HK's broken-down

DAKODAKID · November 7, 2001, 10:51 PM

I just started competition shooting 3 months ago using what I had.
I have a nice collection of HK pistols which are very accurate..

So far I have broken,
2 firing pins on my USP/F .45.
1 drop catch safety spring and the sear lever on my P7M8, and just tonight the trigger bar spring on my MK23(the freaking SOCCOM pistol).

I have been doing ALOT of dry-firing lately (with A-zoom snap caps).

All the competition shooters tell me to get a 1911 or a Glock (pts are very easy to find).

Brayley Ballistics is probably my only hope at getting HK pts right now (customer service at HK can be a bit slow).

Am I the only person who seems to break their pistol??
I know all mechanical things will break but... Please!!!!

This $u(Ks...

Any comments good or bad are most welcome..

(Tamara? at least send me your bikini pix from Glock Talk...
you look alot like my wife!!, I need some serious cheering up right now...hehe).

Tamara · November 7, 2001, 10:56 PM

...USPs?!?!

Neat trick. If I had to give one pistol more points for indestructability than the Glock, the USP'd be it.

For rapid customer service from HK, I'd suggest legally changing your last name to "Police Department".

Redlg155 · November 7, 2001, 11:24 PM

Hey..if that works to get a Pic...I broke my gun too!..if not I'm gonna break one!!

Good Shooting
RED

Trimation · November 7, 2001, 11:59 PM

Bikini pics? Hey can I get on this too? I just bought an HK. Does that entitle me to any pics?

Trimation

xtreme122 · November 8, 2001, 12:08 AM

DAKODAKID THANKS!!! Just skipped over to GT and found "What do you look like??" Just had to see our Moderator Tamara. You know like place a face with a voice but in this case to the keystroke. WhOa,

what a treat. Tamara, your pookie is one lucky guy.

DAKODAKID, hope it all works out with your HK.

DAKODAKID · November 8, 2001, 12:47 AM

http://216.227.40.145/images/tamara1.jpg

xtreme122 · November 8, 2001, 12:58 AM

You made that to easy.

GOT ANYMORE!!! Nice of you to share.

Kermit · November 8, 2001, 01:27 AM

Wow!

thanks for the link!

Wow! How did you go through your USPs, your SOCOM, you P7? 1000's & 1000's of rounds and alot of physical abuse, right? It was just time to replace parts...it happens. Hell, even my Bimmer needs servicing now and then to stay running properly. Remember, once you get the parts, they'll be up and running good as new!

Gunhead · November 8, 2001, 03:04 AM

I have 7000+ rounds through my "KK" USP9, 2000+ pretty hot stuff through my "KF"? USP40 (fired on the same frame), around 1000+ through my "AA" P7M8 (fired another 200 last day). I had zero mechanical problems, no parts replaced or anything. In fact I'm using my 9mm hicaps for the 40SW without a hitch...

I'm not using snap caps for about a year and a half (HKs eat them like candy). I clean the guns every 200-300 rounds.

IMHO the USP guys have the fewest failures, FTE/FTFs on the matches here. 1911 and FEG guys have the most.

bobby_lori · November 8, 2001, 04:08 AM

Tamara,
The pic was great. You are perfect. The only thing I could see that needed to be added, would be a belly button ring. JMO.

Hemicuda · November 8, 2001, 09:43 AM

Nice pic, Tamara...

now, about your sig... "Trust in Mausers"...

I built myself2 customs, and I have 2 of my dad's customs... what Mausers are you fond of?

ONE of mine, is a model 95, CK/Brno (yes,there ARE BRNO 95's) gun, modified to cock on open, rechambered to .284 Win, and in a Bishop Manlicher (sp) stock...

HK1 · November 8, 2001, 10:39 AM

HK is really starting to go down hill....i looked at the new slb-2000 hunting rifle..ugh...it weighs a ton and when it breaks as usual with HK there will be no parts.....I have however had fairly good luck with HK customer service, IMHO opinion benelli USA is just as bad or in some cases even worse...both HK and benelli never have anything in stock...just what I have had happen to me...HK made a big mistake 2 years ago when they weeded out there dealer network....shops around here are bad mothing HK and I can not really blame em..they were screwed to the nth-degree by HK USA...in a few years I would suspect no more P7s available as well as Sl8s or USC45s....HK believe or not is getting ready to shaft us civilians good...sadly for this long time lover of HKs..i am looking elsewhere for new gun purchases..every dealer here has glock parts in stock..and a broken firing pin is just as bad as having no gun when a need may arise...

SAWBONES · November 8, 2001, 11:14 AM

I never succeeded in breaking the firing pins (a well-recognized USP weak point) on my USP .45 Compacts (sold 'em, actually traded 'em in, on a rifle), and to date NOTHING has broken on my P7M8s, one of which is 16 years old, with uncounted thousands of rounds through it. None of the above was used for consistent competition shooting, however.
Admittedly, H&K's (civilian) customer service is often slow, compared, say, to Glock's.
Everything can have small-parts breakage, including H&Ks, Glocks, and 1911s, but you can EASILY AND QUICKLY repair a broken Glock yourself, without reference to an armorer, so long as you keep a couple of spare parts around (trigger return spring, extractor, slide lock spring are most likely parts to be needed). Best.

Shake · November 8, 2001, 01:46 PM

HK1,

Quote:

in a few years I would suspect no more P7s available as well as Sl8s or USC45s....HK believe or not is getting ready to shaft us civilians good

Is this just an assumption? What gives you reason to believe that?

I have a hard time believing any business would discontinue selling something that is a good seller. Why would H&K (or anyone for the matter) cut out a large portion of their business? Most companies are trying to expand their markets, not narrow them. This doesn't make sense.

I've never had problems getting parts from H&K. Of course I haven't needed many.

Shake

HK1 · November 8, 2001, 02:56 PM

HK does not not care about civilian sells..as tamara put it so well...if your name is not police department they just dont care

Shake · November 8, 2001, 04:24 PM

HK1 ,

I'm not flaming or anything, but every time I've called them I've gotten exactly the response I would anticipate getting from and other highly regarded manufacturer. Polite, friendly, quick service.

With Glocks taking over the LE establishments by storm, I'd expect H&K to place more and more importance on catering to the private individual as far as handguns are concerned.

Shake

HK1 · November 8, 2001, 05:34 PM

shake i understand your point...my point is we use to have 3 guns shops who were able to sell HKs within a 50 mile radius of my little house in the USA....all of them got screwed over by HKUSA..now none of em will say anything good about the HK line..maybe HKUSA needs its head examined..we all know the SL8 and USC45 is not a great seller..why?..because the idiots at HK made unreal demands on small gun shops....what HK needs is some brains in the marketing department..im sorry to say it..but they just dont give a damn about sales to civilians..

-Yo- · November 8, 2001, 10:36 PM

I had a firing pin break on a USP .45 fullsize during live fire. The back half of the pin ejected from the gun and hit me in the face. The front half of the pin jammed between slide and frame, bending the frame and taking a chunk out of the polymer. HK ended up (after much fussing on my part) sending me a new gun.

My hk .40c cracked on the left side of the slide and there was strange pitting and corrosion in the chamber. HK gave me a new slide and bbl. They attributed probably to improper heat treating of metal.

Now my replacement .45 is acting a little wierd. I think the chamber may be out of round. Even with factory ammo there is a black jet of soot down one side of the case. Yeah, yeah I know a little soot is normal but everyone I shoot with says they've never seen anything this bad in any other .45. Same ammo doesn't do it in a Glock and it has a loose chamber too.

Conclusion... HK USP is a good commando wannabe gun, but it isn't field proven like Glock or 226.

Tamara · November 8, 2001, 10:50 PM

...the initial investment to be an Authorized Heckler & Koch dealer is now up to some $30k in merchandise. Frankly, a lot of small gun shop owners just don't have that kind of long green lying around. Also, I believe that HKUSA's seeming indifference to the civilian market in the service department stems from the same reasons as SIGarms': to wit, both companies US operations are rather small on the corporate scale of things, and are fairly swamped in keeping up with the Military and LE sales that are their bread and butter. Witness the temporary absence of the P-228 from the US market; SIG was doing all it could to keep up with LE orders and simultaneously fulfill it's M-11 contract with the military. Well, the P-228 is back on the market now; on the other hand, the civilian P-226 is rumored to be a rare thing for the next few months...

DAKODAKID · November 8, 2001, 11:32 PM

Tamara,
sorry about the bikini link, but I just had to let everyone here know that there is real beauty behind the brain...

I love my HK's but spare parts are hard to come by,
USPSA/IPSC is very hard on equipment...

All the people I shoot competition with use either Glocks or 1911's.
(parts are very easily found).

Anything mechanical will break.....

HK/USA needs to get it's act together...
I can get pts for my HK's faster overseas than I can at home...

Ouch..

(heck, even HK-Pro can't get it together.......come on Tom..).

Onslaught · November 9, 2001, 12:06 AM

Sorry to hear about your misfortune 'Kota, but enough about you, back to Tamara

That HAS to be a pic from a magazine. NO WAY life is so cruel that there exists a single woman who loves FIREARMS (can't tell you how many other words for "firearm" I typed first but had to change because of some of you guys...) is also good with 'puters, AND looks like THAT in a Bikini? NOPE! Didn't happen!

Sure, my wife's a li'l hottie, and carries, but she doesn't TALK about guns, and she thinks I'm insanely obsessed with them. She only has ONE for cryin out loud!!!

If that is indeed TFL's famous Tamara...

"

We're not worthy! We're not worthy!

"

Again, sorry you broke your thingie...

orlando5 · November 9, 2001, 01:12 AM

Some of you guys need a girlfriend or a loving wife.

Are you guys that desperate ?

Gunhead · November 9, 2001, 01:44 AM

-Yo-,

"The back half of the pin ejected from the gun and hit me in the face. The front half of the pin jammed between slide and frame, bending the frame and taking a chunk out of the polymer."

How your broken firing pin managed to do that on an USP? Sorry but this sounds like BS to me - unless you managed to break the firing pin into at least 3 pieces and the snapped off firing pin tip jammed bw slide and frame. Please explain...

Shake · November 9, 2001, 01:49 AM

Gunhead,

Although I don't like to call new posters out, I'm with you. How do you bend a polymer frame? I can see them flexing, but bending?

On the cracked slide, which part of the slide exactly cracked?

Shake

DAKODAKID · November 9, 2001, 01:58 AM

Yo,
are you by any chance prettyboy, or have you ever been a mall ninja???

November 7, 2001, 10:51 PM	#1
DAKODAKID Senior Member Join Date: September 11, 2000 Posts: 436	HK's broken-down I just started competition shooting 3 months ago using what I had. I have a nice collection of HK pistols which are very accurate.. So far I have broken, 2 firing pins on my USP/F .45. 1 drop catch safety spring and the sear lever on my P7M8, and just tonight the trigger bar spring on my MK23(the freaking SOCCOM pistol). I have been doing ALOT of dry-firing lately (with A-zoom snap caps). All the competition shooters tell me to get a 1911 or a Glock (pts are very easy to find). Brayley Ballistics is probably my only hope at getting HK pts right now (customer service at HK can be a bit slow). Am I the only person who seems to break their pistol?? I know all mechanical things will break but... Please!!!! This $u(Ks... Any comments good or bad are most welcome.. (Tamara? at least send me your bikini pix from Glock Talk... you look alot like my wife!!, I need some serious cheering up right now...hehe).

November 7, 2001, 10:56 PM	#2
Tamara Moderator Emeritus Join Date: March 11, 2000 Location: Indianapolis, IN Posts: 16,002	You broke your... ...USPs?!?! Neat trick. If I had to give one pistol more points for indestructability than the Glock, the USP'd be it. For rapid customer service from HK, I'd suggest legally changing your last name to "Police Department". __________________ MOLON LABE! 2% Unobtainium, 98% Hypetanium. The Arms Room: An Online Museum.

November 8, 2001, 12:47 AM	#6
DAKODAKID Senior Member Join Date: September 11, 2000 Posts: 436	Tamara http://216.227.40.145/images/tamara1.jpg

November 8, 2001, 09:43 AM	#11
Hemicuda Senior Member Join Date: September 13, 2001 Location: Michigan Posts: 1,757	Nice pic, Tamara... now, about your sig... "Trust in Mausers"... I built myself2 customs, and I have 2 of my dad's customs... what Mausers are you fond of? ONE of mine, is a model 95, CK/Brno (yes,there ARE BRNO 95's) gun, modified to cock on open, rechambered to .284 Win, and in a Bishop Manlicher (sp) stock... __________________ Hemi. gun and car collector. Rare cars, and rarer guns.

November 8, 2001, 11:14 AM	#13
SAWBONES Senior Member Join Date: March 17, 1999 Location: The third dimension Posts: 670	I never succeeded in breaking the firing pins (a well-recognized USP weak point) on my USP .45 Compacts (sold 'em, actually traded 'em in, on a rifle), and to date NOTHING has broken on my P7M8s, one of which is 16 years old, with uncounted thousands of rounds through it. None of the above was used for consistent competition shooting, however. Admittedly, H&K's (civilian) customer service is often slow, compared, say, to Glock's. Everything can have small-parts breakage, including H&Ks, Glocks, and 1911s, but you can EASILY AND QUICKLY repair a broken Glock yourself, without reference to an armorer, so long as you keep a couple of spare parts around (trigger return spring, extractor, slide lock spring are most likely parts to be needed). Best. __________________ "Humani nihil alienum"

November 7, 2001, 11:24 PM	#3
Redlg155 Senior Member Join Date: March 13, 2001 Location: NW Florida Posts: 2,307	Hey..if that works to get a Pic...I broke my gun too!..if not I'm gonna break one!! Good Shooting RED

November 7, 2001, 11:59 PM	#4
Trimation Junior member Join Date: October 30, 2001 Location: California Posts: 171	Bikini pics? Hey can I get on this too? I just bought an HK. Does that entitle me to any pics? Trimation

November 8, 2001, 12:08 AM	#5
xtreme122 Member Join Date: September 25, 2001 Posts: 50	DAKODAKID THANKS!!! Just skipped over to GT and found "What do you look like??" Just had to see our Moderator Tamara. You know like place a face with a voice but in this case to the keystroke. WhOa, what a treat. Tamara, your pookie is one lucky guy. DAKODAKID, hope it all works out with your HK.

November 8, 2001, 12:58 AM	#7
xtreme122 Member Join Date: September 25, 2001 Posts: 50	You made that to easy. GOT ANYMORE!!! Nice of you to share.

November 8, 2001, 01:27 AM	#8
Kermit Senior Member Join Date: February 6, 2001 Location: California Posts: 3,020	Wow! thanks for the link! Wow! How did you go through your USPs, your SOCOM, you P7? 1000's & 1000's of rounds and alot of physical abuse, right? It was just time to replace parts...it happens. Hell, even my Bimmer needs servicing now and then to stay running properly. Remember, once you get the parts, they'll be up and running good as new!

November 8, 2001, 03:04 AM	#9
Gunhead Senior Member Join Date: October 21, 2001 Location: Budapest, Hungary Posts: 151	I have 7000+ rounds through my "KK" USP9, 2000+ pretty hot stuff through my "KF"? USP40 (fired on the same frame), around 1000+ through my "AA" P7M8 (fired another 200 last day). I had zero mechanical problems, no parts replaced or anything. In fact I'm using my 9mm hicaps for the 40SW without a hitch... I'm not using snap caps for about a year and a half (HKs eat them like candy). I clean the guns every 200-300 rounds. IMHO the USP guys have the fewest failures, FTE/FTFs on the matches here. 1911 and FEG guys have the most.

November 8, 2001, 04:08 AM	#10
bobby_lori Member Join Date: February 28, 2001 Posts: 39	Tamara, The pic was great. You are perfect. The only thing I could see that needed to be added, would be a belly button ring. JMO.

November 8, 2001, 10:39 AM	#12
HK1 Junior member Join Date: July 2, 2001 Posts: 160	HK is really starting to go down hill....i looked at the new slb-2000 hunting rifle..ugh...it weighs a ton and when it breaks as usual with HK there will be no parts.....I have however had fairly good luck with HK customer service, IMHO opinion benelli USA is just as bad or in some cases even worse...both HK and benelli never have anything in stock...just what I have had happen to me...HK made a big mistake 2 years ago when they weeded out there dealer network....shops around here are bad mothing HK and I can not really blame em..they were screwed to the nth-degree by HK USA...in a few years I would suspect no more P7s available as well as Sl8s or USC45s....HK believe or not is getting ready to shaft us civilians good...sadly for this long time lover of HKs..i am looking elsewhere for new gun purchases..every dealer here has glock parts in stock..and a broken firing pin is just as bad as having no gun when a need may arise...

November 8, 2001, 02:56 PM	#15
HK1 Junior member Join Date: July 2, 2001 Posts: 160	HK does not not care about civilian sells..as tamara put it so well...if your name is not police department they just dont care

November 8, 2001, 04:24 PM	#16
Shake Senior Member Join Date: September 5, 1999 Location: Utah Posts: 1,004	HK1 , I'm not flaming or anything, but every time I've called them I've gotten exactly the response I would anticipate getting from and other highly regarded manufacturer. Polite, friendly, quick service. With Glocks taking over the LE establishments by storm, I'd expect H&K to place more and more importance on catering to the private individual as far as handguns are concerned. Shake __________________ “The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make some other bastard die for his.” -George Patton

November 8, 2001, 05:34 PM	#17
HK1 Junior member Join Date: July 2, 2001 Posts: 160	shake i understand your point...my point is we use to have 3 guns shops who were able to sell HKs within a 50 mile radius of my little house in the USA....all of them got screwed over by HKUSA..now none of em will say anything good about the HK line..maybe HKUSA needs its head examined..we all know the SL8 and USC45 is not a great seller..why?..because the idiots at HK made unreal demands on small gun shops....what HK needs is some brains in the marketing department..im sorry to say it..but they just dont give a damn about sales to civilians..

November 8, 2001, 10:36 PM	#18
-Yo- Senior Member Join Date: November 6, 2001 Location: Near the Ocean Posts: 248	HK woes I had a firing pin break on a USP .45 fullsize during live fire. The back half of the pin ejected from the gun and hit me in the face. The front half of the pin jammed between slide and frame, bending the frame and taking a chunk out of the polymer. HK ended up (after much fussing on my part) sending me a new gun. My hk .40c cracked on the left side of the slide and there was strange pitting and corrosion in the chamber. HK gave me a new slide and bbl. They attributed probably to improper heat treating of metal. Now my replacement .45 is acting a little wierd. I think the chamber may be out of round. Even with factory ammo there is a black jet of soot down one side of the case. Yeah, yeah I know a little soot is normal but everyone I shoot with says they've never seen anything this bad in any other .45. Same ammo doesn't do it in a Glock and it has a loose chamber too. Conclusion... HK USP is a good commando wannabe gun, but it isn't field proven like Glock or 226.

November 8, 2001, 10:50 PM	#19
Tamara Moderator Emeritus Join Date: March 11, 2000 Location: Indianapolis, IN Posts: 16,002	IIRC... ...the initial investment to be an Authorized Heckler & Koch dealer is now up to some $30k in merchandise. Frankly, a lot of small gun shop owners just don't have that kind of long green lying around. Also, I believe that HKUSA's seeming indifference to the civilian market in the service department stems from the same reasons as SIGarms': to wit, both companies US operations are rather small on the corporate scale of things, and are fairly swamped in keeping up with the Military and LE sales that are their bread and butter. Witness the temporary absence of the P-228 from the US market; SIG was doing all it could to keep up with LE orders and simultaneously fulfill it's M-11 contract with the military. Well, the P-228 is back on the market now; on the other hand, the civilian P-226 is rumored to be a rare thing for the next few months... __________________ MOLON LABE! 2% Unobtainium, 98% Hypetanium. The Arms Room: An Online Museum.

November 8, 2001, 11:32 PM	#20
DAKODAKID Senior Member Join Date: September 11, 2000 Posts: 436	Tamara, sorry about the bikini link, but I just had to let everyone here know that there is real beauty behind the brain... I love my HK's but spare parts are hard to come by, USPSA/IPSC is very hard on equipment... All the people I shoot competition with use either Glocks or 1911's. (parts are very easily found). Anything mechanical will break..... HK/USA needs to get it's act together... I can get pts for my HK's faster overseas than I can at home... Ouch.. (heck, even HK-Pro can't get it together.......come on Tom..).

November 9, 2001, 12:06 AM	#21
Onslaught Senior Member Join Date: November 11, 1999 Location: GA Posts: 1,749	Sorry to hear about your misfortune 'Kota, but enough about you, back to Tamara That HAS to be a pic from a magazine. NO WAY life is so cruel that there exists a single woman who loves FIREARMS (can't tell you how many other words for "firearm" I typed first but had to change because of some of you guys...) is also good with 'puters, AND looks like THAT in a Bikini? NOPE! Didn't happen! Sure, my wife's a li'l hottie, and carries, but she doesn't TALK about guns, and she thinks I'm insanely obsessed with them. She only has ONE for cryin out loud!!! If that is indeed TFL's famous Tamara... "We're not worthy! We're not worthy!" Again, sorry you broke your thingie... __________________ Yes Rico... KaBOOM!

November 9, 2001, 01:12 AM	#22
orlando5 Senior Member Join Date: May 6, 2001 Location: Somewhere in wonderland. Posts: 699	Some of you guys need a girlfriend or a loving wife. Are you guys that desperate ?

November 9, 2001, 01:44 AM	#23
Gunhead Senior Member Join Date: October 21, 2001 Location: Budapest, Hungary Posts: 151	-Yo-, "The back half of the pin ejected from the gun and hit me in the face. The front half of the pin jammed between slide and frame, bending the frame and taking a chunk out of the polymer." How your broken firing pin managed to do that on an USP? Sorry but this sounds like BS to me - unless you managed to break the firing pin into at least 3 pieces and the snapped off firing pin tip jammed bw slide and frame. Please explain...

November 9, 2001, 01:49 AM	#24
Shake Senior Member Join Date: September 5, 1999 Location: Utah Posts: 1,004	Gunhead, Although I don't like to call new posters out, I'm with you. How do you bend a polymer frame? I can see them flexing, but bending? On the cracked slide, which part of the slide exactly cracked? Shake __________________ “The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make some other bastard die for his.” -George Patton

November 9, 2001, 01:58 AM	#25
DAKODAKID Senior Member Join Date: September 11, 2000 Posts: 436	Yo, are you by any chance prettyboy, or have you ever been a mall ninja??? __________________ ACCOUNT FOR EVERY SHOT AND MAKE EVERY SHOT COUNT