[spoonito]

I've been doing some reading on different handguns, and I was wondering what the difference is between the rifling in the HK barrel, Glock barrel, and a standard barrel? I know it varies per caliber, so compare .45 acp.


Also what are the advantages of a compensated barrels/slides


Thanks

 

[Murphysteuer]

With using compensated barrels/slides, you will reduce muzzle rise from follow up shots. The drawback/criticism is that if the pistol is used in a low light or night situation, that the flash from the vented gasses will distract or even flash blind the user. You can tool around with ammo to minimize this, but I'm not overly enthusiastic about ported slides/barrels.

You also have to clean more since with powder, carbon etc is deposited is greater quantity from the porting.

Weigh the benefits and application of the pistol. Will you be shooting IDPA more than defensive use? This should be applied to all of your options and considerations, especially with holster purchase. If you decide to carry, you need to find a good holster and then practice "drawing" several hundred times to build muscle memory retention and build confidence in your skills/ability. Just my .02 cents...

 

[spoonito]

Thanks for the heads up on the compensated. I'm new to handguns so I don't know much about them... For now I will most likely be using it for home defense and normal range duty.

 

[AviatorDave]

Thanks for the heads up on the compensated. I'm new to handguns so I don't know much about them... For now I will most likely be using it for home defense and normal range duty.

Compensated barrels, slides, match weights, etc. are best suited for competition. Besides, for your home defense gun, you really want it to be a non-customized off-the-shelf handgun that you get really proficient with. For one thing, if you do ever use it, it will likely be confiscated during the investigation, and you can be sure that in the evidence room it will not be treated with the same care you will.

If you ever get it back, that is.

Get lots of practice with a standard USP, P30, HK45, P7, or whichever other HK handgun you want. After you get proficient with one of them, then you can try out some of the fancier features, but you will still be better off learning to use one of the normal ones first.

 

[cckw]

Don't even consider the rifling. Standard or Polyagonal does make any difference to you. A nice gun that fits your hand and fires every time you pull the trigger is what you need. get some extra mags and lots of practice ammo

 

[spoonito]

I was by no means picking a gun by its rifling. I already know I'm going with the HK45. I've fired the USP45, P220, and a Glock 17. out of al of them I shot best with the USP ( haven't fired the HK45 yet) the HK45 does fit my hand much better and that's why I'm going with that.

I was just curious on the rifling on why one is better than the other. and for the compensated what differences that makes.

I think that the most I'll do is slim slide stops ,extra mags (hopefully hi capacity), and the TLR2. I may switch out the sights as well but I want to see how good the stck ones are first.

 

[Murphysteuer]

I can only speak for the Glock barrels, but with regards to their hexagonal bore, you can not shoot lead out of it. The lead will fill the lands and eventually create a dangerous pressure load in the barrel.

To shoot lead bullets (vs jacketed) you would need to purchase an aftermarket, button rifled barrel.

 

[HK_Lova]

I don't know the technical differences but I can say from experience with Hexagonal and traditional rifled barrels. Hex barrels don't seem to strip as much copper (virtually none in my HK USP) however powder seems more difficult to remove completely. I am to understand that you cannot use un-jacketed bullets in a Hex barrel for the reason previously stated, pressure, why this happens you ask? No flipin idea. Traditional barrels behave just like rifle barrels, strip some copper and powder but fairly straight forward to clean. Accuracy seems to depend more on the quality of the entire pistol; and the number of shots fired before significant fouling and loss of accuracy seems to be more dependent on the quality of ammunition and how throughly you do clean the barrel prior to a firing session. I have not compared loads in both barrels for velocity so your guess is as good as mine, can't go wrong either way I suppose; just make sure you use half way decent ammo and purchase a half way decent handgun. I, and I'm sure many others, would be more than happy to nudge you in the H&K direction

-Cheers

 

[bigghk702]

the bigest difference in performace between a traditional rifeld barrel and hk's
polygonal barrel is in velocity. the poly barrel is supposed to have a little bit higher velocity. but as some have already pointed out you can not run lead thru a polygonal barrel