HK45C Convert

[Seph]

I have to admit that I was a late bloomer to the 45ACP as I had been a bit of a snob when it came to the round itself. Most of my pistol shooting focused on everything from .22, 38s, 357 Magnum and Sig, 9mm, 40SW and yup the 45GAP. I used to think the 45ACP as a bit of a fossil.

My experience with the ACP had been limited to the 1911 which I never took a shine. Aesthetically, the older 1911s, minus the exaggerated beaver tails, are attractive pistols, yet I never enjoyed firing them, plus they had a tendency to take a nice bite out of my hand. The conversion process took place after firing both the full-sized and compact versions of the HK USP in 45.

The USPs are some of the finest pistols I've fired. They are to me a tad on the blocky side, yet built like tanks and were 100% reliable, so I seriously re-thought my 45 aversion. I wanted a pistol that I could incorporate into my carry rotation, so something on the small to mid-sized was needed.

At this point I hadn't the opportunity to handle the HK45C, but did the full-sized version. The HK45 was a nice hand-fitting pistol with an aggressively textured and well profiled grip ergonomics. Surprisingly smaller than I had thought I almost took one home, but a bit larger than I wanted for cc. I settled on the 45C sight unseen and listed as used.

The pistol was in far better shape than I had anticipated. My ffl and I looked the thing over and we couldn't find that it had been seriously fired at all, nor carried. Not a mark on it. A few weeks later I took 200 rounds of ball and a couple magazines worth of hollow points to the range to ensure everything cycled as expected. So here are my overall pros and cons:

Pros: 1. For me the size was perfect for cc. It's thin enough to carry either inside or outside the waistband with no obvious protrusions. This was the summer, so with a t-shirt and shorts it concealed better than
expected.

2. The ergonomics are outstanding. The guns simply fits me as well as if better than a P229 which I love. The controls, as this is a V1 with the safety/decocker, are well placed, easy to manipulate and don't
get in the way. I like the paddle mag. release since I also have a Walther PPS. You can use either thumb or index finger without any issue and the msgs. are ejected with a good deal of force-they'll fly out.

3. The gun is a pleasure to shoot. Recoil is minimal, reliability in cycling was 100% with strong positive ejection. Accuracy is outstanding. Firing unsupported it was very easy to keep a palm-of-hand sized
group at 15 yards.

4. Sight to target acquisition is very quick and consistent.

Cons: 1. The trigger is at very best mediocre. I didn't weigh the trigger pull from d/a, but it's up there and it's long. I've shot a lot of revolvers and my Sigs are the DAK version, so I'm not a virgin to some tough
triggers, but this took a bit of work to acclimate. However, as I've shot it more the trigger has smoothed out a bit and it doesn't seem as much of a challenge. In s/a there is a good deal of slack and
then you hit a wall and the trigger drops at that point, so it's not bad, but not great. Reset is both audibly and tactiley positive.

2. The 3-dot sights are not true night-sights as they require exposure to a light source to illuminate. I found them very serviceable for daytime shooting. In the dark, they worked well, yet they dim out, but
not to the point of no visibility. Even after several hours they retained enough luminescence to be acquired without any issue. However, a nice pair of dedicated night-sights are probably in order, we'll see.

3. The polymer grip texture is fairly lame to me. It's a far cry from the spiderwebs of the full-sized HK45 or the P30 series. However, I've found this to be true of just about every polymer-framed pistol I
own-from Glocks, to Sigs, to Walthers. So, regardless I end up wrapping Hogue slip-grips on each of them and that makes a nice difference. Some say the grip as-is functions better with wet hands, I
don't know.

4. Some are not thrilled with an 8 round mag. capacity, but you can up it to 10. I can live with the 8.

Overall it's been an outstanding performer, a real pleasure to carry and made me a believer in the 45ACP as an effective and nice shooting round.

Here's some pics.






Thanks for reading the novella and stay safe!

[TooBigToFit]

I have a USP Compact .45, and honestly, I don't enjoy shooting it much. It's got a kind of snappy feel to it, not unlike shooting .40. I would have sold it were it not the harder to find stainless model.

However, people who know me know that my all time favorite pistol by far is the HK Mark 23. Softest shooting, most accurate .45 I've ever shot. Distant 2nd is my USP Tactical 9mm.

If you don't like the DA/SA trigger, consider giving LEM a shot.

[Seph]

Never held a Mark 23 and only actually saw them once in a store. I've been growing more accustom to Hk's da/sa platform...far cry from my S&W Model 66.