Tomorrow is my big day - what do I need to do first?

[JMorse]

I pick up the P30 at noon. I plan on running it through an ultrasonic cleaner with Hornady One Shot, drying it and lubing it up. I have 1,000 rounds of CCI Blazer 124g FMJ ready to go.

Aside from running a bore snake every 100 rounds or so, what else do I need to do?

Thank you!

[Kyle Reese]

Aside from running a bore snake every 100 rounds or so, what else do I need to do?

Thank you!

Shoot it.:cool:

There's no need to run a boresnake thru your barrel every 100 rounds, IMHO, unless you wish to do so.

[gtmtnbiker98]

Ultrasonics on a new gun is a complete waste. Scrape the preservatives off, lube the rails, rail inserts, hammer face, and barrel hood and shoot it.

[JV_]

A boresnake every 100 rounds is overkill, IMO.

[JMorse]

Thanks guys.

[JBP55]

A boresnake every 100 rounds is overkill, IMO.

What he said, the P30 should eat that case of ammunition tomorrow with no cleaning needed until the shooting is done.

[BoppaBear]

What they said....

Give a quick clean, shoot, and repeat until you're forced to look for more ammo.

In all honesty, and not saying you should do this, but you could likely load it straight out of the box and run that case without any issues. Doesn't mean you should, but you could, and that's worth knowing about your gun!

ETA- Congrats!

[JHC]

Ask yourself "What would Todd do?"

[Archimagirus]

In all honesty, and not saying you should do this, but you could likely load it straight out of the box and run that case without any issues. Doesn't mean you should, but you could, and that's worth knowing about your gun!

ETA- Congrats!

I might know someone else on the forum who did just this and did not run into issues.

To say I was a bit eager to fire mine and see what all of the hoopla was about is an understatement. I haven't fall in love with something that hard since discovering bratwurst sliders with gruyere and smashed potatoes or sous vide cooking. Now I am trying to figure out how to justify moving over to exclusively HK's with LEM's to my wife.

Congrats on the new purchase.

[ToddG]

I pick up the P30 at noon. I plan on running it through an ultrasonic cleaner with Hornady One Shot, drying it and lubing it up. I have 1,000 rounds of CCI Blazer 124g FMJ ready to go.

(1) Major overkill on the shake & bake. That's like saying the first thing you did to your new car was disassemble the engine and clean it. Wipe down the gun, put some lube on the rails, and shoot it. That's it. You're done.

(2) You may want to contact HK before shooting aluminum-cased Blazer through your gun... one forum member's P30 developed significant and unusual wear and HK refused to warranty it because they blamed it on the aluminum shell casings. I've shot plenty of Blazer through two P30s and an HK45 but the company has apparently decided to translate its Owner's Manual language of "not recommended" as completely voids your warranty if this particular wear shows up. I even contacted the head gunsmith/warranty guy myself trying to help the forum member out and they were adamant that Germany was uber adamant that any wear they associated with aluminum cases could not be covered under warranty.

[JMorse]

Actually it is brass cased stuff, and I did remember that was important evidently - I just forgot I remembered. This getting older thing is highly overrated.

This is what I went with: http://www.rareammo.com/catalog/product/af699e483acb4342a279b4f454474ce6

[5pins]

What kind of wear could aluminum cases do to an H&K?

[TheTrevor]

The only ammo-related malfunction I've ever experienced with my USP was with Blazer aluminum-cased ammo. The extractor was shaving slivers off of the case rims and eventually the gun locked up with an out-of-battery round. It took a very significant amount of rearward pressure on the slide to get the gun to let go of that live round.

After I cleared this epic jam with the assistance/supervision of a range officer, I got out one VERY chewed-up Blazer round (pushed-in bullet, massive feed-ramp dent in case, gnarly rim) and about a gram (a paperclip's worth) of aluminum shavings. It was pretty ugly. I was on round 31 of a 50-round box, as this happened with the first round off of the 4th 10-round mag loaded from that box.

I would never, ever run aluminum cased ammo in an HK after that experience. Having recently inspected my extractor under magnification during preventative maintenance, it's my opinion that the HK engineers assume a certain level of toughness and resistance to shearing in cartridge case metal. The USP extractor is decidedly not all soft rounded edges at the business end.

[hufnagel]

letting it sit overnight with the slide open seems to help alot of people with break-in of the recoil spring. I can say personally I didn't do that and shot 1k rounds of CCI5200 through it w/o a problem.

[JMorse]

It happily ate 300 rounds without a hitch of the 124g CCI Blazer Brass.

[JMorse]

Just to confirm, the point of aim/impact is behind the sight? I've been putting the poa on top and my placement stinks.

[hufnagel]

correct. HK's traditionally like a "covered" sight picture.
how tight was your group?

[JMorse]

So, um how bout them Dodgers?

I was at a steel range, so really can't tell group size. This week I'll hit up a paper range so I can see where I'm hitting.

[JMorse]

1803

Today's last target.

[hufnagel]

details?

[JMorse]

50 rounds, 7 yards. Trying the isoceles thing out, seems to work better for me.

[LSP972]

(2) You may want to contact HK before shooting aluminum-cased Blazer through your gun... one forum member's P30 developed significant and unusual wear and HK refused to warranty it because they blamed it on the aluminum shell casings. I've shot plenty of Blazer through two P30s and an HK45 but the company has apparently decided to translate its Owner's Manual language of "not recommended" as completely voids your warranty if this particular wear shows up. I even contacted the head gunsmith/warranty guy myself trying to help the forum member out and they were adamant that Germany was uber adamant that any wear they associated with aluminum cases could not be covered under warranty.

Holy cow. What's deal with HKs and aluminum cases, Todd?

We shot tens of thousands of that stuff through Sig, S&W 3rd gen, and Glock pistols with nary a problem, back in the mid-90s. The MP-5s choked on it, but that didn't surprise me due to that fluted chamber.

I went that route because some kitten auditor got a hair up his kitten and decided that our practice of swapping brass for remanufactured .38 Special ammunition was in violation of the state bid laws. So I bought Blazer aluminum training ammo for two years until I accidentally hooked up with the right guy (who was higher up the food chain than said kitten) in the auditor's office, who recognized the savings to the state my old way produced.

I've got quite a bit of 115gr 9mm aluminum Blazer stashed away. Back when it was $88 a case OTD at Academy Sports, I would buy a case every pay period. When it got to $125, I started reloading 9mm again.

I have shot a bit of this stuff in my P2000, with no issues. I know they have gone to plated bullets instead of honest-to-God FMJ (which is what I have) in the el cheapo offerings of the Blazer brand; that stuff gets trashed when you shoot it through a ported or compensated gun... as in the bullets shave and peel, big time. Makes for a lot of fun trying to recover all the pieces from the water tank...

But it would seem the cartridge cases are the villain here, yes? One wonders if ATK changed the composition of the aluminum or something??? What gives?

.

[ToddG]

Holy cow. What's deal with HKs and aluminum cases, Todd?

HK has always recommended against aluminum-cased ammunition. When I did the P30 and HK45 tests they discouraged me from shooting Blazer whenever possible. Nonetheless, both of those guns shot plenty of it. The P30 fired more than 8,500 rounds of 115gr Blazer and the HK45 fired more than 26,000 rounds of 230gr Blazer. I never had any problems.

Nonetheless, HK has evidence that some of their barrels' chambers become severely damaged/eroded through some interaction with the aluminum cases under the high heat and pressure of the gun's normal operation. From what I can tell it seems almost random in that two guns of the same model from about the same production period can respond dramatically differently to ammunition from the exact same lot.

HK Germany's explanation is that the cases create aluminum oxide in the chamber which in turn causes abrasion. The photos HK provided me were pretty gruesome. As of July when I discussed the issue with them, they had no final conclusion as to why it happened to some HK barrels and not others, or why it doesn't seem to have the same effect in other brand pistols.

[BLR]

HK has always recommended against aluminum-cased ammunition. When I did the P30 and HK45 tests they discouraged me from shooting Blazer whenever possible. Nonetheless, both of those guns shot plenty of it. The P30 fired more than 8,500 rounds of 115gr Blazer and the HK45 fired more than 26,000 rounds of 230gr Blazer. I never had any problems.

Nonetheless, HK has evidence that some of their barrels' chambers become severely damaged/eroded through some interaction with the aluminum cases under the high heat and pressure of the gun's normal operation. From what I can tell it seems almost random in that two guns of the same model from about the same production period can respond dramatically differently to ammunition from the exact same lot.

HK Germany's explanation is that the cases create aluminum oxide in the chamber which in turn causes abrasion. The photos HK provided me were pretty gruesome. As of July when I discussed the issue with them, they had no final conclusion as to why it happened to some HK barrels and not others, or why it doesn't seem to have the same effect in other brand pistols.

That would be the native aluminum oxide layer on the cases. Al2O3 is a great grinding wheel material. That said, I'd be looking for other causes for unusual chamber wear or damage. That layer is less than a hundred nanometers (nerdometers?) thick, and HK barrels are fairly hard/are HE treated (IIRC, not positive though, I don't follow them that close). And the coating doesn't adhere that well to the base aluminum alloy (I believe it's 6061T6).

There are lots and lots of variables in this, and hanging the cause on aluminum cases seems premature.

[ToddG]

There are lots and lots of variables in this, and hanging the cause on aluminum cases seems premature.

Without wanting to get anyone in trouble, I think it is safe to say that there are people within the HK global military-industrial complex who agree with your assessment.

[LSP972]

So... unless one wants to roll the dice, shoot aluminum only as a last resort.

Got it.

Thanks, gentlemen.

.

[BLR]

It wouldn't give me heart burn to do so.

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[Tamara]

(nerdometers?)

The cockles of the place my heart would be if I had one are warmed. :D

[BLR]

A heartless Tam? I refuse even the notion.

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