HK45 Endurance Test: Week Five

With over 3,000 rounds downrange this week, it should come as no surprise that we’ve got some good results to report.

• best F.A.S.T. score to date with the HK45, a 4.63 clean. In fairness, this was only a one one-hundredth of a second improvement over my previous top HK45 score, but still I guess a new record is a new record.
• Dot Torture at 10yd: 50 for 50. My two previous attempts at 10yd with this pistol resulted in scores of 48. The only other pistol with which I’ve successfully scored a 50 at 10yd was the P30 back in January.
• fired 984 rounds through the gun in one practice session… without needing to see a chiropractor afterwards! There’s no question the .45 takes more effort to shoot, though, and I don’t see any 2,000-round marathon practice sessions with the HK45 like I did with the M&P9 and P30.

The HK45 continues to impress me in terms of speed, with splits in the high teens easy to accomplish on high probability targets, with .16’s and even .15’s showing up on the timer every now and then. The shorter reset combined with the gun’s innate ability to tame recoil and muzzle rise make it hard to remember it’s a full power .45 in your hand.

And as for accuracy, well just look at the target to the left. On a lark while shooting with some buddies, I did a one-shot draw at 25 yards. The round hit the one inch square inside the six inch circle of an 8.5×11 sheet of paper. Sure, there was a bit of luck involved… but it’s certainly confidence inspiring to know the gun is capable of that kind of performance!

You may notice from these photos that the HK45 is wearing new floorplates. They’re the floorplates from an HK USP45 Compact, and I got the idea from pistol-training.com reader Rodney Ledbetter after he sent me the following photos:

That’s all it took for me to order a bunch of them. They’re far smaller and thinner than the stock floorplates, and substantially better than the ones I mauled with a Dremel. While the USP45 Compact floorplate leaves a gap between the grip frame and the magazine, the HK45’s grip is so long that it doesn’t interfere with my grip 2-handed or 1-handed. And with the ungainly protrusion removed from the front of the floorplate, it’s much easier to get a good solid grip on the magazine before drawing it from a pouch, which I’m counting on to improve my reloads… because they need the help. Huge thanks to Rodney for the idea!

Other big news this week is that Garrity’s Gunleather has officially announced the new In-Victus appendix holster. Long time pistol-training.com fans will know that Mark Garrity has been working for almost two years with a handful of folks, including me, to develop this AIWB holster. I’ve used prototypes for the M&P9, HK P30, and now HK45 during the process, and Garrity has had other testers use those guns as well as various Glocks and 1911’s to come up with a design that truly allows you to conceal a full sized pistol comfortably and securely. I’d personally like to thank Mark as well as fellow testers Kurt Von Rice, SLG, and Bill C. for all the time and effort put into this project over the past twenty months.

The coming week should be another high round count one, with three or four practice sessions planned in addition to an Aim Fast, Hit Fast class in Culpeper, Virginia this weekend.

Train hard & stay safe! ToddG

Previous HK45 Endurance Test posts at pistol-training.com:

• Week Four
• Week Three
• Week Two
• Week One
• Announcement