Moderator Note: The posts leading to the creation to this thread can be found here: https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....5-Super-thread
I guess it is time to stop polluting the S&W 1076 thread, and start a USP 45 thread.
Here is the deal. When I moved to Alaska in 2002, I was carrying a four inch S&W 629 in the field for protection around bears and large animals. I was also frequently shooting a revolver as a primary handgun. The positive was six reliable shots of a proven, hard cast penetrating load. The negative was it weighed a lot, held relatively few cartridges, and frankly was not pleasant to shoot with full power ammo. I most often carried the wheel gun in a Blade Tech OWB kydex holster on a Wilderness belt, with a Galco 2x2x2 ammo holder, a Leatherman and a Surefire 6P. I wore this rig over my pants, waders, whatever. It was not concealed at all, which was't a factor. I was unable to wear this rig flying and transitioned the revolver to a shoulder holster in the aircraft.
I experimented with some smaller revolvers, most happily with a Bowen tuned four inch stainless Blackhawk .44 magnum. It was more comfortable to shoot with full power loads, as the gun rolled in your hand. After taking the Gunsite Backcountry course twice, I became convinced that a single action revolver may be great at many things, but as a fighting handgun (animals), the DA revolver offered too many advantages to not carry. When the Scandium 329 revolvers came out, I instantly got one for my wife and I. So did a bunch of other pilots. They were great to carry, but not great to shoot. I ultimately had a half dozen, between my wife and I, all tuned by Bowen. It got so bad, that during periodic function testing, I would shoot three rounds in my right hand, transfer the revolver to my left hand, and finish the last three shots. My wife basically said the only way she was shooting a whole cylinder was at a bear. She is a strong shooter, but would rather shoot a four inch S&W .500.
As I transitioned back into shooting semi auto pistols as primary, my wife increasingly shot a Glock. She asked why we shot thousands of rounds of 9 and .40, 18 rounds a year of .44 magnum, and were carrying a revolver. She started first carrying a Glock 20 and 29, and I followed suit. We assumed that just as a Glock 17 shot most all 9mm ammo, that the Glock 20 would shoot most all 10mm ammo reliably. We picked 10mm loads based on our assessment of the ability of the bullet to perform on a moose or bear. Those loads were often hard to get in quantity and very expensive. Through trial and error, we realized that many high performance 10mm loads would not function reliably in the Glock 20 and 29. My wife's solution was to use 200 XTP factory ammo, which did run. I tried a variety of other pistols, including the Glock 22 with a KKM barrel, and the S&W 1066/1076.
I was especially high on the 1066/1076, and it seemed to function with a range of the higher performance loads. The downside of the 1066/1076 was that they were expensive, harder to get, heavy, and not well supported for sights, parts, magazines and holsters. This spring, during my beginning of the season testing, I encountered the hard cast loads that I favored, would not function reliably in the 1066/1076.
Last winter, during the HK sale, and being a HK fan boy at heart, I bought a USP 45 on a lark, as a possible .45 Super launcher. My due diligence was nothing more than reading HK Pro and it being an HK. For different reasons, I didn't get to shoot the USP until early June. It functioned 100 percent reliably from round one, and has continued to function 100 percent reliably with about 600 rounds of Buffalo Bore .45 Super 230 FMJ-FP ammo and an assortment of .45 acp ball and JHP ammo. Besides functioning, it just feels like the pistol digests it without stress. That differs from some pistols, that just feel like they are unhappy shooting certain loads.
To support the USP, I of course got a second one. I also got a JM George, a Fricke Gideon, a Fricke Gideon that mounts on a Safariland QLS fork, and I have a Safariland retention holster on special order. I LOVE that I can shoot garden variety .45 through it, which is much less costly and more available than 10mm, and I can run .45 Super ammo in the field. Both types of ammo shoot close enough POI, that walk back drills to 75 yards with an eight inch plate are doable mixing ammo. I have Trijicon HD sights and an HK match trigger waiting to be installed in my USP #2. I really like double action in a field pistol that may be operated in cold, wet, unhappy circumstances. While I train to move the thumb safety with my presentation, I most often leave the thumb safety off in the holster.
The USP is small enough I can carry it concealed with the JM George. It is light enough that it doesn't bug me on ridge climbs. It holds enough cartridges, 12, that I feel like I have a chance with a sow and two cubs. The trigger guard is big, for use with gloves. An unintended benefit, is I know I am carrying a bigger HK than Darryl.
.44/.45 caliber ammo in the 250 grain at 1,050 fps range has been killing a lot of game for years. The .45 Super 230 FMJ-FP is just over 1,100 fps in the USP.
Here is my set-up: