The Grand Power pistols have flown under the radar for some time but recently they came to my attention as a result of Polenar Tactical’s visit to the Grand Power factory in Slovakia that I have posted below. I started doing quite a bit of reading and settled on the standard K100 MK12 pistol. A few emails between Phil, Grand Power, and Eagle Imports I had a tracking number. Time to see if this unheard of to me polymer pistol lives up to the hype I had been running across.

As usual take a look at the specs off the Grand Power website:

K100

Caliber: 9mm Luger 

Trigger mechanism: SA / DA

Trigger pull weight: 20-25N / 35-40N

Overall length: 202.5mm

Height without magazine: 133.5mm

Width: 36mm

Barrel length: 108mm

Weight w/o magazine: 740g

Weight w empty magazine: 820g

Standard magazine capacity: 15

The K100 with an SA/DA trigger mechanism is a result of incorporating the most strict requirements imposed on universal guns with its ergonomics suitable for shooters of practical disciplines as well as for special units of military forces. The front part of the frame is fitted with universal tactical Picatinny rail MIL STD 1913. The K100 Mk12 is the upgrade of the well-known Mk6 and Mk7 models; it comes with 4 removable hand-grips. Easy-to-remove hand-grips make the gun an ideal choice for multi-user shooting practice. The enhanced ergonomic design increases hand-grip while shooting, keeping both the hand and the mind of the shooter focused firmly on their target

When the Grand Power arrived I was excited to get it out of my hands and familiarize myself with it but as soon as I pulled it out of the supplied (and cheaply made) hard case I found it to be slathered in oil. Guess I gotta clean it up before I get too hands on, it felt like I was holding a gun made from soap!

After I got the Grand Power K100 cleaned up I got out to the range to put it through it’s paces. The K100 is nestled inside a rather cheap case with the interchangeable back straps, the gun, and a spare mag. I really wish they included another mag as a result of them being crazy expensive. 

The contents all laid out I started with the process of deciding what back strap I felt was most conducive to my shooting style. A quick note on the mags, they are not shared with any other pistol I am familiar with making magazine availability a bit of a concern. As of now they are only imported by Eagle Imports and are priced at a princely $55 per 15 round magazine or $88 for a 20 rounder. Ouch. 

Changing the grips is rather challenging, there is no mention of it in the manual, nor is there a tool supplied to pry the grip out of the little dimples. I found the best way was to use a small flat head screw driver, but I ended up marring the pistol just a touch. 

Taking the pistol down is a bit of a challenge and describing the process I felt would be equally difficult. As a result of the operating mechanism you have to pull the slide off the rear very similar to a Walter P22. While taking it apart is a bit hard, putting it back together is harder. Hunting for the sweet spot to get the slide back onto the rails is a heck of a task.

Anyhow,  the photos below should give you a good indication of how the take down process goes. 

Once you get the gun apart you are met with some rather nicely machined parts laid out in a very strange way. I expected this gun to look a lot like the Beretta PX4 and was rather surprised that it was nothing like it. 

The barrel is precisely machined so that the rotating locking system works without issue. I would put the machining work on par with the Sphinx pistols or the Strike One I reviewed recently. It definitely is machined much nicer than you would expect out of a $500 pistol.

The cutout in the barrel that provides the rotating motion rides on top of a roller bearing, you can also see the flat portion that allows the barrel to disengage from the slide. The barrel would be in the unlocked position in this photo. 

Just to the left of the barrel is the roller bearing that I was talking about. 

Putting the gun back together make sure that you don’t have the barrel in the locked position like most short recoil tilting barrel actions like the Glock. It has to be fully forward to reassemble.  

On to shooting. I mentioned the K100 was a rotating barrel gun so I felt I should try to get that on camera somehow. You can kinda get a sense of it’s operation. I think.     

I started with some double taps on a AR500 silhouette. I found the double action to be a very manageable 10 pounds 8 ounces. While that might sound like a lot the impressively smooth and predictable double action pull made it feel like a 7-8 pound trigger. The single action was a pleasant 4 pound 6 ounces with a clean break and very little over travel. The take up was no where near what I expect with a DA/SA pistol. Grand Power really put together a stellar trigger on the K100 MK12.

As you can see in the photos the recoil was extremely manageable allowing me to double tap the K100 fast enough for the shooter in the next bay to come over and ask “what the hell are you shooting?”.

Next up was the 6″ hostage swinger on my AR500 target. The bad guy swinger was hit squarely every time I did my part.

It wouldn’t be a true test of a unknown action if I didn’t shoot like a Chicagoan. The pistol functioned flawlessly even though I felt like a complete idiot shooting like this. 

I was curious if my weak hand could induce a malfunction and was presently surprised with a new bang every time I pulled the trigger. 

Enough will all the messing around, time for an accuracy test at 10 yards. With the pleasant single action trigger that did a great job of surprising me I was able to shoot a pretty stellar group (for me).

In the below photo I want to draw your attention to the safety, I forgot to take a stand alone photo, sorry. I found it rather hard to disengage the safety while in a firing grip, I would have much rather Grand Power used this spot to use a decocker instead of a safety. 

In conclusion I am really impressed with the Grand Power K100 MK12. For a pistol that has a price tag of $532 or so (I was not able to locate an official MSRP so I just found the most expensive retailer) I feel that there are a ton of great features packed into a unassuming looking pistol. It seems I have been adding a lot of the pistols I test recently to my collection and this will be no exception. It would be really hard for me to overlook the value in this Slovakian wonder nine.

I am so impressed with it that I will be replacing my Smith and Wesson M&P 40 nightstand gun with the Grand Power K100. If that isn’t a glowing enough endorsement I don’t know how else to put it. Maybe by plainly saying I really like this pistol, go shoot one, now.

You can learn more about the Grand Power K100 MK12 at the Eagle Imports site here or the Grand Power site here. I recommend the Eagle Imports page, the Grand Power site has about as much information on it as Colt has on theirs, near none.