Boredom
Since late 2018 I haven't been shooting nearly as much as I used to for a number or reasons (work assignment, two kids, bad tendonitis in my right arm, insert other lame excuse...). I seem to be lucky if I make it to the range a couple times a month just to keep my skill up and 98% of my shooting has been with a 9mm Glock or a J-frame since those are what I actually carry. Sure, I've spent a decent amount of time playing with RDO's since that's the new shiz, but even that is only fun for a bit. Shooting has become a task or work related chore. To be honest, shooting striker-fired plastic guns and even my beloved 1911 has gotten to be pretty damn boring for me.
So this morning I had time, knew the range was empty and the weather was nice, so I thought, "What the hell." I did something I haven't done for years and decided to take up a bunch of guns and just go plink around by myself. I brought a Don Williams Hi Power, a USP 45 with the Hybrid Match LEM, Grayguns P226 wearing Nills, and a bone stock USP 40 Compact I picked up in a trade with a forum member last year. They're guns that basically I never shoot anymore, or in the case of the USP-C, have only shot once.
The other aforementioned guns were fine, but nothing special. I have to say, the H&K USP Compact LEM in 40 S&W simply blew me away. I didn't want to put the stupid thing down!
Gun Background
Taking inventory of ammo last year I realized I have quite a bit of 40 S&W ammo in my personal inventory and my department still has quite a bit of it in inventory with the amount of folks carrying a 40 S&W down to the fingers on one hand and falling (we had around 130 carrying it back in 2012). I then realized that I personally own only one 40 S&W handgun which is a Glock 22 Gen3 that I keep for sentimental reasons and has basically been usurped by my wife. So I traded an extra Glock 17 I had lying around for a bone stock Variant 1 USP Compact 40 S&W wearing a set of dim Meprolight night sights that came with four mags.
I took it out to the range shortly after receiving it and found the DA/SA trigger to basically suck. I put a couple of mags through it during a break between teaching and then back it went into the safe. I thought about selling it and then decided a few months ago to buy an LEM kit for it, installed it one night, but didn't really have the chance to mess with it again until today.
A Brief Review
This is one of those guns that doesn't feel magical holding it in the hand, but is pure magic shooting it. Even with the coarse Meprolight 3-dots, I didn't have a problem hitting 3x5 cards at 10 or 15 yards. What surprised me though is without glasses I was able to hit the 3x5 card with consistency at 30 yards with Federal 180gr HST. It is an inherently accurate gun. I also find it an inherently shootable gun, much more so than many of our current striker fired options out there. I also don't find the recoil to be bad in the slightest. In fact, perceived recoil felt less than the BHP running standard Federal 124gr American Eagle.
I was concerned about LEM being too weird for me. I had played with it on P30's in the past and never cared for it. The LEM-hybrid match on the USP 45 I have I always found to be too light for any type of social use and that particular gun is another one I keep for sentimental reasons (it was a retired co-worker's duty gun). The LEM in this USP Compact has an extremely light take-up, a crisp (although fairly light) wall and an extremely short reset. Color me impressed.
Reliability was what I would expect out of a USP: 100%. I've been around enough of them over the years to know they don't break easy and I'm not particularly worried about this one.
One thing I want to try is a 5+6 Detent Plate (if I can find one) to see what it is like with a manual safety. I don't think it's needed, but I just want to see what it is like.
Thoughts
Why was this thing so fun? No clue. Maybe it's because it's something different.
Maybe it's the fact that it's a yester-year's hotness bone stock gun with mediocre sights shooting what's become a nearly cliché obsolete cartridge that makes me look like a way better shot than it ought to.
I'm currently assigned to the admin division of my PD so my normal attire is a polo and khaki pants and I only work as a patrol supervisor only once in a blue moon to try to stay relevant.
It was only one range day, I'll need a few more (see how that works? just gave myself a reason to shoot more) , but I'm actually considering qualing with this thing and carrying it for awhile in and out of uniform.