So, I was reading up on the HK-4 here:
Modern Firearms - HK-4, and I encountered this claim:
Is that true? That sounds like an amazing idea (as long as the slide could still be released by pulling it back). Why did that not take off?
This sounds like a really cool weapon. Does anyone around here have one?
There's a bunch of guys here that have HK4's.
I owned a Mauser HSc, which is the father of the HK4. The designer left Mauser (since it was burned to the ground in WWII) and came on board with HK, and slightly modified the pistol.....mainly some stuff in the looks department, and then marketed it as the HK4 with the conversion kits. The biggest change in that regard was the addition of the buffer for firing .380ACP, as the pistol design was founded on the .32ACP. Later Interarms imports of the Mauser HSc were chambered in .380 but without any buffer, and are well known to develop frame cracks within a thousand rounds. Same with the HK4 if you don't use the buffer in .380, as they were essentially the same pistol.
It had the same slide lock mechanism as the HSc, just as earlier Mausers (1934, 1914, 1910) did. It was neat, but not necessarily the best thing.
Unless you have an empty mag, it's kinda hard to lock the slide open....so there's certain aspects of administrative weapons handling that need to be considered.
As to the quality of the HK4 versus the Mauser HSc......I'd rather have a wartime HSc.
If the HK4 tickles your fancy, check out the Mauser HSc from WWII and the later Interarms imports. Also, an Italian company called Renato Gamba made a model called the HSc Super, basically a double-stack 13 round 380 HSc. There's some .32's out there as well.
Cool guns. I'd like to have an HSc again, I shouldn't have sold it....However, I haven't found an inkling to buy its son, the HK4. YMMV.
