Officer's H&K fails to fire

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If its got the LEM trigger and someone put the wrong hammer spring in, or tried to "improve" the second strike long pull, its pretty easy to make them not fire. My LEM kit unexpectedly came with a pair of hammer springs and the lighter one wouldn't set off rounds reliably although it had a wonderful second strike (slide not cycled) trigger pull. The heavier spring worked fine, although the second strike trigger pull was little better than the original DAO trigger. The LEM kit gives a nice "Glock-like" trigger with a second strike capability, sorta like the Walther P99 AS.
 
I've been carrying and shooting my USP since 2007 and have not had one single malfunction over several thousand rounds. The double action pull is crappy, I agree, but the single action pull is awesome. It does get better over time.

If an armorer gave me a gun with springs missing, he would certainly know about it before the gun went on duty because such things are easily discovered during cleaning. This officer is as much to blame as the armorer.

In addition, and I see this all the time on the range, people need to look at the rounds they are loading into the magazine. I see people loading 9mm into .40's. I see people loading defective rounds, i.e. primers seated upsidedown, sideways, or missing altogether, crushed case mouths, etc. Then they proceed to call the gun a POS when it malfunctions. And these people are supposedly trained.

Guns aren't perfect, ammo isn't perfect. People with half a brain are few and far between.
 
I believe that a gun can be fired without a firing pin spring for the most part, reliably. I forgot to but it back in my XD and it was fine for the most part. Only jammed twice in 500 rounds.

This thread reeks of BS and HK hate. Enjoy your Glocks. I, on the other hand, prefer the best.
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The best? Really? Show me what is the best and please, back that up with something. Just saying that it's the best is just fanboyism. I see these claims all the time and every single person that made the claim, could never back it up. No one appeared to be bashing HK. Any gun could be made to malfunction if it's missing parts.
 
I believe that a gun can be fired without a firing pin spring for the most part, reliably. I forgot to but it back in my XD and it was fine for the most part. Only jammed twice in 500 rounds.
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I can imagine that a single shot hammer fired pistol racked immediately before firing the first shot might work 100% at the range (or during qualifications), sans firing pin spring.

But a gun that is chambered then carried muzzle-down in a holster doesn't seem like it should fire on the first shot. Gravity would pull the firing pin down to below flush with the breechface.

And an XD firing without a firing pin spring, I'm having a hard time to imagine. Oh, I suppose you meant firing pin safety spring?? I don't see how a striker fired gun would fire without a striker spring? As I've said before, most any gun will fire without a firing pin safety spring. Every passive firing pin safety I've seen needs the spring to ACTIVATE the safety. Moving the trigger pushes the safety out of the way.
 
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I have never seen a HK USP fail myself.

I have however, seen a lot of first shots tossed into the dirt at the lower left of the target when they try to compete with striker guns speed.

Its funny sometimes, but honestly thats all DA / SA pistols.
 
^ I have made an HK with frame decocker fail from user error. I've heard some shoot it with a revolver grip, with support thumb locked over shooting thumb, to keep their thumb below the decocker.

I like how some of their guns decock by pressing a button on the back of the slide. That's definitely out of the way.
 
As noted in the prior message, it was a firing pin spring, not a firing pin block spring that was mentioned.

If the gun doesn't have a firing pin spring, the firing pin won't always be positioned to the rear where it can be struck by the hammer. If it has moved forward -- and there is a gap it must jump to engage the primer -- the hammer may not even hit the rear of the firing pin when it drops.

If the armorer didn't install the firing pin spring, a misfire could have happened exactly as described.
 
And an XD firing without a firing pin spring, I'm having a hard time to imagine. Oh, I suppose you meant firing pin safety spring?? I don't see how a striker fired gun would fire without a striker spring? As I've said before, most any gun will fire without a firing pin safety spring. Every passive firing pin safety I've seen needs the spring to ACTIVATE the safety. Moving the trigger pushes the safety out of the way.
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It was the return spring to keep it from protruding beyond the breach face. It acts like a spring does in a hammer fired auto by pushing the firing pin back from the primer. Without it, it can stay forward and stop the next round from chambering by being in the way.

Here is the thread I made on it thinking it was a design flaw before discovering my mistake. http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=636523
 
well, the article says the officer used the gun in his bi-annual qualification. so he supposedly had fired it within the last 6 months, but that was my initial thought also... how do you go two years without firing the weapon you trust your life to on a daily basis.
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Bi- annual is every two years; whereas semi annual is twice a year.

We got rid of our HKs because they were showing a lot of wear and are a pain to maintain. I understand they were at the end of their service life. They were great guns for a few years.
 
It was the return spring to keep it from protruding beyond the breach face. It acts like a spring does in a hammer fired auto by pushing the firing pin back from the primer. Without it, it can stay forward and stop the next round from chambering by being in the way.
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Interesting. But it doesn't act the same as a firing pin spring in a hammer fired auto. Glocks don't have that spring. After pulling the trigger on an empty chamber, the striker just flops around. The striker obviously can't interfere with the next round chambering in either gun, because when the slide comes back to battery, the striker gets left behind. It gets caught by the sear.

So now, I'm not surprised that an XD would fire 100% without that spring. In an HK, it would be a gamble. That spring makes sure the inertial firing pin is protruding from the breechface so the hammer can hit it.
 
After pulling the trigger on an empty chamber, the striker just flops around. The striker obviously can't interfere with the next round chambering in either gun...
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As soon as the slide moves just a small distance -- necessary to load the next round -- the spring is, again, almost fully recharged, and there's no slop.

If the striker spring wasn't present (as with an absent firing pin spring), I don't think the trigger would even work, but the striker COULD interfere with the next round being loaded. There's nothing to keep it out of the way, if the gun was in just the right position. I don't think the striker-fired gun could be made to fire, but the hammer-fired gun COULD be, if things were just right.
 
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