H&K P8A1: The Bundeswehr's USP 

that moment when you just learned more about your service firearm by watching a 15min video than during your entire military service

3:40 German Interior Ministry "P" pistol designation history: P1 - Walther P38 P2 -- SIG 210/4 P3 - Astra 300 P4 - Short-barrelled P38 P5 - Walther P5 P6 - SIG 225 P7 - H&K PSP P8 - H&K USP P9 - Glock 17 P10 - H&K USP Compact

When we carry the gun loaded. We don’t use the safety. It’s called “schnelle Feuerbereitschaft”. So the holstered loaded gun is on F with the hammer up. Still the gun has the second safety in the slight when it drops or such things.

Aah. The good old P1: 8 warning shots and one deadly throw!

My favourite pistol. Glocks are great, 1911s are sweet, M&Ps are decent, Walthers are fun. The USP just FEELS perfect to me. All the controls are big and smooth and located just right where they should be. It feels great in the hand. Points well.

I absolutely love the USP and just HK's handgun designs in general.Not too fancy, clean-looking, reliable and effective.The Mk23, despite the size, is crazy effective, it withstood probably the harshest pistol trials ever, it has very good parts, a cool supressor and LAM, 12 rounds .45 ACP. HK is really good with rifles, SMGs and pistols.

Quadratisch , praktisch , gut. Because Deutsch.

The e in German is not silent, you pronounce Pistole like you did but with a “e” like in “everywhere”. It’s the same with Porsche, most of you pronounce it like Porsch.

Little addition to this issue with the „reverse“ safety lever: our (German) manual of arms does not allow you to carry your weapon cocked. Instead you allways carry it loaded, decocked and on „F“. After firing and conducting a magazine change you decock the weapon before holstering it again

The USP makes Glock feel like a toy gun.

I think its a stand out feature of this channel that Ian introduces himself each time like its his first video. Top quality viewing. Love it.

German law (Gesetz über die Kontrolle von Kriegswaffen) limits and forbids the sale of weapons of war into conflict areas and countries with human rights violations. Mexico is regarded as such a country and since the USA shares a border and has a free trade agreement with mexico, the export of purely military versions of H&K guns to the USA is strictly limited. This may be the reason why the H&K P8 was imported to the USA by a third party importer. Heckler & Koch is actually now beeing investigated because the US Division of H&K helped with illegal gun trafficking into Mexico.

I really liked my P8 in the german army for 4 years... Good reliable pistol, never had any problems with her to hit my targets, no jamming or other problems.

I love your channel man, its great for me to see my old service weapons one more time as well as seeing them pulled apart and analysed compared to other systems out there. Believe it or not, after 20 years one kinda forgets how to disassemble them xD

Thank you Ian for this episode. I was waiting for P8 talkabout for a very long time.

The first pistol I ever actually bought for myself was a USP 9. Great gun. Never malfunctioned once despite being abused often. Ate every ammo I ever forced through it. I sold it to my brother- in- law who shot it often and never cleaned, nor lubed it. Decades later, the frame rails are ground into slivers and rifling is all but gone, still shoots like a brand new gun. That's why an HK will always be worth the price.

I would love to see a pros-and-cons video on polygonal versus traditional rifling in a barrel your videos are always excellent and super informative and always engaging thank you!

For the P1 we used to say "8 shots and one aimed thorw ... expect the throw to be the deadliest ..." loosly translated. The P8 was such an upgrade.

Would love to see a full video on the USP series, going into the similarities and differences with the MK23 SOCOM and talking about the rifling pros/cons...

Wow that really is a brand new example you have there. The proof marks are from the Ulm proof house, which is really close to me. :-) Thanks for the video! A side note on the duplicate markings: IIRC the CIP (the international proofing commission) requires proof marks on all "significant parts" of a firearm, significant parts being defined as those which, when destroyed, render the firearm completely non-functional. Edit: of course Ian's P1 is French, how could it not be French? :D

*NOT A SOLDIERS GUN?* still one of my favorite videos on the site

Browning has his name somewhere in every gun. In every gun there is an element of him. All hail our Lord and Saviour Browning and his prophet Gun Jesus

Very much enjoyed this. I read a blurb about this in a handgun mag a year or so ago and wondered what made them different. Delighted to see the Manurhin P1, too!

That was an insightful and well told told story about HK going from 40 to 9 while everyone else developed the other way. Top shelf work

I carried the very similar, if ever so slightly larger USP .45 (.45 acp) as a duty weapon in my old police department for a few years. I was a detective corporal at the time and even used one of the first commercial Kydex holsters for it. I went through FBI Basic SWAT training with it and it is an amazing pistol. I had just worn out a SIG P220 (in fairness, I bought the SIG used and shot it A LOT) when a gun dealer friend had me try out the USP. It was a personal weapon of his. In shooting from 5 yards to 25+ yards my group (using American Eagle ball ammo) never got larger than two and a half inches (one ragged hole, and a much smaller hold from 50' and in). Perfect salesman that he is, he told me, "Just keep it for a while and let me know if you want to buy it. We'll work out a deal." Yeah ... it's been mine ever since. ;) I carried it until I thought I'd broken the firing pin. Lacking gunsmith funds (ah, the delightful low wages of career LEOs) I opted for a vintage Remington-Rand 1911 A1. Thereafter the department purchased SIG P226 and P229 pistols in .40 S&W and we were made to carry only what was issued. Since then I fixed the USP (firing pin wasn't broken just gummed up ... FWIW, _I_ kept the weapon otherwise clean, just never checked that firing pin channel and removing said firing pin takes certain tools and skills most local 'smiths did not possess). I carried it off-duty some and to this day carry it sometimes, especially in cooler months when I can have a large shirt or jacket on. It never really fit my hand perfectly (HUGE) grip but nevertheless shot quite well. The 9mm and .40 versions are slightly smaller and fit me much better. But even that huge .45acp version is unbelievably easy to carry all day. Heh, once when off-duty, five thugs came running at me (I'd interrupted them curb-stomping another fellow, inconsiderate cuss that I am). Suddenly seeing that huge pistol come out and looking down that huge bore all five of them stopped in their tracks, dove into their car and took off for parts unknown. I counted that as a save. ;)

an excellent pistol, loved it thru my whole service time. Nice to shoot, easy to clean and most of all, precise.

Wow, just stumbled across you & what a superb presentation. I am a new subscriber as of today, thank you. BTW I was one of the lucky ones that bought a P7 brand new in the 80s, still one of my favorites of all time.

Very very good video. It really makes a difference when you listen to information from the person giving it really knows their stuff.

I love this channel for it's calm and informative content. No revolutionary conspiracy, just technique and the love for it.

My service pistol, i like it very much

I am proud to say that, having read your description of the video on Facebook, with the safety description, I figured out why the safety would work the way it does, before watching the video. But I also have two Walther P1 pistols, so that helped.

Awesome H&K USP Ian. Thanks for the knowledge about this great Firearm Sir.

The request was for a manual safety where the lever automatically returned to the ‚Safe‘ position after decocking. The easiest way was to turn around the ‚Safe‘ and ‚Fire‘ positions on the decocking lever to fulfill that request. The pistol is carried in the so-called "schnelle Feuerbereitschaft" (quick fire readiness) uncocked and unlocked (lever on F).

I'd like to see a traditional vs polygonal rifling video!

Awesome Video! I love the USPs I have one of the First USP 45acp Compacts that came into the Country via HK back in the 90s and I still have it and shoot it once in a while. it's a bit bulky but a still a very nice Shooter.

Excellent video Sir; hearing you explain the 9 to 40 conversion reminded me of my Browning Mk 3 Hi Power in 40 S&W I had in the early 2000s and the conversion to 357sig which KKM produced at the time. I did the conversion and unfortunately two barrels later and just over 1000 rounds fired in 357 Sig the promising project was a bust KKM would not ship any more barrels down under.

"Presumably cheaper to manufacture." oh so they stopped excessively stamping everythin-

Any chance to get your hands on a H&K P11? The underwater five barrel spec ops handgun

Hi, great video. Total nostalgia for me!! 😬🇩🇪 I think I've spotter another difference to the standard p8. The little guide strips on the frame weren't reenforced on the guns I've handled when they first came into use. I actually have been there when the g3 and the p1 went out of service.

During my basic training in the late '90s we had a very limited amount of drill time one the P8, because the plastic frame (slide) supposedly wasn't really suited for extended drills (plastic). We were told that many P8 were being serviced/repaired all the time.

I have a '94 dated USP 40 with a couple thousand rounds through it. It's a great handgun.

This guy has the best job on the planet I'm so jealous

This channel is by far the best gun channel on RU-vid.

I love your videos sir. Thanks for this one. Very informative.

Intuitive ergos & Accuracy is great. I've shot at & hit a steel street cover at 100 yards with my 1996 USP 9mm.

HK USP is the second handgun I ever bought( First brand new firearm I've ever purchased too) Everyone that shoots it , even if they hate it's look always compliments how smooth it shoots , especially with higher pressure rounds.

Cheers Ian, love your channel

Bear arms Scottsdale, representing one of my local gun stores!!

The Bundeswehr carries the P8 with safety on F. So you are able to directly shot by drawing the gun. So it is not necessary to change the position of Fire and Safety

whatching this made me start thinking, my usp compact 45 been either on my hip or within reach for nearly 30 years . never feel safer , what a great weapon, super reliable. I have always joked that you could probabaly put the wrong ammo in and it would work.

I'm glad we're reviewing more H&K guns

Very weird that you upload this today. A couple hours ago I was just looking up the usp 45 on gunbroker considering buying one without even realizing you uploaded a video on it.

Back in service in the early 90's i was told by my instructor that my P38 was deadliest when being thrown at the enemies face as soon as he came as close as 20m...The P8 was quite an improvement

Does anyone happen to know if the FN PDW prototypes (or at least designs leading to the p90) still exist? Ian really should do a video on them really interesting stuff certainly forgotten weapons.

I would love to see a video on the different rifling you mentioned, thanks!

I really dig the lever/paddle style magazine release you see on some of the HKs and Walthers. Seems like the easiest and most versatile of all the releases I've come across. This one could be made a little bigger maybe.

I carry the HK 45 and Hk P30, super happy with HK

Would really like to see a detailed video explaining how the 40 s&w is higher pressure than 9mm. The reason I ask is because all of the reloading manuals, Wikipedia, Sammi, and manufacturers specifications list them being identical. I understand that 40 typically has a heavier bullet which translates into more recoil which in turn could cause more ware to the frame rails and slide...

Love this one, it was the first gun I ever shot. I was confused at the time knowing it's a USP yet it said "P8"

Hey Ian. From my experience from the gun I can tell you that is indeed possible to change the safety lever from safe to fire position in firing mode, yes it required different handling than other guns, but that heavy "push up" with your thumb on the side of the gun is very important to keep conscripts fingers safe and not behind the slide.

The HK USP 45 is a product improved 1911. The improvements are: Polymer frame, magazine capacity, magazine release, and recoil dampening. I will always love my 1911s and I will always love my USP 45s.

When I went shopping for my first HK I really wanted the P8, just to have a little something special over the regular USP. I'm glad I never found one and just got a USP9, I had no idea the safety was "backwards". That would have driven me crazy! Thanks for another awesome video!

Awww. You are showing all my old babies currently. I miss em 😓

I really like my UsP 45 expert, there was only two and my local gun store and I had to grab it as I’ve never seen a UsP in any of my gun shops, I’ve now owned it for a couple months and it’s amazing

Here in Germany we carry the gun decocked with the safety on fire

great info

HK MK23 next please. Thanks for this Video. I really enjoy your content.

I recently watched your video about German MP18 I. submachine gun. Would be nice to see videos about Erma EMP35 , MP35 Bergman and MK36 III Schmeisser also. Thanks ! I love your videos !

I own a HK USP .45 compact, single and double action with a decocker. Bought it new 13 years ago and it is the one gun I won't sell. When I was stationed in Alaska where it is cooler and I wore bulkier clothing, I carried it all the time. I carry it on fire with the hammer dropped in double action. Never had a single malfunction with it regardless of what kind of ammo I've fed it. Also very accurate, especially for a "combat" handgun. It's got it's disadvantages, but for me the pros outweigh the cons.

I was wondering if that cracking would be caused by the fired round having a similar rearward impulse as the 40 s&w in a smaller area. I would imagine the 40 would spread that over a wider area. Also, I think the polygonal vs cut rifling would be an interesting topic for you and Karl to dig into on Inrange. Great video as usual.

Hey, MDW! They're a small importer up here in Maine, they get in some cool stuff - I suspect he's mostly a collector and runs the import business to support that (both financially and to get access to guns like this).

Thanks to you, i just understood that "Manurhin" is an acronym standing for "MANufacture de machines du Haut-RHIN" as written on the P1 slide !!

It's german doctrine to have the safety 'backwards'. They've pretty much always had the safe position down and the fire position up, it's just the way they've always done it. At least since the Luger. The safe up positioning is kind of an american thing since the 1911's safety lever works that way.

03:47 Should you be interested in such minutiae, Ian: the "e" in "Pistole" is not silent in German. The "le" sounds kinda like the french word "le" as in "le tour de france" or whatever example suits you. Or say it in three words: *piss* *to* *le* That also works...

Bear Arms in Scottsdale is awesome!!

The P1 was in use when I was on military service in the late 1990s in Germany and is still in use is some units.

Similar aproach had the Steyr M9 in designing the gun for the 40s&w and then chamber it to 9mm. By the way thats a gun that in its first generation was quite interesting to look and compare with other black guns . The backwards safety action is quite a tradition in german military handguns since the P08.

Fascinating, fills in a gap in my knowledge of HK

The safety mechanism is actually quite good to use - it all depends on the use of your thumbs on the grip while shooting. And if used correctly you slide your thumb up to unlock safety while your left-hand thumb is pushing your right-hand thumb upwards to the point where both thumbs are right at each other (one beneath the other, pointing towards the slide-catch) which gives you really good control over the gun while having a really tight grip on the gun. Also this is a fluent movement while bringing the P8 on target from the leg-holster to the chest (pointing towards the enemy) to the straight arms.

I almost bought a 40SW HK pistol, because it was such a good fit for my size hand. One of these days maybe I will. I like how he described the HK development process for the 40 and the 9. I had an idea they did that and he confirmed it.

Love the USP. Wish they would have refreshed it a bit over the years. I'm sure the pistols HK currently offers are great, but they don't do it for me like the USP.

iirc, the P12 is the USP .45 without safety, used in limited numbers at some point by german special forces.

When I served 2001 in the German Airforce, we where trained on P1 and P8. After that i did some guarding in my Unit, where we had only P1 for the Gate Post and some of the Magazins where stamped P38! :-D Like your Video's! Greetings from Germany!

I served in '99 and 2000 in the Bundeswehr and our unit still used the P1 and the G3. Partially maybe because we were a quite "traditional" battalion but on the other hand during the KFOR missions the G3 had seemingly a massive reputation for penetrating much more cover than the 5,56×45 mm used in the then new G36, thus sparing our units often from sniper fire, where others were under frequent attack.

This was actually really interesting because I just got a nice airsoft USP and getting to inspect it along with Ian inspecting the P8 was really quite fun. My reason for airsoft because I like guns but don't want to deal with actually owning real ones, as well as price. Good golly I don't have enough extra money to be buying real guns and ammo.

Can you please somehow find an Artic Warfare sniper rifle to review? I've always been interested in those firearms. Great videos recently by the way, Gun Jesus.

Learned to shoot with this, a bit large for my hands but i love it

The Antler marking actually means it was tested in the Ulm Proofhouse. There are also testing locations in Hannover, Cologne, Eckernförde, Mellrichstadt, Munich and Suhl. Each have different markings which they stamp into all essential parts. The CIP N marking means it passed the “normal” proof testing, during which the gun has to hold up to gas pressures 30% above normal. Countries that can apply the CIP stamp include Russia, Finland, Chile and EU Member States. Here in Germany only weapons with both the Proofhouse and the CIP stamp are legally allowed to be used. Old guns (manufactured before 2014) that have both Eagle and the Proofhouse stamp are grandfathered and can be used. In other words, you need both stamps. If one is missing you have to have your gunsmith ship the gun to the local proof house for testing.

My former service pistol. Good gun. No expert though. Don´t say there aren´t better ones, but this one does the job. 07:29 Never had an issue with the fire position being up. Never heard anybody else complain about it either. The distance your thumb has to move to set it to fire is so minimal that i can in all honesty not see any relevant delay there. Then again i exclusively trained with that pistol so i never had to switch from a different setup. I think that this might be an issue exclusive to competition shooters where milliseconds count, maybe. Not the military.

Can u do aswell the H&K P30? Its the service weapon for the Personal Protection Team from the Bundeswehr MP.

Great video 👍👍👍

Ian would just whip out a Manurhin P1 for demonstration purposes. They're relatively rare in the states, and I'd love to see a video on it!

Germans make some of the best handguns

Lots of P8's in Canada. Unfortunately P4's and 5's are prohibited.

Love your videos, could you do one on the UC-9/DEB M21?

Good info. This video points out *correctly* that the P8 *can* be carried cocked and locked, although it is obviously backward from how a normal USP 9 V1 is set up.

How come as soon as I see a gun on gun broker ian has to tell me everything cool about it....rip my savings

Cool video, please do one for the H&K MK 23 / US SOCOM 23.

Much better to use and more handy than the P1 I had before as my service pistol.

Just a quick heads up: some of the early USPs have an inverted safety (relative to the P8), employing a safe position that angles the lever up, then fire is horizontal, and decocks from the firing position, rotating down to where the safe position is on the P8. So, carrying cocked and locked is far more feasible and practical. The safety is off when you decock, but I've never had a problem with it. Another thing worth mentioning is that the .40 S&W round that the USP was designed around was ostensibly the first non-military round ever designed from its inception. It is a hollow-point, through and through, and thus a no-no under the Geneva Convention, so adapting it down to a 9mm was the only way H&K could sell the USP to any military, under international law.