The original H9 pistol held promise but delivered hiccups. Now with Daniel Defense taking the lead, the Daniel H9 makes good on this innovative concept with proven reliability and dead-accurate performance.
by Bob Campbell
In 2017, a new company with great prospects introduced a startlingly different handgun. Called the Hudson H9, this pistol blended striker-fired modernity with a steel frame similar to the 1911. A straight-to-the-rear trigger compression and radical recoil spring design resulted in a pistol that offered unique handling qualities. The company lasted less than two years, as startups sometimes do. I wasn’t inside the company, so I don’t know exactly what happened.
I do know that Hudson tried to put together a pistol made up of parts from different contractors rather than the more expensive proposition of keeping production under one roof. Notably, Les Baer, as an example, decided to manufacture his own parts and maintain quality control. The opposite isn’t usually a good choice for a premium-priced handgun, although it works well enough for Glock-like handguns and the AR-15. I am naturally conservative when it comes to service pistols and carry guns. But in this business, testing a diverse lot of handguns is par for the course. Thus, I obtained a Hudson H9 a few months after it became available.
The claims of easy shooting and a low bore centerline were true, and I did not experience the problems that some owners experienced. My pistol was reliable with good feed and cycling performance. Accuracy was also good on my test gun, although I learned that the Hudson suffered accuracy issues via other reviewers, apparently because of barrels with improper bore diameter. Some suffered broken small parts. Be that as it may, my particular pistol shot well. I was able to fire it against a Browning Hi-Power, and it outshot the Hi-Power on every count.
So, a 2017 handgun out-shot a 9mm pistol designed in 1935. No great feat there. The difficulty I experienced was a point-of-impact about two inches below the point-of-aim at 25 yards. It needed taller sights. And beginning after about three hundred rounds, I experienced failures of the striker to reset. The pistol would fire a few cartridges without event but began to fail to reset at least once every magazine. I despise an unreliable handgun, and the Hudson was traded off.
Fast forward to today and the H9 has been revived by Daniel Defense after a considerable redesign.
Daniel Defense enjoys an enviable reputation in the AR-15 rifle world. This is their first handgun. The company tells us they did an extensive redesign of the H9 to come up with the new Daniel H9. The piece looks good and handles well. I elected to test the Daniel Defense pistol and decided that if it made it past the original Hudson round count with reliability, I would double the original round count before pronouncing the new H9 all good. It appears Daniel Defense has kept the good and pruned the bad from the original design. There are notable differences in the dust cover and takedown configuration of the new pistol.
Daniel H9 Details
Appearance-wise, the H9 handguns are the same. The H9 may be called a marriage between the 1911 and striker-fired guns, but there is more to it than that. The frame is actually a unique design. The single-action trigger features a blade type safety set into the trigger face. The pistol’s handle is nicely designed with a set of G10 grips offering good traction. The grip feels better than either the Hi-Power or the 1911, to my hands. A bit of research told me that John Moses Browning himself designed a striker-fired pistol as early as 1903, so we are in a good place with the H9. There is no grip safety, although the high beavertail looks as if it leads into one. The pistol features a plunger type magazine release and an ambidextrous slide release. The slide lock is easily manipulated during speed loads, and the magazine well allows rapid manipulation of the magazine. Slightly tilt the magazine into place at an angle and then slap it home. The pistol compliments a trained shooter.
While the pistol is a short-recoil design like most modern handguns, the H9 doesn’t lock up like a 1911. The pistol uses angled camming surfaces to lock and unlock, similar to the Glock- or SIG-type lockup. The barrel locks up on the barrel hood, jamming into the ejection port like most modern pistols. The H9’s greatest departure from other handguns is the positioning of the recoil guide and recoil spring. Rather than keeping the recoil assembly inside the slide, the assembly is covered in a stretched dust cover. It rides with the slide during disassembly, yet the frame covers the assembly. The position of the recoil assembly seems to limit torque as the pistol is fired. In practice, this design works well. There is a different feel when the pistol cycles. Recoil is modest, even for a 29-ounce 9mm handgun. This design and profile are unique. The pistol will not fit any other handgun holster. It may challenge even the most accommodating fit-them-all holsters — if anyone wanted one of those! I was able to obtain a good quality IWB holster from C&G Holsters. The fit is good, as is the balance of retention and speed. The unusual dust cover design doesn’t adversely affect holster fit or draw speed.
The G10 grip panels are easily removable. The front strap is nicely checkered, offering good adhesion and abrasion. The rear beavertail feels good and the mainspring housing is also checkered.
A redesign from the Hudson is the field strip. The Hudson used a rather dated takedown that required the slide lock to be butted right to left and turned. The Daniel Defense pistol features an easily learned field strip. Clear the handgun, making certain the magazine is removed and the chamber is clear. Lock the slide to the rear. Dual takedown plungers are pressed downward to release the slide from the frame. Pluck out the recoil assembly and remove the barrel from the slide.
Among the best features of the Daniel Defense H9 is the trigger action. Notes taken during the Hudson H9 evaluation show the pistol exhibited a 5.0-lb. trigger pull weight — one that I remarked was very clean. The Daniel Defense pistol’s break is short with a rapid reset. This trigger compression is a smooth 4.5 pounds.
It would be good to have the original Hudson to compare against the new Daniel Defense model, but I simply cannot keep them all, and certainly not one that doesn’t perform with 100-percent reliability. The Daniel Defense H9 is another matter. It is reliable and it performs well. The trigger action is singular in that the safety lever in the trigger is pressed more at the top than at the bottom of the trigger shoe. This isn’t a huge problem, and it is easy to get used to manipulating. The action is crisp and clean and offers real speed.
Three nicely finished metal magazines are supplied. They are not difficult to load to full capacity at 15 rounds. The original magazines in the Hudson were more difficult to load to full capacity. That may be luck of the draw or a credit to the redesign.
A word on the sights.
The sights feature a U-notch rear with a serrated rear face and a fiber-optic front sight. The green fiber-optic front sight offers a good aiming point. During the initial evaluation, the pistol fired a couple of inches low at 25 yards. After a bit of range work, I found that when using the fiber optic tube rather than the top of the front sight as an aiming point, I was dead on at 25 yards.
On another important note, Daniel Defense wisely chose to fabricate an aluminum frame rather than the original steel frame. Still, recoil is modest. I fired the pistol to three hundred cartridges — the amount I fired in the Hudson H9 — but this time, I did not experience any type of failure to reset the action nor any of the problems attributed to the Hudson H9. Reliability has been excellent.
Most cartridges fired were FMJ loads from Black Hills Ammunition, Federal, Remington, Speer, and Winchester. I also had several partial boxes of jacketed hollow point ammunition from the same makers, as well as from Hornady. The pistol was cleaned and lubricated after firing the initial three hundred cartridges — probably a little over that amount. There exhibited no eccentric wear and the internal parts looked well-fitted and finished.
During the second series of tests spanning several range trips, most of the loads tested were Black Hills Ammunition products. Black Hills offers JHP, JHP +P, and solid copper HoneyBadger loads, providing a good basis for comparison. I concentrated on accuracy and combat firing. The pistol is very easy to shoot well, and it isn’t difficult for a trained shooter to ring the noggin’ every time on a man-sized target at 25 yards.
I cannot recall a 9mm handgun this size that shoots as well. The pistol is in the league with a Wilson Combat 1911 or CZ Shadow Systems as far as accuracy is concerned, although the heavier guns kick less and are easier to control. The larger striker-fired guns such as the Glock 34 and Canik TTI Combat are not as accurate. The pistol proved reliable with every loading. The 100-grain Honey Badger fired below point-of-aim, which is predictable, while the sights were well regulated for 124-grain loads.
Overall, the pistol is a joy to fire and use. It is remarkably well balanced and shoots well with every load. As for absolute accuracy, firing for groups from a solid benchrest, the pistol shined. Accuracy potential is excellent. Below are the 5-shot group results obtained at 25 yards.
- Black Hills Ammunition 115-grain FMJ: 2.4 in.
- Black Hills Ammunition 124-grain JHP: 1.75 in.
- Black Hills Ammunition 124-grain JHP +P: 1.9 in.
- Black Hills Ammunition 100-grain HoneyBadger: 2.45 in.
In sum, the Daniel H9 is more than accurate enough for personal defense.
What I Like
- Reliability! That is the base line. This is a well-made handgun and makes for good conversation at the range. Accuracy is good, and as experienced shooters will understand, accuracy is easy to come by with this handgun.
What I Don’t Like
- It is hard to holster, but there are holsters for the pistol. Furthermore, you get a free optics plate with purchase, but it may take weeks to arrive.
What I Would Change
- I think I might make taller sights and perhaps a tritium dot front sight.
Compare To
- It is a problem to compare the H9 to other handguns. Few shoot as well. But then there isn’t a lot of aftermarket support. Ported barrels? A shoulder rig? A wide range of optic compatibilities? No. You either love the pistol or you don’t. It outshoots just about any polymer frame handgun and not by a narrow margin…and it should at this price point!
Daniel H9 Specifications
- Caliber: 9mm
- Pistol Size: compact
- Action: striker-fired
- Magazine Capacity: 15
- Mags Included: 3
- Sights: drift-adjustable U-notch rear, fiber-optic front (zeroed at 25 yds.)
- Overall Length: 7.69 in.
- Overall Width: 1 in. at slide
- Height: 5.12 in.
- Barrel Length: 4.28 in.
- Weight: 29.6 oz. w/empty mag
- Accessory Rail: STANAG 4694
- Trigger Type: bottom hinge, straight pull
- Grip Panel: G10, black
- Lower Back Strap Material: G10
- Frame: aluminum
- Frame Finish: anodized
- Slide: 4340 alloy steel
- Slide Finish: DLC coating
- Optic Ready: yes
- MSRP: $999
