Uncle Malice
New member
Here's my recently acquired HK 45 Compact Tactical. This is the V1 model in standard DA/SA with safety and decocker. It ships with (2) 10rd 'elephant foot' magazines. I also picked up one of the standard 8rd magazines for carry and the thread protector which does not ship with the gun.
I have owned the full size HK 45 for about a year and really like it, it's just a bit large for carry. The HK 45 CT is very similar in size to the Glock 19. The elephant foot mags are a bit bulky but they actually feel good when shooting. Recoil is very nice for it's size. I have had many of the other compact 45's on the market. Most recently I was trying the XDM 45 compact. Even though the gun was pretty heavy, the recoil impulse seemed much more substantial than I felt it should have. The HK 45 CT is very soft shooting - just slightly more than the full size version.
The thread protector has a tendancy to come loose so I stuck one of the extra O-rings that comes with the gun just beind the threads so when the thread protector hits it, it sort of 'locks' itself in place. I think you're actually just supposed to remove the thread protector when shooting, but this works for me.
Accuracy has been outstanding. I've already put 300 rounds through it, but even the first magazine was right and and very tight groups right out of the box. Certainly better than I shot the full size version when I first got it. Of course, my experience with the full size version probably helped a lot with shooting the compact well. The balance with the 8rd magazine and the threaded barrel is absolutely perfect.
The gun ships with Meprolight night sights and they're okay. They're very similar in shape and sight picture to the normal 'luminova' sights. I assume this is why they are the default factory night sights. All of my other HK pistols have been retrofitted with Trijicon HD yellows and I really like them. I'm not sure if I'll spend the money to replace these sights or not. Even though they are just 'okay', I still shoot it well.
For a holster, I picked up the Blade-Tech Nano. It's my first Blade-Tech holster and I'm fairly impressed so far. My go-to holster for most of my guns is the Comp-Tac Infidel. I like that the Nano uses very thin kydex. It also provides a nice positive click into place in the holster. The Infidel for my full size HK 45 doesn't have as much of a positive lock in although most of the other models do. I attributed this to the sort of scalloped shape of the HK trigger guard making it more difficult to provide that positive indentation that other guns achieve.
Many people complain about the P2000-style grip. They say that it's too slippery. I can understand that. It is pretty slick, but I actually like that about the gun. Since it's pretty soft shooting, it doesn't feel like it's going to slip out of my hand or anything and its comfortable against the skin. It doesn't necessarily have that same hand-molded feel of the full size HK 45 and P30, but it's very slim and comfortable.
Overall, I think the HK 45 Compact Tactical is going to quickly become one of my favorite carry guns. I've been spending the weekend dry fire practicing working on getting the trigger broken in. Some people complain about the HK triggers, and I would tend to agree with them when speaking on out of the box triggers. A well broken in HK trigger is very nice in my opinion. I actually have a spare Wolff reduced power hammer spring that I may drop in too just to lighten it up a little bit. For the time being though, it feels fine.
I have owned the full size HK 45 for about a year and really like it, it's just a bit large for carry. The HK 45 CT is very similar in size to the Glock 19. The elephant foot mags are a bit bulky but they actually feel good when shooting. Recoil is very nice for it's size. I have had many of the other compact 45's on the market. Most recently I was trying the XDM 45 compact. Even though the gun was pretty heavy, the recoil impulse seemed much more substantial than I felt it should have. The HK 45 CT is very soft shooting - just slightly more than the full size version.
The thread protector has a tendancy to come loose so I stuck one of the extra O-rings that comes with the gun just beind the threads so when the thread protector hits it, it sort of 'locks' itself in place. I think you're actually just supposed to remove the thread protector when shooting, but this works for me.
Accuracy has been outstanding. I've already put 300 rounds through it, but even the first magazine was right and and very tight groups right out of the box. Certainly better than I shot the full size version when I first got it. Of course, my experience with the full size version probably helped a lot with shooting the compact well. The balance with the 8rd magazine and the threaded barrel is absolutely perfect.
The gun ships with Meprolight night sights and they're okay. They're very similar in shape and sight picture to the normal 'luminova' sights. I assume this is why they are the default factory night sights. All of my other HK pistols have been retrofitted with Trijicon HD yellows and I really like them. I'm not sure if I'll spend the money to replace these sights or not. Even though they are just 'okay', I still shoot it well.
For a holster, I picked up the Blade-Tech Nano. It's my first Blade-Tech holster and I'm fairly impressed so far. My go-to holster for most of my guns is the Comp-Tac Infidel. I like that the Nano uses very thin kydex. It also provides a nice positive click into place in the holster. The Infidel for my full size HK 45 doesn't have as much of a positive lock in although most of the other models do. I attributed this to the sort of scalloped shape of the HK trigger guard making it more difficult to provide that positive indentation that other guns achieve.
Many people complain about the P2000-style grip. They say that it's too slippery. I can understand that. It is pretty slick, but I actually like that about the gun. Since it's pretty soft shooting, it doesn't feel like it's going to slip out of my hand or anything and its comfortable against the skin. It doesn't necessarily have that same hand-molded feel of the full size HK 45 and P30, but it's very slim and comfortable.
Overall, I think the HK 45 Compact Tactical is going to quickly become one of my favorite carry guns. I've been spending the weekend dry fire practicing working on getting the trigger broken in. Some people complain about the HK triggers, and I would tend to agree with them when speaking on out of the box triggers. A well broken in HK trigger is very nice in my opinion. I actually have a spare Wolff reduced power hammer spring that I may drop in too just to lighten it up a little bit. For the time being though, it feels fine.
