Jul/Aug - uspsa

Photo courtesy of HK USA
The Jet Funnel is a very desirable
option available only on the .40
SErW USP Expert.
stance, I can put five slow-fire shots
through one hole. Any decent gun
should be able to do this, with a bit of
familiarity on the piece.
By the time I was done it was indeed
putting five shots through one
ragged hole. Both the Hornady 180-
gr. XTP-JHP and Winchester 155-gr.
FMJ Match TC gave me tiny punctures
measuring 3/8" center-to-center.
Lengthening the distance to 50 feet
and firing from the bench, the gun
proved quite accurate with favored
loads. The best five-shot group came
with Winchester 155-gr. FMJ Match
TCs at 1-1/4", with the best three flying
into 1/2". In second place, though
not by much, were the Federal 165-gr.
Hydra Shoks at 1-1/2" overall, also
1/2" for the best three. Next came the
Black Hills (strangely enough, in both
short and longer range testing, the reloaded
ammo proved more accurate
than the exact same load in brand-new
casings) at 1-9/16" for five shots, best
three into a minuscule 1/4" cloverleaf.
Firing impressions?
-the adjustable sights, made for HK
by OEM supplier Mec-Gar, are fairly
bad in me `umble opinion, and seem
out of place on a gun of such high quality.
The rear sight notch is WAY too
tight for the fat front blade, a conces-
sion to European bull's-eye shooting.
Were this my gun, installing a narrower
front sight or trimming the existing
unit would be at the top of my list of
things to do. Even after bottoming out
the adjustable rear sight, point of impact
was still a bit high at 50 feet with
most loads. Let's make that front sight
higher as well as narrower while we're
at it.
Reliability-wise, the gun covered itself
with glory. Functionality was 100
percent with all loads fired. During
that same range session I also tested a
compact custom 1911 that didn't want
to work much at all. The difference
was striking.
Frankly, when 1 first handled this
gun it seemed like a bit of a rattletrap.
The bank vault fit of a nicely customized
1911 is noticeably absent.
When you shake the USP Expert it
sounds like a box of loose parts. However,
the gun's accuracy and reliability
belie that "rattletrap" impression. Even
with the factory barrel the gun shot
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FECICIIAIG
well, hut Bruce Gray has a Bar-Sto fitted
to one of his guns, and it shoots
great.
According to Bruce, retail price on
the USP Expert should be around
$1,250 with the Jet Funnel. It's currently
legal for USPSA Limited and
Limited-10 divisions.
Personally I think the gun's greatest
future is in Limited. That's where it
starts getting interesting, especially if
you go the Bruce Gray/STI route. The
gun costs a good deal less than custom
high-cap 19Ils, works perfectly out of
the box (not something you can say
about most 191 1 s - especially highcaps)
and has that humungous Jet Funnel
to make reloads a breeze. In Limited-10
this could be a sneaky gamer's
gun. Ten-round HK .40 mags litter the
streets, just tweak the baseplates a bit
and you're in. Combine those tapertop
mags with the Jet Funnel and
you've got a gun that's a LOT easier to
reload fast than the single-stacks used
by most folks in Lim-10.
-it
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July/August 2002 • FRONT SIGHT 61