his H9 had about as many rounds through it as mine and he had also experienced perfect function. Corroborated the low point of impact — he started lollipop-ing the front dot on the top of the rear sight during competition stages. Hicock45’s video also noted this same thing. IMHO the gun needs a taller rear sight. But I definitely believe them to be reliable.

On the customer service front, I think it’s better than what internet rumors make it out to be. Anyone can call their number and see how responsive they are. …to flesh this out a little, and I apologize that I’m not at liberty to be specific here, I will say that some people who say negative things on the internet are making them up. I will not confirm or deny any specific knowledge of Hudson’s dealings with this stuff, but I will tell you that a handful of other firearm-related companies have shown me their internal customer service logs where they’re taking very good, responsive care of a person who is simultaneously making comments online saying that the company is ignoring them and worse, or they’ve shown me that the company has never been contacted by a person who’s online claiming to own their product and claiming to have warranty issues but is being ignored, etc etc. I also encountered this sort of thing myself when I was running my own, internet-based retail company. People are weird. Especially when it’s something new, something expensive, something different.