H&K USPs and US Law Enforcement

O

obxemt

New member
I just ordered a USP Compact .40, and was wondering if many law enforcment agencies issue USP variants to their PATROL officers. I've seen some SWAT/Tactical-type sections that use it but not many patrol. In NE-NC, I am only aware of 1 agency that uses them, and they're 3 hours away.

USPs were marketed pretty strongly (if I remember correctly) toward US law enforcement about 10 years ago, mainly since the P7 was too expensive and low-capacity. It seems that Glock has won the heart of many and monopolized the market, possibly what Hk had intended to do...

I searched and didn't really find anything specific to LE. Thanks for your comments.
 
You see them here and there. I cant give you exact figures.
I know one state police agency use the USP45. I think its Maine.
 
The INS has adopted the HK USP Compact in 40 S&W as their plainclothes weapon for Immigration Special Agents and Deportation officers. HK specifically makes an LE model with a "LE module" trigger (DAO) design. Ive shot the weapon and its AWESOME. Reminds me of an Para Ordanance LDA. Long but extremely light double action. Nice :D
 
Hey MP-5, any idea if that LE trigger can be added after the fact to an existing weapon, or is the cost not worth it?
 
HKPro.com

Go to the message board there for info regarding agencies authorizing/issuing USPs.

The LEM trigger is not yet available as a separate modification for the USP line although the Match Trigger group is available for most of the full size models.
 
According to this month's American Handgunner, Maine is the only state police agency issuing the USP (.45), but the sidebar didn't help with any other muni, county, or Federal agencies might also carry the USP.

I have a USP45C, and really like it. It's the V-1, which allows it to function as a traditional DA/SA autoloader or it can be carried cocked & locked a la 1911. It's quite accurate and the trigger smoothed out nicely after about 500 rounds. YMMV.
 
I know the Gainesville, Florida Police Department issues HK .40s to all officers and HK compacts to the plain clothes guys. They issue Glocks (I think) to the SWAT guys, but it's been a while since I've seen them in action.

A million years ago I used an HK Compact when I went through the police academy. It did very well.

Gator
 
Two major things that keep the HK out of the LE community in mass quantities would be price and the fact that Glock has sub-compact pistols that accept the compact and full size magazines. I honestly beleive that the LE market would be more evenly divided amongst other brands if Glock didn't do the great LE prices and the "universal" magazine thing.

I had a USP 40 once. The only gripe I had was that it was too big for the caliber, in my opinion. It's in the "coulda had a .45" class along with the Beretta full size pistols. If you're gonna tote that much mass and weight you might as well have a bigger caliber. :D
 
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