Can someone please explain the variants in H&K USPs?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jeff, CA
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Jeff, CA

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There's a chart on H&K's website showing the different combinations of firing systems, but it's kind of cryptic. I can see there's SA/DA vs. DAO, but is there a straight SA? There are a couple of fields in the chart that read something like "control lever (no decocking)" vs. "control lever (decocking") vs. "control lever (manual safety)" - what do these mean? It also appears you get a choice of which side of the gun you want the control lever on. True?

Which variant most closely approximates the operation of a 1911?

It also appears that you can convert between variants. True? Does that mean you can convert any variant to any other, any time? Is it a drop-in conversion, or does it have to go back to H&K for a retrofit?
 
Variants 9 and 10... control lever is manual safety only, no decocker... right hand/left hand respectively. I believe these variants of the USP Compact come with the spurred hammer, unlike the bobbed hammer found on all other variants.

DanO
 
I've never changed mine

But most (if not all) variant changes are fairly simple. If you want, you can send it to HK and they'll do it for you for a small charge. There is no straight SA...only DA/SA. I'm not sure if you want to know what the decocker is, but when the hammer is cocked and in SA mode, press the control lever all the way down. This will drop the hammer to half-cocked and back to DA. You can then switch the safety back on. You can have the control lever on the right, left, or both sides. It costs a little more for the latter 2.
I've never really familiarized myself to a 1911, but as far as I know, variant 10 would be the closest since 1911's don't have a decocker (do they?). HTH!
 
I think the safest way to go in your case is Variant 1 (2 if leftie). Since HK doesn't offer a SA only, then your closest option is the DA/SA with in condition 1. 9&10 are identical to 1&2, minus the decocker. But if the decocker is an option, WHY NOT? It's must safer than the old "thumb on the hammer" like you do on 1911's. FWIW, that's how I use mine in Tactical matches. (variant 2).

Yes, it's gotta go back. HK even wants it back to go from leftie to rightie...
 
OK, well, I needn't have worried about the variants. According to my local gun shop, variant 1 is the only one approved for sale in PRK. What a surprise! :mad:

I handled some anyway, and they felt pretty good. As usual, the .45 was too big for me. But if I'm not careful, a .40 might jump into my safe when I'm not looking. *innocent look*
 
I looked into getting a lefty, the guy at the shop said it was about $25 extra. So he called his supplier to check on availability, supplier told him they were hard to get, HK was slow to fill lefty orders, and they had raised the variant price to $75 extra. So I bought a P-97 instead. (not lefty either, but for under half the cost, I figured I could use it fine)
 
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