First Look: Trijicon HD Night Sights - HK45

I recently ordered the Trijicon HD sights w/ orange front for my HK45 from HKparts.net and had them installed today. Just how "high vis" is the front sight? Here's a picture focused on the rear sight

The front sight looks like a ball of fire landed on it.

I don't think there will be any missing that front.

First impressions on the sights are good. Like all Trijicon products I've had experience with these are well made and installed pretty easily. The sights are taller than I thought. The rear sight has a nice angle to it and is nicely serrated to reduce glare. The lamps are nice and bright (no duh, they're new) will get some shooting in this month with our IDPA season opener.

HK P30S: Initial Thoughts

I've been wanting a P30S since HK announced their production two or three years ago, I like the idea of non-1911 pistols in 9mm that offer cocked and locked (C&L) carry, meaning that the chamber is loaded and there is a manual safety engaged.

I am a die-hard 1911 fan and have no illusions that I am done with 1911s by any means and the addition of this feature on  the P30 is very appealing as I can maintain familiarity with the drawing/firing process of a C&L platform. I've been very happy with the HK45 and the addition of the P30S will allow to to shoot more for less $$$, with the cost difference between 9mm and .45, I have the cost of the gun in just a few 1K ammo orders.

I've only got a couple hundred rounds through the gun so far, but plan on running the gun in this years trip to TDI's Partner Tactics Course (another advantage of the P30S is that we don't have to order two calibers of ammunition and can stick with 9mm as the wife will be running her Glock 19) as well as some other classes and of course, IDPA. As such, I'm not going to talk about two or three hundred "flawless rounds" as I should very well hope that a gun can go three hundred +/- rounds without hiccup.

So what I cam going to talk about is what I like/dislike about the P30S.

Some may be wondering why I chose the regular length P30S instead of the P30LS, well I'm  a big proponent of keeping varying carry platforms and methods as close together as possible, and my preferred carry holster is the Milt Sparks Versa-Max II which is/was not available for the P30L...so yes, I actually chose my gun in part due to holster availability but it beats buying a gun and then not being able to find a holster for it. I know without a doubt that I like the VMII, most of my primary carry guns have ridden in one so why change?

From left to right: Les Baer SRP, HK45, Nighthawk Talon-Recon, Glock 19

As for the P30, the first thing anyone will talk about is the grip. I do have to say that this is probably the most customizable handgun grip on the market with what comes from the manufacturer.

Stock Photo from HK USA Website, P30 LEM shown

Three different back straps, and three different side panels allow the user to "custom fit" the gun to their hand. I've got it set up with the large back strap and large right side panel and it almost mirrors the feel of my HK45 with the large back strap. The left side back strap is the medium and I may change it to the small to reduce friction on my side when worn IWB.  

A nice feature of the P30 family is that the decocker is not operated by a frame mounted lever like the USP line, it took the de-cocker location of the P2000 and is a button located to the left of the hammer. What this means to us that use the P30S is a C&L manner, is that we don't have to worry about de-cocking the hammer by mashing down too hard on the safety lever.

Stock Photo from HK USA Website: HK P30S

The safety lever is also metal, a step up when compared to the USP and HK45 as far as I'm concerned. However this does mean that over time the safety will show the same discoloration as the slide stop levers and turn kind of a goldish bronze. Not really  a big issue, but I may have the small parts Cerakoted if the wear gets too bad. Time will tell.

**Edited to add: I also like that there is a "detent ball" of sorts under the left side safety lever (will add pics later) that makes the safety much more positive in it's engagement than the the USP or HK45. One other issue, is that when carried C&L, there is a cavernous amount of open space for dirt, lint, etc. to build up in the hammer & sear components..

As much as I like the operation of the de-cocker, one issue I can see happening is that while drawing or re-holstering using the "thumb cap" method that the de-cocker may be actuated and one may end up with a double action first shot when expecting a single action first shot. This will be something that I watch for and will report back later with my findings.

The gun itself is just slightly larger than the Glock 19 which is pretty much the quintessential concealed carry gun, and for me this is good as the grip on the Glock 19 is just a hair too short for my liking and the P30 is just the right size. Despite having a sub 4" barrel, the pistol is quite accurate and like most guns, is more than accurate enough for defense and competition purposes. The one issue I have with the gun is HK's choice of sights, like the HK45, the P30S has the "luminous" sights and I personally find the three-dot arrangement too busy and will be replacing the rear sight in "6-8 weeks" with some newly produced 10-8 rear sights (not yet released but coming soon) to hopefully get a less busy sight picture.

The reset of the gun is a little longer than I'm used too, but by no means intolerable. A trip out for some action work may be in the gun's future, but as of right now I'm OK with it as is.

Additional Pictures:

De-cocker location, note "cavernous" space inside hammer channel area

Additional view of lint trap.

Metal safety levers, each pinned to hammer axle

Thumb safety, note discoloration and detent

Light a Candle....

Against Violence.

Back from the 2011 WI State IDPA Championship...

I missed bringing home a plague by just shy of seven seconds. I placed 4th in CDP/Sharpshooters. Overall I placed 43rd out of 90. Had 3 penalties, one failure to neutralize, and one hard lesson learned. ALWAYS check your magazines before stepping up to the starting position. I left a stage with partials in my mag carrier and did not swap them out for fresh mags, cost me about 10 seconds.

Overall did pretty well, expect for the stages where I picked up the penalties I was within 2 or 3 seconds of the 1st place CDP Sharpshooter who is a regular at the Ames/Boone IDPA matches. The HK45 ran well and I made some good shots.

NEVER PUT PARTIAL MAGS IN YOUR MAG CARRIER!

Closing in on 3K with the HK45

Since April, between various range trips, three USPSA matches, two IDPA matches and two days at TDI I'm quickly approaching the three-thousand mark on the HK45. The gun has seen little cleaning and has ran without incident. Sometime during the first major cleaning I noticed that the O-ring on the barrel was a little frayed and replaced it. I'm unsure of the round count as the gun was used and the previous owner was active in IDPA/USPSA as well, but the gun doesn't show that much wear even though it's seen draws from Kydex and leather.

The added ambi safety is wearing in nicely as well are my hands, I'm getting calluses in some new spots, most noticeably on the middle finger of my right hand where the mag release rubs a little funny. The gun carries well and It's been primary carry for a couple of months now and rides great in the Milt Sparks VMII. Since shooting the gun I'm improved my points down on the IDPA classifier from 51 to 37, I need to go over the stages and compare my times/pts down to the last two classifiers etc. to see where my times have changed, what's neat is that I also made match most accurate and second most accurate in the last two IDPA matches which I had not done prior to running the HK45, to put it simply the gun and I agree with each other.  The reloads are getting smoother, but I still need to work on them more and USPSA is really good for getting reloading practice.

I'm probably going to replace the trigger return spring in the near future, as robust as the HK design is the one part that has a history for going out is that spring. As I'm  unsure of the round count and seeing that I'm averaging around 700+/- rounds a month (the TDI course is skewing that average big time) and plan on shooting two more matches this month I figure it's better safe than sorry regarding the replacement of the spring.

The gun has digested mainly nickel cased Remington UMC 230gr FMJ but at two matches I burnt through some of the older defensive ammo, mixed batches of 230 gr samples of the following:
Speer Gold Dots, Hydra-Shoks & HSTs, and a ton of Remington Golden Sabers. Again, zero failures of any sort, the gun came with nine magazines and all seem to work well, even when slightly caked with mud.

Overall I couldn't be happier with this gun, the one thing I don't particularly like is the blued magazines, the finish of the slide may be very durable but the magazines were getting a little rusty, but then again with the rampant humidity and my lack of cleaning magazines of late, I suppose it's excusable. I'm torn on the idea of having the mags refinished in Cerakote etc. as magazines are a consumable commodity when it comes to pistols, eventually they are going to have to be taken out of service and replaced.

Finally...Tactical Defense Institute (TDI) Pistol II & III After Action Review

TDI Pistols II & III After Action Review. May 15th-16th 2011

Before I get into the review of the class, I want to talk a little more about what TDI is and who makes it that way. TDI is currently ran by John Benner who is the president and chief instructor of the Tactical Defense Institute. He is a 37-year veteran police Lieutenant and Vietnam Veteran and spent 25 years with the Hamilton County Police Association Regional SWAT Team, serving for 20 years as team Commander, he has received several prestigious awards including Contribution to Law Enforcement, Police Leadership and Officer of the Year. Mr. Benner is certified to instruct and a guest instructor for the Ohio Peace Officer’s Training Council (OPOTA). John is a member of and presenter for the International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors (IALEFI). John is the co-author of the nationally used CQPC Program.


Most of the doctrine at TDI has come from John’s lifetime of experiences, he’s basically been going into harms way while armed for his entire adult life and he’s still here to talk and teach about it, so I found it very wroth while to perk up my ears when he was speaking, regardless of the topic. John freely admits that most if not all things TDI is 49% him, and 51% his instructors, and they aren't slouches either.

Most of us have probably heard of or read content regarding Bowie Tactical Concepts, what we get a glimpse of on the website is Dave’s background as a SWAT officer. Dave Bowie has been an instructor at TDI for 18 years and has worked as a prosecutors office investigator, a deputy sheriff and has been on SWAT for 10 years as a team member then as team leader and has now commander for the past two and half years.

Dave also was a competitive shooter in USPSA and was a master class shooter until TDI got so busy that he could no longer attend matches. Dave is a NRA certified pistol and rifle instructor and has been a guest instructor for the Ohio peace officers training academy and for the international association of law enforcement firearms instructors and is also a member of the Ohio and national Tactical officers association.

One of TDIs assets  Greg Ellifritz, I was first introduced to Greg though my wife who attended the TDI Defensive Knife Course, through her reviews, and video of the class which can be viewed HERE.
Greg Ellifritz is a 16-year veteran police officer, spending the last 11 years as the fulltime tactical training officer for his central Ohio agency. In that position, he is responsible for developing and instructing all of the in-service training for a 57-officer police department. Prior to his training position, he served as patrol officer, bike patrol officer, precision marksman, and field training officer for his agency.

He has been an active instructor for the Tactical Defense Institute since 2001 and a lead instructor for TDI’s ground fighting, knife fighting, impact weapons, active shooter, and extreme close quarters shooting classes.

Greg holds instructor, master instructor, or armorer certifications in more than 75 different weapons systems, defensive tactics programs, and law enforcement specialty areas. In addition to these instructor certifications, Greg has trained with most of the leading firearms and edged weapons instructors in the country.

Greg has been an adjunct instructor for the Ohio Peace Officer’s Training Academy, teaching firearms, defensive tactics, bike patrol, knife defense and physical fitness topics. He has taught firearms and self defense classes at the national and international level through the International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors, The American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers and Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police. He has a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Management and has written for several publications including: ‘The Firearms Instructor”, “Ohio Police Chief”, “Combat Handguns”, “Concealed Carry Magazine” and “The Journal of the American Women’s Self Defense Association”.

What my wife and I both like about Greg is that despite the list above, he is very approachable and easy to dialogue with regarding almost any topic related to self-defense. On top of being a physical fitness instructor Greg is also an avid foreign traveler, which brings a unique perspective regarding improvised weapons of opportunity. Greg also teaches Field Emergency Medicine.


Another unique part of the TDI team is instructor Bill Posey, Bill has only been shooting for about four and half years but was directed to TDI early on and started in the right direction. After two years of intensive training at TDI, approximately 35 days in his first year, he obtained NRA instructor's certifications in Pistol, Home Firearm Safety, and Personal Protection in the Home. John Benner then invited Bill to join the staff at TDI as an adjunct, volunteer, instructor. Bill views his helping out at TDI as his "give-back" to the community of people interested in self defense and willing to obtain competent instruction. He is in his third year of instructing at TDI.

Bill has been a practicing trial lawyer since 1979, having litigated product liability and other cases in more than 35 states. As part of his responsibilities at TDI he gives the brief lecture on home insurance considerations and handles questions that may arise relating to personal liability in self-defense situations. Bill ran the "furtive movement" part of the Handgun 3, which will be covered in more detail later in this review.

Not all of TDI’s instructor cadre is SWAT Police or lawyers. Clay Smith’s day job is in the 401k business. His shooting background started young with his father who was a competitive trap shooter for most of his life, around the age of 18 he picked up an interest in handguns, and other firearms of a "defensive" which eventually led him into pistol competition sports including IDPA and USPSA and led him to seek out professional training. Clay began attending TDI in 1997 and began instructing there in 2003. Clay has also attended NRA Instructor Certification, Glock Armorer's Certification, training from Tactical Response in Tennessee, and Bob Vogel, and will also be attending the Roger's Shooting School in Georgia this year. Clay still shoots in competition at the local level when his schedule permits.


Two other instructors mentoring me while there were John Motil and Forest Sonewald. John is a retired Air Force Master Sergeant and Forset is a twenty year veteran of his police department in Northern Ohio and has served as their firearms instructor and as a SWAT team member. He's been teaching at TDI for around six years.

That is not even the entire list of instructors that were there during Pistols II and III, if you’ve ever felt that the staff at a shooting class was spread too thin and if you’ve ever been shooting well enough not to warrant the attention of an instructor as others need more help, you will NOT feel that way at TDI as there were 12 instructors in all including John Benner. With a class of around 24 you get a 2 : 1 Student to Instructor ratio which in this industry is outstanding! Not only will you get time with an instructor, you get time with 11 or 12 different instructors, that’s a lot of viewpoints that look at different things and give different feedback on your performance. When you look at the cost of training classes TDI is not that expensive and it is money well spent as you will get time with an instructor regardless of how well you’re doing and as outlined above the instructors are top notch.

Now we’re going talk about the class.

1500ish Rounds Through the HK45 So Far...

I got the gun at the end of April and so far between a couple of range sessions, one IDPA match, one USPSA match, and a couple of classes have shot somewhere in the neighborhood of 1500+ rounds as of today. I polished off the remaining 1200 rds that I bought to take to TDI and was able to shoot some after a class today. The gun continues to wow me, it hasn't had much of  a cleaning, the mags got nice and muddy this afternoon working reload drills as that is the one area that's still giving me a little grief but I'll get there.

The ambi safety from a USP Compact is still working well with both right and left hand manipulation. ill probably do a good once over on the gun and detail clean the magazines to get the mud and little chunks of grass out of them and will be running the gun tomorrow @ the Blackhawk Pistol Clubs monthly USPSA match.

Really Digging the HK45...

After my trip to TDI I told myself I was going to not be as serious about competing in IDPA and not rush so much to get through the stages. I placed 4th overall in our June 5th match, 2nd place in CDP, and for the first time, match most accurate with 11pts down.  I've been division most accurate a time or three, but never the whole dang thing.

I've made some mods to the HK45, it is now a Variant 9/10, which means that is is no longer equipped with the decocker, a Variant 5/6 detent plate is what is needed to make the change, and can be ordered from HKParts.net. I also managed to snag a USP Compact ambi safety and was able to mate it to the HK45 with a little patience and an Exacto knife.

The gun now agrees with me all the more better as previously I was mashing down on the safety lever too much and would start to decock the gun and every now and then I'd fully decock it and I could feel the muzzle dip. The ambi safety is purely for IDPA and classes where we work off-hand shooting quite a lot. Some don't like it, some could take it or leave it, but I'm starting to prefer them.

Here's the HK45 wearing the USPc ambi safety.

And here are two pictures from a target @ TDI, range was only about 5 yards or so, but the drill was shooting one round free-style, one round strong-hand only, one round weak hand only, repeat for one magazine and it was right after I got done at the Live Fire House and was still a little amped up.  The goal is to have one hole. I need a little work, but over all I was pretty happy with the results of the second attempt. Both pictures are are 10 shot groups.

HK45-TDI-Accuracy Drill-1-10 shot group (inset @ bottom right is of actual target)

HK45-TDI-Accuracy Drill 2-10 shot group (Inset @ upper left is of actual target)

I'm finding I don't mind the factory sights as much as I though I would, but I need to replace at least the rear as I just can't stand the rear dots.


The after action review of TDIs Pistol II and III classes is almost done, I've never had a review take this long to write but it's been a hectic couple of weeks.

I spent the one weekend @ TDI, the following weekend was spent at the NRA PPOTH-I Course, and then Fri, Sat, & Sun of Memorial Day weekend I found myself at a NRA Training Counselor Workshop and am currently awaiting the paperwork to clear and be appointed and NRA Training Counselor....add into that IDPA, work, and being a dad & husband and it makes for a busy time.

Hopefully I will get the TDI review done Friday evening after setting up the classroom for Saturday's Iowa Defensive Pistol Class

The HK45 Does It Again...

At the end of the range session of Day 1 of the NRA Basics of Personal Protection  Outside of the Home....geez that's a long title...we'll just call it PPOH from here on out. Anyway, at the end of the range session the instructors placed some "reactive" targets on two backers, they were about 2" x 2" squares that combusted when struck. it took a couple of tries but when we were all (class of 10) on our third time up my wife got the first square on her second attempt with the HK45 having never shot it before and I got the other one soon after. We probably would have gotten them sooner but for some reason we were having a disconnect on why we were shooting high, switching to a 6 o'clock hold did the trick and we wiped out the squares.


As for the PPOH course itself, I'll comment on that later, like after I have my credentials in my hand later.

Back From TDI...

Returned home from TDI later than I planned last night, will be reviewing notes and doing a little follow up work with a couple of the instructors prior to writing up the AAR for the class.

For now all I can say is that if you've ever thought about having to clear a room and what it entails, you need to go to TDI's Pistols II & III. The price(s) are exceptionally reasonable for the quality of training obtained, the instructor to student ratio is outstanding and the facility is superb.


Look for the full review in the next couple of days.

Oh, the HK45 and I performed very well, just shy of 1200rds down range, zero failures and great performance.

Going to Gun School....

Heading to the Tactical Defense Institute in Ohio for level II and III Handgun this weekend. I'll be taking the HK45 along for this class to increase my familiarity with it even more.

The weather forecast for West Union Ohio is not fare and sunny, but calls for thunder storms and showers on both Saturday and Sunday. Most top end classes don't have rain outs so having proper rain gear is a must. I still have some left over Gortex wear from my time in the service as well as some Sealskinz waterproof socks, I'm out of luck in the footwear department but that will be taken care of tomorrow evening, but this will be a good time to talk about other gear that probably needs to be taken to classes.

• Sunscreen: Even if the weather calls for clouds and rain, we all know that the weather can change quickly.
• "Chapstick": While I'm not chapstick junky, I'm not a fan of cracked, burning, burnt mummy looking lips either, while it pains me to do so I do use chapstick on the range....and no, it's not cherry flavored.
• Bug spray: There I said bug spray and not "bug juice" thank you Marine Corps for damaging my vocabulary to the point where I say stupid things like "bug juice" and "bulkhead"... I think this one is self explanatory.
• Water, start drinking lots of water starting at least one or two days before hand, your body will thank you. I neglected hydration prior to last falls Langdon class and paid for it that night after dinner. 
• Note taking materials: Even your hard-corps shooting classes will contain little tid-bits of knowledge that you will forget if you don't jot it down. I saw one fellow student with two not taking books, a larger one for actual lecture, and a small pocket sized book for taking quick notes on during reloading breaks. Want to jot down some notes on that cool drill you just did? Good luck remembering it later. Have a pocket book for notes.
• Eye and ear protection: This is standard, but I will also advise to bring spare eyes and ears, especially if this is a multi-day class. 
• Range friendly snacks: Beef jerky, pretzels etc. Nothing with too many crumbs or that will leave hands sticky. If you are a candy bar guy I like Paydays as there's no chocolate to melt, if your into the power/energy bar thing, those are good too.
• Water: Yes, this is getting listed again, as Camelbak says, "Hydrate or die" 
• Hat: I generally bring a ball cap and "boonie" hat, have I ever used the boonie? I don't think so but it's there if I need it.
• Rain gear: Be ready to shoot rain or shine, if you've never thought about how your gear will work under rain gear, you might want to take the time to think about it.
• Cleaning gear: You'll want at minimum your basic cleaning kit and tools/parts pending on your make/model of gun
• Spare gun: If you don't want to mess with fixing a downed gun, bring a backup.
• Holsters & magazine carriers: Bring your holsters and mag carriers for you main and backup gun, make sure you are certain that your holster is allowed to be used at the class, most places have a holster policy stating a strong-side, rigid holster. If you only have cross-draw and shoulder holsters you may be out of luck if that's what you show up with.
• Extra magazines: Magazines are probably the number one cause of failures in pistols and even if your mags are good now, they may not be half way into the class. Where there's multiple students doing mag changes and movement, there are mags getting stepped on. If your back up gun takes different mags, make sure you have both sets.
• Ammunition: I know, you'd think this is a no-brainer but I've almost left the house to go shoot without my ammunition.
• Any keys etc. If you are using a locked case make sure you bring your keys, I was lucky in that I was able to get a gun case open as I had two different locks and forgot one of the keys. 
• Method of payment: Did you remember your checkbook, card etc?
• Photo ID and Carry Permit etc.: Some schools require a photo ID AND carry permit or letter of good standing from a law enforcement entity.
• Any prescription medications: If you need your pills, take them with you.

 If you want to be over organized, make up a check list and have it laminated and attach it to your range bag etc. My range bag is labeled for items but not for all the stuff I have listed.

Will post class update(s) later next week.

HK45 Update

Ran the HK45 a little more this weekend including my 1st USPSA match. Overall I really like the gun, it carries better than most every other full size pistol I've owned and I run it a whole lot better than the Glock 21SF. I'm slowly but surely getting the hang of the gun. I need to work more on tracking the sights during rapid fire. As for the USPSA match, shooting the HK45 for the third time from an IWB holster I managed to place 14th out of 30 and beat out the other guy shooting limited 10 to take 1st in division, beat all but one guy shooting production... Seems like I can run the gun OK. Most everyone else was running open and limited guns in speed holsters.

Initially I had some issues with reloads it was a bit chilly out for the first two stages and my fingers/thumbs seemed to not want to work too well. Seems like my initial shots were usually A's but I was dropping my follow up shots. I don't think I was taking the time to get proper sight picture.

I'm loving the Milt Sparks as usual. For a mag carrier I picked up a Galco Double Mag Carrier (DMC) and it's working out well, for a third mag I was using a single mag carrier from UBG that was made for something else but fits the HK45 mag rather well.

Getting Acquainted with the HK45

Ever since the P30 was unveiled I've been interested in having one, especially when the P30LS was revealed on HK's website, I still want one but I don't know if or when that's going to happen. Since the same time, I've been eyeballing the Hk45 I'd been lusting over the P30 before I saw the PT endurance testing and the results of the HK45s test just pushed me over the edge. I fondled one on display at Shot show and was really impressed with it's feel compared to some other double stack .45s and the LEM trigger on the demo gun really was something...

 ...So I had the opportunity to help a friend out and bought his HK45 with nine mags and a VMII (oddly enough I sold him the VMII last year when I decided to opt out on getting HK45 after snagging the VMII on eBay for a pretty good deal, cordovan with black shark) So now for the last couple days I've been dry-firing and doing dry-reload drills till my hands have gotten raw.

I got to put a few rounds down range the other day and I'm pretty happy with the gun, I like it a heck of a lot more than the G21SF I just sold. This weekend I'm instructing an Iowa specific course and I will probably be using the HK45 for my demonstrations and hopefully getting some holster time in with it and will probably be taking the pistol to TDI in May.

The pistol is a V1 which allows for cocked and locked carry and for the time being that's probably how I'll be carrying it but a conversion to LEM is probably on the horizon as that when I do dry drawing practice I have a hard time getting the grip right with proper placement of my thumb over the safety, we'll see how it works out, it may be just growing pains.

For holsters I've got the VMII and with some of the left over $$$ from the Glock package sale I ordered a Kydex OWB from Cane and Derby, and just in talking with them on the phone all I can say is that I can't wait to get this holster in my hands. If the product is a good as the people making it this will be the best piece of Kydex on the planet. Their product is similar to the likes of Raven Concealment but their turn around time is about 20 days for non-standard items.

So now back to the gun...

I've blacked out the rear sight as I dislike rear dots, eventually a set of Heinie sights will find their way onto the gun just like I have on my Hi Power and two 1911s. The trough in the trigger guard is annoying as all get out but doesn't seem to irritate my finger that bad, but we'll see what a high round count does for that, odds are I may drop the gun off at Bowie Tactical while I'm at TDI and see what he can do with it.

The gun comes with two backstraps, one small and one medium. I've found I prefer the medium as it seems to fill my hand much better and gives me a more consistent grip. I was always skeptical about the magazine release but I'm actually beginning to warm up to it. I really like the ambit slide lock/release and the feel of the gun in the hand is just amazing, I always loved the grip of the P2000 and the HK45 comes pretty close to it. 

So far my only gripe is that trough, I don't know what HK was thinking when they put that on the gun. Your basic field strip is very user friendly, I was able to change out the back strap without using a hammer and punch. The gun holds 10 in the magazine which is down three from the Glock but up two from a 1911, that's 25% more ammunition which is OK, but I'd rather have the 12rds in a USP45 but some concessions had to be made to get the contours of the HK45.

More to come as I get more trigger time on the gun.

The one thing that really surprises me is how well this gun carries and hides given it's size.

HK45 and Milt Sparks Versa-Max II