H&K USP Compact .40 S&W Kaboomb Question

[javacodeman]

There was a recent thread, can't find it now, about wanting pictures of guns that have exploded due to reloading ammo, improper ammo, etc. One of the links showed some H&Ks from the early 90's that had "fractured" using some high powered off the shelf ammo.

First question, did I understand that article correctly?

Second question, how do I know what year my H&K USP Compact .40 S&W was manufactured?

As I just purchased it August 18th, I'm thinking that I should be good, but I want to double check.

java

 

[Rotorflyr]

I haven't read the article so can't answer anything about it.
As for your second question go here and you'll find a guide to the date code for USP's (as well as a lot of other info)
I had a 9mm USP Fullsize I sold not long ago, but don't remember the off hand how to decipher the code.

However, I highly doubt you have anything to worry about.

 

[hkenvy91]

i read that post and the age of the gun was not the issue,what was an issue was gun show handloads that exceeded safe pressures,those would do that to even the new ones, be wary of the loads u shoot! on a good note, only the frame and mag were trashed and h&k fixed for him by replacing the frame . good as new all for 167 bucks!

 

[mete]

BTW the USP was designed from the beginning for the 40S&W ,while most 40s were 9mm conversions.They are very strong but bad ammo can still blow them up !!! Use either factory ammo or your own very carefull reloads , not gunshow reloads .

 

[javacodeman]

or your own very carefull reloads , not gunshow reloads

I'll stick to the factory ammo.