Within the late Nineteen Eighties, a U.S. Particular Operations Command survey discovered greater than 100 completely different close-quarters small arms configurations have been fielded by American troops on the time. That sort of variety is a logistical nightmare in relation to subject upkeep and restore. An effort to discover a standardized pistol to treatment the issue launched shortly after outcomes have been printed.
Heckler & Koch started creating its Mark 23 in response, with the primary fashions popping out of the manufacturing facility in 1991. Sporting an Perception Know-how laser aiming machine and Knight’s Armament suppressor, it received the USSOCOM competitors and was formally issued in 1996. Particular forces obtained it underneath the army label Mk 23. It is without doubt one of the few .45 ACP-chambered semi-automatics to enter U.S. army service because the venerable 1911.
Legislation-abiding residents can personal the handgun, which sells because the Mark 23 on the civilian market. It doesn’t come carrying the suppressor or laser, but it surely nonetheless packs the identical match-grade efficiency and “thrivability” by means of circumstances underneath which different weapons to give up.
The threaded barrel measures 5.87″ and the semi-auto’s total size is available in at 9.65″. Width is 1.53″ and it weighs 39.36 ozs.
The double-action/single-action comes with a match-grade set off and its security and journal launch are ambidextrous. The left aspect of the polymer body has a decocking lever and the machined metal slide, in line with the army mission, is one-piece. The extractor does double responsibility, serving as a loaded-chamber indicator and equipment can mount on the dustcover rail.
As for reliability, the Heckler & Koch web site explains throughout USSOCOM testing, “Endurance testing demonstrated a service lifetime of over 30,000 rounds of +P ammunition. To satisfy the reliability requirement, the pistol needed to show a minimal of two,000 imply rounds between stoppages (MRBS) with each M1911 ball and +P ammunition. All pistols exceeded the 2000 MRBS with a median of 6000 MRBS.” Accuracy common 1.44″ at 25 meters.
Sights are fastened with a sq. notch on the rear and contrasting factors. The pistol ships with both 10- or 12-round magazines (two of them) and MSRP is $2,639.
