The problem with living in the Midwest is that it sometimes gets really cold in the winter. Such was the case on the day I had set aside to test the HK .45. It had snowed eight inches, with two inches of sleet the day before. The high temperature on the day of the test was seven degrees. I headed to my gun club anyway and began my test by shooting five-round groups at six- inch Birchwood Casey Shoot-N-C targets at 25 yards. What does such a test have to do with a fighting handgun?

The safety is located in the conventional Browning position.

I don't know, but many readers seem to want to know, so I performed the test. I used a Hornady Delta rest to bench the gun due to the extreme cold, as it was simple, quick and easy to do. The Delta rest is a triangular rest that can offer a number of elevations based on the surface you are shooting from. While it does not take all of the human error out of shooting groups, it does help give a good indication of just how accurate the gun is. The results are shown in the accompanying chart.

The group fired by the Federal EFMJ deserves a bit of explanation. When I shoot these groups, I make it a point to never look at the target but to stay fixed on the front sight and return the gun to the same point of aim on the target. After I fired my first four rounds, my shooting partner, Jack Yahle, yelled out, "Man, you've shot one jagged hole!" Of course I lifted my head and looked. As soon as I did it I thought "Stupid!" and when I attempted to return to the same point of aim/point of impact, I fired the shot low at six o'clock.

This just goes to show the importance of consistency when trying to shoot accurately. Regardless, the HK .45 proved to have excellent distance accuracy, but again, this is not the point of a fighting pistol. What is needed is a gun that can be held inside, say, an eight-inch circle while shooting quickly inside room-size distances.

After all, what will stop a determined adversary is fast, accurate, multiple shots delivered to the high chest region of the torso. To see how fast and accurate I could shoot the HK .45, I moved to my club's indoor range, as it got too cold to stay outside any longer.