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10,928 rounds |
0 stoppages | 0 malfunctions | 0 parts breakages |
The HK45 has been shot so much over the past week, there was no time for photography. It’s still a big black pistol, though, for those who might be wondering.
In six straight days at the range, the pistol fired over 3,300 rounds in the hands of ten different shooters. With almost eleven thousand rounds downrange so far, still no stoppages or other problems to report.
On 13-May, the pistol started feeling a bit sluggish — especially when dropping the slide from lock back — so I decided to clean it for the first time in almost 6,000 rounds. However, the next day at the range it was still doing the same thing. After some inspection the cause became clear: the floorplates mentioned last week. The USP45 Compact floorplates are just too short for the HK45. They allow the magazine to be inserted too deep into the gun, leading to drag on the slide and an improper feeding angle. So at least for now, it’s back to the do-it-yourself modified HK45 floorplates. Luckily, Rich at Custom Carry Concepts has promised to look into making a mag sleeve that will alleviate the problem… as soon as he has a free moment in between filling all the orders for Shaggy AIWBs and other CCC gear that have been pouring into the shop over the past couple of months.
The major shooting accomplishment for the week: nine sub-5 second clean F.A.S.T. runs in a row. My previous best was seven (with the P30 last October) and before that it was four (once with the P30 and once with the M&P9). The nine runs (plus the tenth, which didn’t make it):
- 4.62 (clean): 1.48, .43 / 2.05 / .23, .21, .22
- 4.55 (clean): 1.54, .45 / 1.93 / .20, .22, .21
- 4.88 (clean): 1.48, .43 / 2.30(f) / .23, .23, .21
- 4.46 (clean): 1.43, .41 / 1.94 / .24, .23, .21
- 4.69 (clean): 1.48, .44 / 2.11 / .24, .21, .21
- 4.42 (clean): 1.42, .45 / 1.85 / .24, .23, .23
- 4.73 (clean): 1.46, .43 / 1.90 / .25, .50, .19
- 4.72 (clean): 1.53, .46 / 2.03 / .24, .23, .23
- 4.65 (clean): 1.50, .51 / 1.95 / .23, .24, .22
- 5.09 (clean): 1.59, .50 / 2.09 / .42, .30, .29
I’m not sure which makes me more proud, the 4.42 or the 4.88 with a fumbled reload! On the tenth run, I failed to get a good strong hand grip right from the beginning so my first shots as well as the reload were bad, and then after the reload it just got worse.
Of course, those nine runs didn’t happen by accident. This past weekend’s Aim Fast, Hit Fast class involved a number of pretty dismal demonstrations of the drill on my part… three out of four, to be exact. So today’s range session was devoted solidly to working on attacking small targets at speed. Press Six and other drills on the 2″ circles made up a significant portion of my two hour practice session before going to the F.A.S.T.
It’s almost enough to make you think that practice matters. See you next week…
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
Previous HK45 Endurance Test posts at pistol-training.com:
- Week Five
- Week Four
- Week Three
- Week Two
- Week One
- Announcement
Ok so charity of your choice for me to donate to? It made 10000 rounds without a breakage, which I think was my deadpool choice.
Todd,
Congrats on the FAST run’s!!!!!
Did you do ten in a row?
Todd,
When doing the fast with an AIWB holster, how are you shooting concealed? Un-tucked shirt, or some other cover garment?
I find when shooting with an un-tucked shirt, as that is how I carry 90% of the time, my times are significantly slower than when using a cover garment such as a jacket or vest.
Thanks
TW,
He shoots from legit concealment (polo shirt), which makes his performance even more impressive.
Actually, Vinh is the one with the real penalty because he’s shooting from an untucked polo from 4 o’clock which at least for me is just about the hardest on-belt CCW draw.
Drawing the pistol from AIWB under an untucked shirt is actually faster than drawing from an IWB behind the hip using a vest if you can use your support hand to move the garment out of the way. A true strong hand only draw is a little slower, while a weak hand only draw is substantially faster than the behind-the-hip approach.
Now the reload from under an untucked shirt is a different story. I find it adds 0.25-0.50 to my times. But that’s just given me the motivation to spend a lot of time and effort on improving my reloads!
I was telling my buddy Wes that I thought the HK45 would last much longer than the HK P30 or the M&P before any malfunctions or breakages. Even though the 45 is a little beefier, the HK45 is insanely overbuilt. Further, it was designed for military use, not police use. I think HK went overboard and it will perform perfectly. I had one I shot about 14-15k through before I traded to my buddy (wes). It never, ever hiccuped. Just a beast.
I was telling my buddy Wes that I thought the HK45 would last much longer than the HK P30 or the M&P before any malfunctions or breakages. Even though the 45 is a little beefier, the HK45 is insanely overbuilt. Further, it was designed for military use, not police use. I think HK went overboard and it will perform perfectly. I had one I shot about 14-15k through before I traded to my buddy (wes). It never, ever hiccuped. Just a beast.
+1
I agree that the hk45 will probably do better than the p30. Admittedly I am no expert in anything especially weapon systems but I believe the lower pressure round and the overall design choices will lead to a longer lasting pistol in the hk45.
May I remind you all that some of the things that did go wrong with the test p30 seemed to be out of spec springs. I suspect if another p30 were tested there is a chance that it would do even better overall than the first.
All that being said both are absolutely amazing weapon systems and I would not hesitate to use either in a combat situation.
I’ll be very impressed (and frankly surprised) if the HK45 outlasts the P30. There’s really not a big difference in design between the two, and the .45 is a far more abusive round.
Hi Todd,
Regarding the USP45C magazine flat floor plates,I have an HK45C and was wondering if you have any insight as to whether it would present the same “over insertion” problems you had on the HK45 full size. I have inserted both the standard mag and base plate and a mag with the flat one and I can not detect any difference in how far they insert into the mag-well I push it in as far as possible and it seems the same with both magazine base plates? Has anyone else compared or used the flat base plates in their HK45C ?