After 10,000 rounds of ammo through the Lionheart LH9 in a months time, it is easy to see why the Korean military and police still prefer this pistol. With a 4.1″ barrel, and standing only 4.9″ tall, I feel that this pistol is exactly what a full sized service pistol should be. It is lightweight at 26 ounces, and has the feeling of a more ergonomic Beretta M9.
During this 10,000 round testing, I did not change out the recoil spring or anything else. The pistol proceeded to function the entire time. Since this test, I have replaced the recoil spring and will proceed to only change it out every 10,000 rounds. The normal maintenance schedule is around 5,000 rounds in order to prevent the slide from smashing the frame with compounding force as the round counts go up. But with the frame being forged and the slide even being forged, I feel comfortable that both components can withstand US military style torture in the form of little to no maintenance.
As for the rest of the pistol, I have been quite impressed with the overall lack of wear on the components and the Cerakote itself, despite my abusive treatment. The trigger has plateaued at around 4.5 pounds n the single action pull, and the hammer spring is still pretty strong. Other than a few changes, I can barely tell that this pistol has had 10,000 rounds through it, unlike other pistols I have used. I imagine this pistol will last well into 100,000 rounds.
