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Daniel Defense H9: The Hudson Reborn and Completely Reengineered (Ad-free)
🕑 Added 2024-12-16 12:00:08 +0000 UTCIn 2017, Hudson released a new pistol that was the darling of the firearms industry. It purported to offer a radically low bore axis and 1911-style trigger in a striker-fired system that would be fast and simple to use.
In 2019, Hudson went bankrupt, out of money and having started to scavenge parts off returned pistols to fix other customers' broken guns. It was an ignominious end to a product with such potential.
About that same time, Daniel Defense was looking for a way to expand their catalog into the pistol market. They saw Hudson, and it looked like the perfect opportunity to pick up a good design that seemed to have been the victim of management and cash flow problems. So DD bought up the patents and other aspects of the H9 pistol...but when they got a close look at the gun they realized, belatedly, that the whole thing needed to be redesigned.
In the years since, Daniel Defense has been fixing the H9. The fire control system remains fundamentally the same, but with no interchangeable parts - and now actually drop-safe. The exotic forward-mounted unlocking cams on the barrel are gone now, and the accessory rail is moved up enough to allow reasonable use of lights and lasers. The frame is aluminum and shortened for better concealment. The recoil spring system is much stronger, and the slide stop redesigned to prevent the breakages that plagued the original Hudson. Every part of the magazine has been changed, to fit the same 15 rounds into a shorter body and prevent over insertion. The slide is now cut for optics, with four different adapter plates to fit all the common footprints.
Shooting the new H9 side by side with the original Hudson, I think Daniel Defense has kept all the qualities of the design while fixing a lot of the problems it had. The gun does indeed have a lot less muzzle rise than more conventional designs, and the trigger feels quite nice. This is not a Grand MAster's IPSC gun and it is not a subcompact pocket gun. It is a jack of all trades piece that can be carried as well as any service pistol (better than most, thanks to its quite narrow construction) and can hold its own in a variety of competition venues as well.
Developmental Prototypes of the Original Hudson H9:
Comments
Chairman
I think the most damning thing is they thought people who bought the original would shoot less than 2K rounds through it? That can just be 2-3 pistol classes, easy. That is/was their consumer, not the gun talisman in a drawer person.
Guido Schriewer
sounds somewhat like hk fixing the l85, dd fix in a one could say extended redesigning the whole thing. not a short list of issues the hudson had.
Forgotten Weapons
Yeah, they visited at my home back when the gun came out, and were both really cool people. Definitely a shame how it ended up playing out.
Shawn D.
I recall meeting the originators at the last Atlanta NRA Meeting. They seemed like great people, so it sucks the business side didn't work out. I probably won't ever get one, but am glad it's been brought back!
Forgotten Weapons
I talk about the key holing in the video - it was the result of a polygonal-rifling barrel combined with aggressive ogive plated bullets. Wasn't a problem unique to the H9, but because it was noted on the launch and got a lot of attention they had to fix it - so they went back to traditional rifling.
scott pochini
Heard a lot of people had problems with the DD versions, especially keyholing
Forgotten Weapons
Yes, apparently they did purchase it.
Brian I
So DD actually purchased the patents and intellectual property? I just assumed they ripped off the design and changed it enough to make it there's.
