My USP .45 broke at the range yesterday

[Jester814]

My USP .45 has been on permanent loan to my friend for a while. Yesterday at the range while he was shooting it it stopped going into battery. The slide would go about 90% forward and get stuck with a round in the chamber. It took a lot of force to get the slide to the rear to eject the unfired round. When I inspected the rounds, which were winchester white box, I noticed a small gouge on the casing right where it ends and the bullet begins.

I'm not an armorer, but I broke the gun down and looked at the insides trying to figure out what the hell was wrong. After breaking the gun down and putting it back together a few times I noticed a small chip on the feed ramp. I grabbed my USP Tactical and compared feed ramps and sure as hell, the Tactical feed ramp was pristine.

One thing that was strange though, is that the chamber seemed to be closing fully(I don't know if that's the correct terminology), but the slide wasn't going all the way forward.

Lastly, I just tested the problem again before boxing the pistol up to ship it to HK, and it seems to not be doing it anymore. I can't replicate the problem as it was happening yesterday.

So my questions are: What could have caused this? Some sort of burr on a round of the WWB ammo chipped the feed ramp, and that chip is catching on rounds? Is the chip on the feed ramp even the issue, since the chamber -seems- to be closing fully, but the slide isn't going fully into battery?

Unfortunately I didn't load the magazines, so I didn't see the round that may have caused this, but it was WWB. While not the best ammo in the world, I have never had an issue anywhere near like this. This was my favorite pistol, and it breaks my heart that this happened. If I get the pistol back from HK, and they say it was the ammo, should I contact winchester and inform them of the issue?

Before this happened I had exactly zero malfunctions from this pistol the entire time I've owned it, probably over 2000 rounds. And almost all the ammo ever pumped through it has been WWB or Speer Gold Dots.

[bshizzle]

Well, that stinks - don't ship it anywhere, last I heard they are changing locations and aren't taking any repairs as of right now.

[rohardi]

I thought my USP tactical was broke once, come to find out I was just out of ammo :-)

[AWD]

I'm confused, is the round seating fully into the chamber while still having this problem?

[Jester814]

I'm confused, is the round seating fully into the chamber while still having this problem?

Yeah I think it was.... So that would mean the feed ramp isn't the problem right? Like I said the slide would get stuck about 90% forward, and it would take considerable effort to open the slide. The pistol was well lubed at the time so I don't think that was the issue.

I guess I'll just wait to hear from HK and make an update here when I find out what it was. The good thing about this is that I've been wanting to convert the pistol to v3 for years and this finally gives me the excuse to do that while they have it.

[H&K 4 LIFE]

Let me get some clarification, the small "gouge" on the case, was the lip of the case curled downward? I have seen WWB defects like that before (in 9mm).

http://gunsandammomag.com/cs/Satellite/IMO_GA/Story_C/Is+It+Fit+to+Carry?packedargs=pagenum%3D2
This one is really bad... :D

Not to blame your friend, but next time load and shoot it yourself and make the judgement call. If it doesn't work then, most definitely send it back to HK.

[Jester814]

I thought my USP tactical was broke once, come to find out I was just out of ammo :-)

So it wasn't broke, it was just a paperweight temporarily :p

[Jester814]

Let me get some clarification, the small "gouge" on the case, was the lip of the case curled downward? I have seen WWB defects like that before (in 9mm).

http://www.gunsandammomag.com/cs/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=image%
This one is really bad... :D

Not to blame your friend, but next time load and shoot it yourself and make the judgement call. If it doesn't work then, most definitely send it back to HK.

The nick on the feedramp was gouging the casing. Before the rounds were chambered, no gouge, after chambered, gouged...

Also, your pic is a red x O_o

Oh and I was there. After it happened once I took the pistol and was easily able to duplicate the problem about 10 times. Basically I would load a mag(4 rounds) and pull the slide to the rear and release. The slide would go forward but not all the way, and I could neither push it into battery, nor pull it out without considerable pressure. A couple of times it actually went into battery, and I could fire a round or two and the problem would happen again.

This same box of WWB was fired through my USP Tactical with zero issues afterwards. But upon reflection that may not have been wise if the issue was ammo related.

[H&K 4 LIFE]

(Fixed the link.)

I hate to say it, but now I don't think it's ammo related.

You have a lifetime warranty, at this point I would use it. Get the V3 while your at it too. :)

[jestic]

I use wwb white box and have never had a problem.

[sniper1]

Send it in

[Sobriquet]

I'd send it in to be sure, but I shot at the range with a fellow HKPROer today who was telling me about a WWB round he got that was 1mm too long. It wouldn't chamber and prevented the P2k from going into battery.

[pierre1631]

I have had the same issue with WWB in my USP9 when I have my suppressor on. It will load a round but not "lock" back to shoot again. Then it has a FTE every now and then. I can then load the same ammo into my G19 with the same suppressor and works like a charm. Remington UMC yellow box just worked fine in the USP and G19. Seems like the HKs are more anal about getting decent ammo over the WWB junk.

[Kost]

Seems highly unlikely that soft brass could nick hard tempered ordnance grade steel of a barrel. Maybe it was compromised from the beginning, my concern would be what actually nicked the feed ramp. Obviously the rounds are getting 'hung up'/slowed down by the nick, and rounds are not 'chambering' fully, thus causing the slide to stay out 'of battery'.

HK should take care of you (unless your friend gouged the feed ramp with a tool...what tool would be near the feed ramp?)

[cmdrdredd]

As metioned previously HK is moving and not accepting anything for repair or modification.

[Kost]

HK finished the move Sept 5, call them up and ask for directions returning it for warranty work.

Dear Customers,
In order to better serve you, Heckler & Koch will be consolidating the Trussville, Alabama and Columbus, Georgia facilities. This transition will take place August 25 – September 5, 2008.

[Jester814]

Thanks guys, I had already sent my pistol in to HK before I posted this thread. They gave me a Columbus, GA address, so their move seems to be complete.

Oh and I am getting it switched to v3 ;)

[taseal]

my USP .45 doesn't like the WWB too much... I had a friend shooting it yesterday (his 1st time) and it kept jamming on him on each shot. he was limp wristing it, but i've never seen it do it that bad. then I fired it, and it did it maybe like twice out of 20-30 rounds. I'm gonna try remington next time.

[Sobriquet]

Why would you want to ditch the safety? Just curious.

[SIGtrarian]

Why would you want to ditch the safety? Just curious.Good question. I realize to each his own but I prefer to keep the safety and ditch the decocker (Variant 9).

[Jester814]

As to why I want to ditch the safety:

All of my other guns are SIGs. I am a firm believer that a 11-12 pound DA trigger pull is safety enough. I don't use the safeties on my USPs anyways, so removing them is just removing the accidental flipping on of the safety and non-firing of the gun when I may need it the most.

The worst feeling I have ever had at the range is pulling the trigger and nothing happening, then realizing it's because you forgot to unsafe the weapon in a semi-stressful situation. When I was in police academy(I never became a PO), one of our instructors went over why his dept chose SIG over some other options, and one of the reasons was because there was no safety. If an officer ever needed to pull his/her gun in a defense situation they wanted as little interference inbetween the proccess of deciding to shoot, and actually shooting.

I don't believe a safety on a DA pistol is a neccisaty, and in some cases may even be a hinderance. Some people would say "oh but what if the BG gets your gun away from you, it could save your life while he's figuring out how to get the safety off..." My answer to that is:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v622/Jester814/gun%20stuff/Now.jpg

;)

If I am in a situation that profoundly bad, I'm probably toast anyways.

Short answer, I want to ditch it because I never use it anyways, and I'm afraid of it accidentally being switched on, and I don't believe a double action pistol needs a manual safety.