Welcome to today’s program photo of the Day! Here we have H&K answering a question that no one at the factory had planned for. This is the USP Match in .45 ACP. The base USP appeared in the mid-90s as H&K’s larger polymer service pistol, aimed mostly at the US market and sharing some DNA with the MK23 they were developing for special missions.
When competitive shooters adopted the USP and began wanting a sleeker version, H&K had none ready. His fix was about as straightforward as it gets: Insert a six-inch-long barrel into a standard slide, add adjustable target sights and a tuned trigger, and bolt a large slab of steel to the front rail. That barrel weight is the whole story here. This target is an old trick picked up from .22 pistols, using forward mass to keep the muzzle down for fast follow-up shots. Slamming it onto a full-size combat .45 was the unusual part, and it gives the gun an unmistakeable, almost sci-fi silhouette.
Perhaps this is the reason why this thing continued to appear on film screens till the end of the 90s and 2000s. H&K only produced matches for about two years, from 1997 to 1998, so they don’t appear often. Not the prettiest answer to the recoil problem, but it works.
Most of our POTDs use images of our friends Rock Island Auction CompanyMajor firearms auction in the United States. Take some time to browse them current auction – Who knows, maybe you’ll find a piece of history to take home!
“Rare and Desirable Heckler & Koch USP Match Semi-Automatic Pistol.” Rock Island Auction, www.rockislandauction.com/detail/5032/1201/rare-and-desirable-heckler-koch-usp-match-pistol. Accessed 25 June 2026.
