#USP

Two of the most well-known assets from the Tomb Raider series of video games and films will soon be up for auction at the Rock Island Auction Company. The brace of H&K USP9 Match Semi-Automatic pistols features consecutive serial numbers and was modified to serve as props by the Bapty & Co prop house and used by the character Lara Croft. The pair of HK pistols is set to be up for auction on the same day that Han Solo’s DL-44 blaster is set to go live and is expected to fetch tens of thousands at the auction house.

The Heckler & Koch USP, or “Universal Self-Loading Pistol”, has been in service around the world with militaries, law enforcement and civilians since the early 1990s.  There are several variants that include the Compact, Compact Tactical, Tactical, Expert, Match, Elite, Combat Competition, and P8.  It’s been chambered in 9mm, .40 S&W (as shown here), .357 SIG and .45 ACP, with an option of converting to .460 Rowland as TFB covered last year.

Back in 1998, Tom Clancy released his fantastic counter terrorist novel, Rainbow Six. It was a story about an international counter terrorism team where they stop several attacks which we later learn are all linked to a much more dire scheme. The popularity of the book gave birth to a whole series of video games with the first game being released on PC and then ported to MAC OS, N64, Playstation, and Gameboy Color. The cover art is iconic, but did you know the Oakley goggle “Operator” was an H&K employee?

Since the USP Compact was launched in 1996, shooters from all walks of life have coveted it. In this episode of TFB TV, Patrick takes his old concealed carry companion out to the range and spends some time getting reacquainted with the chunky pistol. The USP Compact has deep roots in the USSOCOM Mark 23 Offensive Handgun and shares not only elements of its appearance with the much larger handgun but also much of the technology gained by the Mark 23’s development.

Thanks to Dickson L. for sharing these with us. This is the H&K P8 A1. Looks like a USP doesn’t it? It is a modified USP for the Bundeswehr. The safety/decocker has been modified. The P8A1 safety is raised parallel for fire and lowered for safe. H&K also uses land and groove rifling instead of the polygonal rifling seen in ordinary USPs.

PLEASE NOTE: Steve here. This is NOT a political post/video. We are neither endorsing nor promoting Trump or his policies. We reached out to the Cruz campaign to find out what guns the Senator uses but they did not respond. If they do, we will make a video about his guns. if we ever figure out what guns Hillary’s bodyguards use, we will make a video on her guns as well (I thought it would be a waste of time contacting her campaign).

Heckler and Koch has had something of a spotty history with the American .45 ACP caliber. Originally, H&K -typically for a European company – was dismissive of the caliber, and felt they could not make a business case for weapons chambered in it. .45 ACP is after all, only really popular in the US and Southeast Asia. At the same time, H&K had a very close relationship with some US special units and law enforcement agencies that naturally desired weapons in that common caliber. Eventually, the dam broke and in H&K fully embraced the .45 ACP caliber with weapons like the UMP and their ever-changing polymer pistol line. Christopher Bartocci, writing for SADJ, has outlined the H&K .45 ACP pistol evolution:

Really, Tom? Is that the best title you can come up with? SHOT is the place to put out your new products (if there is any place). I know, I know. My “title writing” muse is on vacation right now…