Review: HK 45

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Ah, thanks.

Well, what's a little radiation next to your hip for 30 yrs right?

;-)


Can you get factory tritium's from HK?
 
Only had mine now a few months, but I know I'll never go back to a 1911. Accurate, amazing ergonomics, 10+1, great balance, and reliable. What's not to like? It's a HK!
 
coming to grips

Marine:

I only meant that for a duty gun you listed the choices you had, but for off duty (I'm presuming here, that your choice is your own), that you might choose the Walther. It seems to have the most modifyable grip that I am aware of.

But then, I am not up to date on the latest; especially the semi -autos.
 
When I CCW I carry a Springfield 1911 Champion in .45ACP.


But thanks for the heads up.


I love how the Springfield XDs have small grips and 13 rounds of .45

Why can't everyone else do it?


I actually wrote Sig an email asking why they couldn't do it.
 
I have been thinkin similar to you. I am deciding between my next gun. I love the .40 round though. Its between the beretta 96, the sig and the walther p99. I carry an XD .40 now. no compalints so far. am I hearing bad things about the sig on this thread?
 
I think you'll like the recoil reduction system of the HK 45. I was very surprised.
 
I love how the Springfield XDs have small grips and 13 rounds of .45

Why can't everyone else do it?


I actually wrote Sig an email asking why they couldn't do it.
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Durability. Sig competes for lots of military and large agency contracts. Agencies and organizations which expect 10-20 years of service out of a pistol and can handle a great deal of abuse. The DOD tested XDs several years ago when looking for possible service pistol alternatives and they didn't do as well as they had hoped in the durability department.....and this was with the more robust 9mm and .40S&W models.

I've been in law enforcement for about 6 years now and having used 9mm, .40S&W, and .45acp I decided to settle on the .40 in the Sig P229R. I think it makes a better duty cartridge as it hugs the middle ground of desirable features that you want in a police pistol. Good capacity, better hard and elastic barrier penetration than the .45acp, better soft barrier penetration than the 9mm, more tissue destruction than the 9mm, better initial penetration cutting due to the more semi-wadcutter profile, and it receives priority defense load development due to its status in the LE community. I would rank the 9mm as being my second choice since it has really come along way in the last 20 years. There isn't really any .45acp pistols out there that I have thought make good duty pistols once you factor in the variety of scenarios we as LE can encounter and the demands of the job. Just one cop's opinion.
 
Interesting.

I didn't know Springfield XD's had those problems. Do you have a source for that?


Yeah the .40 is a good round. I'm trying to tell my partner she should shoot that instead of a 9mm.
 
Ah, thanks.

Well, what's a little radiation next to your hip for 30 yrs right?

;-)


Can you get factory tritium's from HK?
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Not at this time, though IIRC Novak was supposed to be working on some as was Trijicon IIRC

Mine has mostly been a safe queen as ammo and ranges are spendy but I love it! The only improvement I will be making is a set of proper nite sights
 
One of my law enforcement teachers a current cop said that night sights aren't really worth it because there hard to see during the day and are only good for a short period of time during twilight. He said you shouldn't be shooting in the dark.


I told him that that 20 minutes of twilight just might be when your shooting in life or death situation.

Then you'll wish you had them.
 
I hadn't heard of the XD's reliability problems either. Not to discredit your information Marcus, but I also wouldn't mind reading the article if you could find the source.

usmarine, I too have baby hands (haha) and my XD45 fits me surprisingly well. Gotta love that 13+1 mag too :evil:
 
Won't Trijicon drill out current sights and fill with their inserts
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A friend of mine who is in the current academy did something similar I believe and got in trouble.


There's a specific way they want it done, but I'm not sure what it is yet.
 
I hadn't heard of the XD's reliability problems either. Not to discredit your information Marcus, but I also wouldn't mind reading the article if you could find the source.
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There is no article available for public review. The testing was done back in 2006 at the National Defense Industrial Association paid for by the Department of Defense. Dr. Gary Roberts was present for the testing results in which he said that the XD didn't do so well. I don't know if Dr. Roberts is on the NDIA's pay roll, but he is called there quite often to give presentations and participate in their research.
 
Yeah the .40 is a good round. I'm trying to tell my partner she should shoot that instead of a 9mm.
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Only if she shoots .40S&W EQUALLY as well as 9mm. The terminal effects differences between the 9mm and .40S&W are very minor when you take in the big picture. Superior shooting ability in a variety of situations always beats out caliber size when comparing the standard service calibers. Trust me, you'd much rather have a partner that is skilled with a smaller caliber and has a warrior mindset than a partner that is compromising their shooting ability for the sake of a larger bullet. This is probably why the 9mm is the most common military and police round in the world.
 
True. Accuracy is the 2nd most important aspect of shooting. The first is willingness. Doesn't matter if your shooting a shotgun or pistol, if you can't hit your target, you can't kill it.

She shot 44 out of 46 on her last qual.

I told her to shoot the biggest round she can comfortably.

And the reason I told her to shoot the biggest gun she can comfortably is my motto:

"Big holes release souls."


Well, sadly the reason 9mm and 5.56 are common military rounds isn't because there better, it's because their cheaper. Throughout history the military has always thought about price.

And there was also the theory awhile ago about using rounds that wound your enemy so that you take more out of action then just killing one. But that theory doesn't work when you mean to kill your enemy and can't.


And one of the reason many "inadequate" calibers for LE and hunting are so good is because of the high quality of ammunition that is available now. (I'm not saying their inadequate, but some might think.)

In MN they are now allowing you to use .223 for deer hunting, which I think is a bad idea, and if you do choose to use a .223, you'd better have a good bullet.

.
 
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No question, the H&K 45 is a very nice weapon that attracts a lot of
attention. However, so is the SIG which feels real well in my hands.
I guess I'm a bit old fashioned in preferring SIG's; mainly cuz a P220A
was my duty weapon for so many year's. Magazine capacity is of
great importance; in this day and age of wannabe gang'sta's. You
have too fight fire, with fire - so the H&K .45 would be the weapon
of choice so far as handguns go~! :scrutiny: ;) :)
 
What about the Beretta PX4? It seems quite few agencies have purchased them. I had one in 9mm and man was it a nice gun. I never should have gotten rid of it.
 
Well there's the new Beretta Storm in .45ACP.


And I was thinking about it too, however, I have to find out what the deal with Beretta is, but apparently there is problem with them and my department, so it maybe a situation where they will allow you to use the 92F, but not the new Beretta Storm.

I know some of the officers carry them now, however, if they decide not to let us carry the Storm, the guy's who already have them will be allowed to grandfather them in.

I'll have to see.
 
Well, sadly the reason 9mm and 5.56 are common military rounds isn't because there better, it's because their cheaper. Throughout history the military has always thought about price.
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I would disagree with that. For instance in the case of the 9mm, the M2 SMG of WWII was issued for some military units with a 9mm conversion in addition to the .45acp. Reported enemy casulaties with GIs using the 9mm seemed to be higher than those using the standard .45acp. Lots of speculation as to why, but one theory is that the operators could more easily control the 9mm than the .45acp and cyclic shots were more accurately delivered on target. The US military also did some 9mm testing just following WWII. In one of the tests they position a steel GI helmet at different ranges to determine penetration ability. The .45acp could only penetrate it at 30m, while the 9mm could penetrate it at 120m. There was a lot more to US adoption of the 9mm than simply cost.

Then of course, we could use the Russian example. For decades the Russians used the 9x18mm until the mid 1990s when they developed the 9x21mm pistol cartrige. This cartridge was highly versitile, mimicked .357sig velocities, and could be loaded with a wide variety of armour piercing and expanding loads. However, rumor has it that the cartridge really beat up on service pistols, and operators were compromising their shooting scores with excessive recoil, muzzle flash, and muzzle blast. So, instead of adopting the cheaply produced domestic 9x18 or 9x21, the Russians decided to adopt the more expensive 9x19mm which was mostly made outside the country and utilized a more difficult to manufacture tapered case.

So, not all cases of caliber adoption are cost related. No domestic police agency I know of chooses calibers based on cost, however, they do tend to go with cheaper JHP designs.
 
Never shot an HK45 (and probably never will cause I'm in California). But I love 220's. Check out this article, the Carry is very accurate for a small gun:

http://www.nrapublications.org/tar/SigSauerP220.asp

One of the 5 shot groupings was 0.74". If you do get one, make sure it's a very new one with external extractor.

If you want a lighter gun that has more capacity, also check out the Glock 21SF. It's the best Glock by far, in my opinion.
 
I own HK45 and HK45C and consider them superior to other polymer-framed guns in .45ACP because of ergonomics, accuracy, and 100% reliability. I shot Glock 21SF, Sig P220, XD45, and I think HK45 is superior combat gun. It fits smaller hands, points naturally, and just plain well-made. I can hit 3" at 25 yards with 10 rounds. It is no 1911, but still good.:D:p
 
I talked to a cop today and I guess the problem they were having with HK's wasn't the gun themselves, but when they were doing quick reloads and letting the magazines hit the floor the mag's were breaking.

Does someone out there make durable mags for the HK45?

Still don't know yet if the next academy will allow the HK45. But I'm hoping so.
 
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