Firing Line
Dec. 30th, 2008 07:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stickmakerMy first center-fire handgun was a Colt Mark IV Series 80 in .45 ACP. Until last Friday it was my only firearm in .45 ACP.
I had been thinking about getting another after handling one of the new HK45 handguns at a gun store a few weeks back. I made myself wait until after Christmas before looking in earnest. The gun show in Louisville last weekend was my start... and my finish.
I found a used USP 45 with three 12-round magazines in the original box complete with all the papers for a good price. I have two USP 40 handguns and love 'em, so even though it's an older design than I had been looking for and used instead of new, I checked it out. And bought it. The dealer told me that a man had bought it from them, then brought it back a few days later. He didn't know how much it had been shot, but the thing looked new.
Today I finally got to fire it. The performance wasn't perfect: four failures to feed out of 130 rounds, two of them from the same magazine load of WWB. However! My first twelve-shots grouped in under three inches a little high at twenty-five yards from a rest. That was my best group of the outing, but several others were only slightly larger.
It shot the same - just a bit above point of aim - with four brands of .45 ACP: Winchester White Box, PMC Bronze and Fiocchi (all 230 grain ball) and Silvertips. This thing is so consistent it's a bit scary. When I finished the target board looked like someone had fired a shotgun from a few inches away. There was one ragged hole with a few outliers.
The gun is lying field-stripped after cleaning in front of the basement dehumidifier, while the solvents evaporate. Tomorrow I'll lube and reassemble it. I'm also cleaning the magazines. I'm wondering if the first owner simply didn't shoot it enough to break it in. I intend to shoot it a lot more to see. :-)
I had been thinking about getting another after handling one of the new HK45 handguns at a gun store a few weeks back. I made myself wait until after Christmas before looking in earnest. The gun show in Louisville last weekend was my start... and my finish.
I found a used USP 45 with three 12-round magazines in the original box complete with all the papers for a good price. I have two USP 40 handguns and love 'em, so even though it's an older design than I had been looking for and used instead of new, I checked it out. And bought it. The dealer told me that a man had bought it from them, then brought it back a few days later. He didn't know how much it had been shot, but the thing looked new.
Today I finally got to fire it. The performance wasn't perfect: four failures to feed out of 130 rounds, two of them from the same magazine load of WWB. However! My first twelve-shots grouped in under three inches a little high at twenty-five yards from a rest. That was my best group of the outing, but several others were only slightly larger.
It shot the same - just a bit above point of aim - with four brands of .45 ACP: Winchester White Box, PMC Bronze and Fiocchi (all 230 grain ball) and Silvertips. This thing is so consistent it's a bit scary. When I finished the target board looked like someone had fired a shotgun from a few inches away. There was one ragged hole with a few outliers.
The gun is lying field-stripped after cleaning in front of the basement dehumidifier, while the solvents evaporate. Tomorrow I'll lube and reassemble it. I'm also cleaning the magazines. I'm wondering if the first owner simply didn't shoot it enough to break it in. I intend to shoot it a lot more to see. :-)
