At What Point/Round Count Should an HK45C be Detail Stripped/Cleaned?

[Exiledviking]

does the trs in a da/sa last longer?

Yes, the regular strength LEM TRS is known to wear out sooner than the DA/SA TRS.

[P30]

Maintenance-relevant data from Todd Green's P30 test

[KevH]

I recently got an HK45C LEM V7 a few weeks ago. I have been practicing with it twice a week and have a bit over 1500 rounds through it, with field strip cleanings between range trips. My JMCK holster arrives today and I’m going to start carrying it as it has been 100% reliable and I’ve fallen in love with the LEM trigger. For a compact .45 it is impressively soft shooting.

My question is, at what point should it be detail stripped and deep cleaned? I have never detail stripped an HK and don’t really trust myself to do so, so I’d likely send it back to HK (which is I think what they say to do. Don’t they say not to detail strip it yourself?)

I want to keep shooting it to practice and because I enjoy shooting it, but at what point should I slow it down? At what point should it be detail stripped/cleaned? I’m planning to get a dedicated trainer duplicate, but it won’t be for a little bit.

It's been awhile, but I believe 25,000 rounds is the service interval for those. You have a loooong way to go. When it's time just call H&K and ship it back to them.

[SwampDweller]

It's been awhile, but I believe 25,000 rounds is the service interval for those. You have a loooong way to go. When it's time just call H&K and ship it back to them.

Oh hell yeah. So I can keep shooting it for a while and still carry it without worrying about it needing a detail cleaning? Nice.

I carried an HK45C V1 for several years but didn't shoot it that often, the safety made it uncomfortable to shoot for more than a couple hundred rounds. This V7 is an absolute joy to shoot. Sounds like it doesn't need a detail strip as often as a Glock, or parts replacement.

[JTQ]

Sounds like it doesn't need a detail strip as often as a Glock, or parts replacement.

About 15 years ago when I first got on gun forums, a 1911 forum specifically, one of the more experienced guys asked the rhetorical question , "do we detail strip our 1911's (or insert any other easy to detail strip gun like a Glock) because we need to, or because we can?"

[TCinVA]

My question is, at what point should it be detail stripped and deep cleaned?

It shouldn't.

https://pistol-training.com/hk45-end...hirty-seven-2/

Read that. I shot the test gun during some of that testing. Todd hated cleaning guns and would only do it under protest, generally when the thing was sufficiently dirty that merely handling it left your hands black. The HK did fine.

You only need to bother with detail stripping if something goes wrong with the fire control system just to the accumulation of crud. Of course, that is unlikely to happen if you just clean it at sensible intervals and don't deliberately abuse the gun the way Todd did by cleaning it every tenth case of ammo he fired through it.

If you clean it every half a case or case of ammo, you'll be fine. Lubricate as needed and if you're going to shoot a lot lubricate generously as proper oil will grab the crud that can impact function and flow it away from the areas where it can impact function.

Even on the P30 test...which was more abusive than the HK45 test, Todd didn't break the gun down for detail cleaning until beyond 50,000 rounds, IIRC. So until you've shot about $10,000.00 worth of ammo through the gun at a hideously abusive pace of 500 rounds per range session while only cleaning it every 10,000 rounds...you aren't likely to have a problem.

[GJM]

Refresh my recollection -- how often did trigger return springs break, and was that more the P30 than HK45?

[GJM]

Refresh my recollection -- how often did trigger return springs break, and was that more the P30 than HK45?

I found this:

Trigger return spring broke between 15935 und 19445

I assume this means that each TRS broke.

[TCinVA]

Best of my recollection he definitely went through multiple TRS. If you do a lot of dryfire, those are reps on the TRS as well. 10,000 rounds or so is probably a good figure for that with dryfire included if you're looking for a preventative maintenance schedule.

[P30]

Based on fairly significant personal experience as well as what I've observed in others' pistols, my recommendation would be to change the trigger return spring twice as often as recommended by HK (every 12.5k instead of every 25k).