HK USC .45 ACP For PCC?

While I have some ideological issues with the concept of PCC's applicability in IDPA, I will admit they strike a "fun" chord, and I had a friend who had a blast shooting her CZ Scorpion EVO carbine (and she shot it extremely impressively) in this month's IDPA match.

My favorite local gunstore has one of the supposedly limited production HK USC carbines in stock, I handled it and liked the ergos, although the triggerpull was, "Meh."

I'm tempted, but have several concerns:

1. Price. Even discounted, the thing is $1,300. And additional magazines are $53, and that's for 10 rounders-for IDPA, I'd need a minimum of 4, and HK ships with 2. But hey, it's an HK-and a bit of a smarmy "in your face" to the normal AR/CZ carbine PCC crowd. Style points, man. Critical stuff.

2. Realistically, how much would I REALLY use the thing? Probably only at a couple of matches a year. Then comes the question of utility outside of gun games. For a "serious" (i.e., rifle-cartridge) carbines I have both a Bushmaster Shorty 5.56 carbine with an AKM muzzle brake and true heavy barrel (with Magpul furniture upgrades and a gunsmith review of decent assembly and function-mine is one of the good ones, dating back to the 20th century), and my CZ 527 Carbine in 7.62 x 39. Yeah, I could use the HK USC as an indoor CQB gun, but a pistol frankly seems better suited for that for most situations I'm personally likely to be in.

3. I suppose I could get it as an easy-handling/recoiling rifle for my wife in a TEOTWAWKI sort of scenario....yeah, I'm probably grasping at straws with that one.

Comments? I'd be interested particularly in comments from those of you that have one or the UMP.

Best, Jon

I would read the MAC review of the USC — very unfavorable.

I had an original USC back in the late 90's . It ran fine and was accurate. It was similar to the .40 and 45 UMP's I've shot. Functional but not nearly as smooth as an MP5.

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Originally Posted by GJM

I would read the MAC review of the USC — very unfavorable.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFwFAQxtz50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFwFAQxtz50

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Pinned by Military Arms Channel

Heckler & Koch
3 weeks ago (edited)

You can call our best in industry customer service and we will get you a new front sight, for free, like we would do for any customer, even if it was someone else breaking it. We brought in less than 500 USCs, the odds that one of them was missed durring inspection is almost zero, but maybe we did. Also, we would quickly replace any mag with issues, something rare, but not unheard of. Also, we have zero affiliation with HKParts and cannot speak to the quality of parts that they make. Freedom Munitions ammo is not of good quality, especially in the last 18 months, the ejection pattern should be very consistent, like it is on all our firearms. The reason the UMP was designed was because of law enforcement agencies requesting a modern polymer 45 design. All of our weapons are designed because of military or law enforcement requests. Our quality is not slipping, has never slipped, and will not slip, in any way. Tom Bostic is the man.

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Military Arms Channel
3 weeks ago (edited)

I just caught this post. Thank you. I'm glad your CS is industry leading these days. Years ago when I had an issue with a then newly introduced P30 that wasn't the case.

I contacted my LGS where I bought the USC and they got a HK factory replacement front sight for me within about 4 days. It was easily installed. The mag followers sticking and being unreliable... I've committed myself to having TommyBuilt convert this one too.

I wanted to leave it in its original configuration since I knew it was a limited production gun, but I have little faith in the 10 round mags at this point. I love my TommyBuilt UMP so I'll have him make one more and I'll likely SBR it. The German made 25 round mags work flawlessly (I wish I could say the same for the US made mags).

As for Freedom being low quality, having shot well over 100,000 rounds of it and had exactly one primer seated backwards and zero failures to fire, I disagree. How much have you shot? I've had FAR worse luck with Winchester White Box.

Please don't be like Kimber and all the other manufacturers who blame every problem on user error or every ammo manufacturer under the sun. You'll notice the Freedom ran flawlessly in the TommyBuilt gun as it does in every other .45 ACP carbine and pistol I own. Here's a video I made to refute claims that Freedom is so horrible:

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Originally Posted by BCG

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFwFAQxtz50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFwFAQxtz50

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I can believe he got a bad gun from HK but if he has shot 100k of freedom munitions and only gotten 1 bad round I’ll be a monkey’s uncle. That is some serious bullshit.

FM is crap.

Guys, thanks for the input, and the very helpful link to the MAC test, and the HK email byplay. After handling one, parsing the input here, and discussing with another knowledgeable friend who previously had a USC, and said he would not go that route again, I think I can consider my HK USC itch scratched-I'm gonna pass.

Here's why:

1. I was unimpressed with the furniture of the USC. I'm certainty not opposed to polymer, and particularly HK's polymer, but the entire gun just felt, well, a bit cheap. While I actually had no real complaint with the thumbhole stock configuration itself (and it did feel both comfortable and sturdy), the seeming fragility of the front sight surround, and the polymer sights as a whole didn't resonate well with me.

2. Magazines. While it comes with 2 magazines, they're potentially problematic, and only 10 rounds, and expensive. Since they're only 10 rounders, for IDPA PCC use, I'd by necessity be looking at sinking another $100+ in an already fairly expensive gun, and one of fairly limited utility outside of gun gaming.

3. No sling. Okay, so it's not really needed for PCC, but still I'd inevitably get one. Another added expense.

4. While easily set up for them, no Picatinny rails provided-another necessary expense, particularly if I want to add a red-dot electronic sight.

5. Caliber. The USC is only available in .45 ACP-so I'm looking at more expensive ammunition, and greater recoil-the MAC test discussed that a bit. In my opinion, doing a USC in 9mm would have made much more sense, but then HK may be just cleaning out some parts bin accumulations, as would seem to be indicated by the limited production of only 500 pieces, as opposed to genuinely trying to establish a foothold in the PCC community market.

6. Fieldstripping. Something just inherently bugs me about having to unscrew two screws to facilitate fieldstripping, what with the potential for wear and loss, especially in a utility gun; retained push-pins would have been a far, far better solution, and apparently one that the aftermarket modifier is providing. For HK to go the screw route again seems to be a cheap, inelegant solution, not in keeping with the price of the gun.

Overall, I'm just not feeling the juice would justify the squeeze; and especially for the price, even discounted. Conversely, I have friends who own CZ Scorpion Evo carbines and rave about them. I just handled one, and they seem to be pretty impressively put together, and with decent OEM steel sights and what seems to be pretty high quality furniture. Triggerpull, as with the USC I found to be "meh."

While perhaps a bit unfair, I get the impression that HK designed the UMP/USC as kind of a dumbded-down, cheap (i.e., attractive to budget-strapped organizations) carbine/subgun. I suspect that the barrel and lockwork is of typical HK quality, but otherwise the thing is a bit of a compromise.

If I decide to go further in the PCC waters, I'll likely cast my eye towards the CZ Scorpion Evo carbine. It seems to both check the necessary boxes and give you a lot of content for the money.

Thanks again, all.

Best, Jon

I sold my USC and regret doing so. I never had trouble with the magazines although changing the USC trigger group housing to accept the UMP 25 round magazines would make more sense. I did not oil the trigger group for ten years (i bought one of the early grey models) and after ten years the trigger failed to reset. A small amount of oil brought it back to working again.

The take down screws are thick (i think the UMP uses a pin), the barrel is real thick. HK makes (or did make) plastic 1913 rails for the top of the receiver and for the sides and bottom of the receiver up front. The plastic 1913 rails are tough and you do not have to worry about aluminum rails being scratched.

Sigh... i want another one.

A little bit late to this party, but I would strongly suggest looking at the B&T GHM9 based on your requirements and complaints about the USC. The only thing it wouldn't necessarily address is the magazine issue. B&T mags are rather expensive, but you'll be able to buy a Glock-compatible lower sooner rather than later for the GHM9. You may want to replace the stock plastic sights, but you can drop pretty much any pic rail-compatible set on there and be good to go. G&R Tactical also says that the Geissele APC trigger will work in the GHM9 (reasonable, since they share a lower), but I haven't seen that confirmed or denied for sure.

Cost should be about the same as the USC for a similar (if not better) quality gun, and it's certainly a cut above the Evo in fit and finish. Worth considering, IMO.