Bad News with an HK 45

Old CW4

Old CW4

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Was shooting my H&K 45 last Sunday. Slow fire and no fancy stuff. Emptied a mag and noticed the last round hadn't ejected and the slide was open about 5/8 inch. Hmmm? What happened? Don't know yet. The slide was and is locked up solid at that point. I can tap it shut but then only open it back to that same point.

I checked down the bore and the partially pulled out round in the chamber had fired. Was it stuck? No. I used my Ruger multi tool and could easily turn the spent case with the pliers.

Got home and used a brass rod down the barrel and a hammer to try and tap the slide back far enough to pull out the cross pin integral with the slide stop. The slide will NOT go back far enough to clear the flange portion of the slide stop and I don't want to pound too much or too hard.

I was able to 'crunch' the empty case with heavy duty needle nose pliers and get the spent round out. It looked normal. The primer wasn't bulged and the empty case was okay other than what I did to it with the pliers.

Now I'm thinking about milling the left side of the slide stop off so I can get the cross pin out, then be able to get the slide off and see what's happened. I'm a smith but have never worked on a jammed H&K before. Can any of you other gun guys on this forum offer any advice/assistance so I'm not flying totally blind with this?

I had thought the HK was the ultimate 45 but maybe not......? It's had less than 300 rounds of good ammo through it and is now really jammed with no signs of external or bore damage.

Appreciate any advice.
 
It's rare you hear of anything like this with an HK. Unless you're and HK Armorer I'd send it back to HK and let them look at it. You go cutting or milling on it and it's gonna void any warranty you have. HK is known to ask "What did you do to our Perfect Gun" when you have a warranty issue. So actually doing stuff to it is a bad idea. I'm sure your talented enough to work on it. But if you're not an HK armorer they are gonna blame any problems it has on any mods you've done. You may have just gotten a dud. It happens to every firearms manufacturer. Hell we got a wilson combat last year that could barely hold a 6" group at 25 yards. My Ed Brown will do 1" at that range. And Wilson Combat is a fine brand. My advise is to send it back to HK.
 
I have had 3 USP 45s. Only once did I have a hang up on any of them and it was from crap ammo. The only bad thing I have noticed about the USPs is that they require a very sturdy firing base, more so than other poly frames like Glock and S&W M&P. Every time my wife fires my USP C she gets at least one or two stovepipes.
If your grip and stance are good it could be the follower, crap ammo, insufficient lube or excessive grit. Most guns break in or marry their parts after about 500rnds. If the problem persists just send it back to H&K, that has to be covered under warranty.
 
its been a while since i have taken apart a usp, but it is probably one (or more) of several things:

-broken part in safety mechanism.
-broken part in firing pin housing.
-broken part in slide stop.

will it still dry fire?

sounds like it definitely needs to go to a certified hk armorer. unfortunately, their classes cost a small fortune, so you may have some trouble finding one. i certainly wouldn't try and drill out any parts.
 
I can 'dry fire' if I hammer the slide closed but then I'm back to square one. It will only open part way and not quite far enough to take out the slide stop/cross pin. I guess I'll have to take a really deep breath and send it back to HK. Although I know I could find the problem and fix it provided I could obtain parts, always a question with pistols like these.
Thanks for the replies,
Old CW4
 
Old CW4 said:
I can 'dry fire' if I hammer the slide closed but then I'm back to square one. It will only open part way and not quite far enough to take out the slide stop/cross pin. I guess I'll have to take a really deep breath and send it back to HK. Although I know I could find the problem and fix it provided I could obtain parts, always a question with pistols like these.
Thanks for the replies,
Old CW4
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It's probably a piece of brass or something wedged in there hindering the slide. If it's a part problem, then HK will take care of it. A DIY with an HK is not a good idea. Parts simply are not available on the secondary market and HK will not sell them to you. I used to own several USPs... I know yours is the HK45 and not a USP... but they are similar. I managed to aquire parts little by little over the years but it was not easy or cheap. I'd have to imagine there are ZERO parts out there for the new models like yours.
 
Factory service or at least take it to an HK armorer. It's probably something simple but, you don't want to void your warranty. A detail strip and new part or FOD removal should fix it up.
 
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