Jul/Aug - uspsa

HK'S USP
EXPERT
Stealth Gun for
Limited -10?
Photo courtesy f HK USA
Heckler Koch's USP Expert is essentially
a USP modified to be more
appropriate for practical shooting.
RI, Di.Am Tiumits, A-38099
irecentl tested one of Heckler &
Koch's USP Expert pistols. I was
fortunate while writing this article
to have the opportunity to inter-
\ Le \%. Bruce Gray, probably the top HK
jockey in the world. Bruce is a USPSA
Grand Master in both Open and Limited,
and the action pistol specialist for
Team HK (other team members specialize
in IDPA).
On Bruce's recommendation ordered
my sample USP Expert as a .40
since he feels the .40 is the superior
choice for USPSA shooting. For one
thing the .45 USP Expert- is not available
with a Jet Funnel (more about
which later) as an option. Trust me,
you want a Jet Funnel.
The USP Expert .40 is essentially a
long-slide version of HK's basic Uni-
Master Gunsmith Ciene Shuey will teach you
pistol building techniques that only a gunsmith
with his level of experience could know.
Find out why his guns perform when others fail.
Slide fit • lapping • installing barrels • fining links • tuning extractors & ejectors • installing extended
safeties • beavertails • mag releases • slide stops • triggers • disconnectors • hammers • fitting sears
• installing sights • fitting the gun to your hand • specialized tooling • getting match accuracy svith
combat reliability - a whole lot more! We also included a complete step-by-step trigger job with
microscopic views. In short, everything you need to know to build beautifri & reliable 1911s.
For even more details go to: www.americangunsmith.com
AGI
Volume I - Building a Limited Class or Carry Pistol
Course # 308 4 hour, - ' ideos Sfr) h SS)
Volume II - Building a Pistol from a Race Ready Kit
Course # 309 3.5 hours - 2
Volume III - Building the Hi - Capacity Wide Body Competition Pistol
Course ti 316 s hours - N ;deo,. SI
To Order or Get a FREE CATALOG call: 800-797-0867
Special Offer! Buy all 3 volumes together - over 12.5 hours of detailed
instruction that will provide you the knowledge you need to work on and build
incredible 1911s - for only S179 (S12s/h)
versal Self-Loading Pistol design. (The
USP Expert .45 is built on a larger
frarne.) The USP-E's barrel is 5.2" long
versus 4.25" for a standard USP .40.
HK offers their USPs in 10 different
trigger/safety combinations. My test
USP-E came out of the gray nylon zippered
case as what HK calls a Variant I
("selective double action" allowing either
a cocked and locked SA or hammer
down DA first shot, with a threeposition
safety lever up is "Safe," level
is "Fire," all the way down decocks the
gun). The safety levers are ambidextrous.
It SHOULD have come as a Variant
9, i.e. no decocking feature. On a Variant
9, the safety lever won't depress
past the level position, but it comes
supplied with a replacement "detent
plate" to switch the gun over to Variant
1 should you so desire. Unfortunately
my gun just came Variant 1 with no detent
plate in the case. The Variant 9 allows
shooters using the "1PSC grip" to
ride the safety lever without accidentally
depressing the decocking lever in
recoil. This never happened to me during
testing, but it could be important
for some people.
The gun should also come supplied
with a fitted replacement hammer
shorter than the stock HK USP part, allowing
the gun to fit into an IPSC Standard
division box with the hammer
cocked. There wasn't one of those in
the case, either. (People who think gunwriters
get specially selected guns, take
note.)
The USP-E's double action trigger
pull? How shall 1 describe this horror?
58 FRONT SIGHT • July/August 2002