Heckler and Koch Questions

[DetroitStudent]

You have all been so helpful !

Thank you very much for all of your help- I am coming close to purchasing my first firearm, and I am close to settling on an HK 45 Compact, but I have a few questions:

1.) Is HK service as bad as I hear it is? Some people say it is improving. I would appreciate your input.
2.) Are HK grips removable? I find that with the 45 grips can make one heck of a difference, and it seems like HK grips are not...
3.) If you have any problem with an HK 45 USP/Compact let me know before I plop down a ton of money for their product. I only plan to shoot about 2-3000 rounds in the entire life of this pistol, I am a poor graduate student but I want the most reliable handgun on the market (in .45), so this is why I am 1 inch away from HK.

Thanks alot for your comments

 

[Lebben-B]

I own a USP 45 F. Absolutely a great pistol. The bore axis is a little high, but the recoil system really helps keep muzzle flip to a minimum. I can't answer #1, because there've been no problems with my USP. As for #2, it's a polymer framed pistol, so the grips are a part of the frame. Hogue makes a rubber slide on grip, should you have issues with it. #3 is easy. My biggest gripe is the cost of extra mags. Expect to pay $35-50.00 per mag for genuine HK mags.

Enjoy your HK!

Mike

 

[pharmer]

I've got the .45 compact in stainless. Top of the line, utterly reliable, accurate easy care. Grips fit well for a double stack. I got extra mags for $25 each from CDNN awhile back. Joe

 

[Trebor]

1. HK customer service is tightly focused on LEO and military customers. "Civilian" customers are treated much like "Second class citizens." To give you an example, when I needed a gas tube scraper for my P7M8 I called HK customer service. The first words out of the reps mouth where, "Are you a military or law enforcement customer?" When I said, "No," she said, "Then contact an authorized HK dealer or gunsmith to get that part," and pretty much tried to get off the phone as fast as she could.

HK mags and parts are also kinda pricey.

HK won't sell you any small parts. They require you to go through a HK dealer. (Some other manufacturers do this as well, I'm told).

2. I *think* the grips on the USP are integral to the gun and non-removable. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not 100% sure on that.

3. I've had students with the 9mm and .40 S&W variants of the HK USP. So far, the pistols have all performed well and the students were happy with them. I haven't seen any .45 HK pistols come through.

I don't have a problem with the quality of shootability of HK products. I just dediced against them myself (after selling my P7) due to the high cost of parts/mags and my experience with HK customer service.


Btw, you mentioned you want the "most reliable" .45. In my experience, the Ruger P-90 and P-97 .45 pistols are absolutely reliable. I always breath a sigh of relief when a student has a centerfire Ruger pistol as I know that at least that student's gun will work 100% in the class. I've yet to see any problems with their 9mm and .45 ACP guns. (I haven't seen any of the newer P345 pistols yet though and I have heard of a few problems).

Now the Rugers are "clunky" and I don't like the length of the DA trigger pull and they lack the "Sex appeal" of the HK guns, but they run and run and run and Ruger customer service is great to deal with.

 

[JLStorm]

I have a USP 45 full size LEM and I love it. The grips are part of the frame, but some of the best poly grips I have seen, very comfortable. I have heard good and bad things about service, I have heard it has been getting better.

This is the way I looke at it, I have a great SA 1911 that I love, and SA's service is spectacular, the problem is the gun has seen the service department due to issues about once every 18 months. I wasnt concerned with HK's service, because HK's usually dont need any

 

[DogBonz]

I have a USP45 fullsize

And I feel that it was worth every penny. Of all the guns that I own or have owned, this is the one that I trust the most. It’s the one that lives in my nightstand, and it was the one that was in my hand the only time that I ever NEEDED a gun. It has been totally reliable except for 1 failure to extract that was the result of a ruptured case (wolf ammo). Being a 1911 guy, at first I didn’t trust a “plastic pistol”, so the day I picked it up I cleaned and lubed it, and then got all of my friends together and we tested it by putting almost 2000 (yes, you read that right, 2000) rounds downrange through it. Not one hiccup. We must have had almost a dozen types of ammo on hand that day and that hungry little piggy gobbled them all up. FMJ, Lead, JHP’s, a few glasers, +p’s, all different weights… no problem. After that, I trusted her. I have over 8000 rounds through it now, and can say that I’ve never needed to contact HK customer service.

The only downsige is that Mag's are expensive, but the ones that came with my HK are still in perfect working order, so maybe over time it evens out.

 

[hnk45acp]

1.) Is HK service as bad as I hear it is? Some people say it is improving. I would appreciate your input.
HK service has been great for me the few times I've had to use it.
Once for installing nite sites
Once for a barrel replacement ( the locking lug got chipped but the gun still ran fine. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't a problem, they just gave me a replacement barrel)

2.) Are HK grips removable? I find that with the 45 grips can make one heck of a difference, and it seems like HK grips are not...
The USP grips are not removable. The new HK45 coming out next year will have removable grips as well as a standard light rail

3.) If you have any problem with an HK 45 USP/Compact let me know before I plop down a ton of money for their product. I only plan to shoot about 2-3000 rounds in the entire life of this pistol, I am a poor graduate student but I want the most reliable handgun on the market (in .45), so this is why I am 1 inch away from HK.
Buy the HK and never look back. My HKs have rarely if ever had a failure that wasn't user or ammo related. They'll fire dirty or dry and are very accurate for a service pistol

 

[DogBonz]

DetroitStudent

Do you carry? If not, you should consider the fullsize.

 

[JLStorm]

Dont be afraid of either the full size or compact. I carry the full size and it works just fine. Sure if I carry concealed my wordrobe might take an extra 30 seconds to plan, and at times I may just use a shoulder holster, but the full size is not very difficult for me to conceal, and I am certainly no genius (but I did sleep at a holiday inn express last night )

 

[Plumber576]

HK has moved to alabama and their OK service is advacning to GREAT CS. Just take a look over a www.hkpro.com .

The grips are not removeable, but I have added Hogue Hand-all's to both my fullsize and compact USP .45's.

I have had ZERO problems, nor do I ever beleive I would have a serious one. If it did, i am 100% confident that HK would help me solve it. I trust my USP .45's with my life. You cannot go wrong.

If you can wait, the new HK 45 is having an expected shelf date of Jan/Feb 2007. it will have a grip that can change backstraps, and a smaller grip. I don't think that you caould go wring with either the USP or HK45. Good luck.

 

[Zak Smith]

I was happy with some repair/refurbish work HK-USA did on a pair of P7-PSP/e's.

 

[mete]

The HK P2000 has interchangeable backstraps if that's what you need.

 

[DetroitStudent]

I kind of prefer the DA/SA of the compact.

Where have you heard about the "new" 45 coming out in jan/feb? Will it be compact, SA/DA? Do you have a website?

Thanks

detroitstudent

 

[hnk45acp]

do a search for HK45 on www.hkpro.com
lots of pics and info
also a must join site if you get the HK
P2000 have a DA/SA variant (#3 i think) but not available in .45acp

 

[Fed168]

On a personal (1999) and department level (2005), the customer service had not really changed. I had a hard time getting parts fixed or sent and had a worse time getting two guns fixed.

The first time took a while to speak with an actual person (personal experience). When I did, it took some haggling and about a month to get a magazine release sent to me from HK. I could have driven and picked it up in less time.

Last year the regional rep. and myself played phone tag (department experience). I would call him repeatedly to get information on the confusing invoice that HK sent back- he would call me back, I would call him ten minutes later, get no response, and the cycle would repeat itself. To make things worse they sent back a half fixed gun and did not even touch the other one.

When the 416 came into being, I ended up leaving a message about obtaining literature on the gun. Instead they sent me literature on every weapon but that. Not a biggie but still a tad aggravating.

Great product but bad service- YMMV.

 

[Sheldon J]

1.) Is HK service as bad as I hear it is? Some people say it is improving. I would appreciate your input.

all you will ever need is a HK armor if you want say a trigger job'

2.) Are HK grips removable? I find that with the 45 grips can make one heck of a difference, and it seems like HK grips are not...

Not on the USP but then mine fits me like a glove

3.) If you have any problem with an HK 45 USP/Compact let me know before I plop down a ton of money for their product. I only plan to shoot about 2-3000 rounds in the entire life of this pistol, I am a poor graduate student but I want the most reliable handgun on the market (in .45), so this is why I am 1 inch away from HK.

The only problem I have ever had is not enough time to shoot the HK USP .45 as much as I want.
I have been CCW with this gun for over 6 years now, I've abused the heck out of it, carry it every where, it's been exposed to Mi sub zero winters, and Az summer desert heat with no malfunctions. As to the amount of rounds you plan on shooting, that will not even break in the gun. I have put over 10K rounds through mine and it is still as tight as and looks like a new gun. It will shoot and feed anything reliably, try that with a Kimber.