By Jim Dickson | Contributing Writer
The thinness of a pistol is one of the most important factors in just how concealable it really is.
The Heizer Defense PKO-45 is the thinnest .45 automatic that I have ever seen, being only .80-inch wide. When I first picked it up at Reeves Ace Hardware in Clayton, Georgia my first impression was that it looked like it had been run over by a steam roller. It seemed as flat as the proverbial pancake. That unusual look is an asset for concealment though.
The PKO-45 weighs in at 1 ¾ pounds on my grocery scale. It has an overall length of 6 3/16 inches with a 2 ¾-inch barrel and a height of 4 ¾ inches. The only plastic in the gun is the base plate of the magazine and the fiber optic inserts in the fixed sights. That’s a big deal as the polymer used in gun frames will deteriorate in 40-70 years under ideal conditions of a cool dark place and faster if exposed to sunlight and the weather. Synthetic parts are the epitome of planned obsolescence in firearms as they guarantee a gun that cannot be passed down through the generations.
The frame, slide, barrel, and most parts are made from 17-4 stainless steel. A few parts like the ejector and extractor are 440C steel while a few parts like the trigger are made from 7015 aluminum. The finish is black for the slide and tan for the frame and both are PVD coated (Physical Vapor Deposition) A modern high tech coating that also has some lubricating properties.
There is an internal hammer which means that it won’t get jammed if you drop it in wet sticky mud as the mud cannot get in at the hammer opening. The gun fires single action, which makes it a lot easier
to hit what you’re shooting at than a gun with a long double-action trigger pull. The trigger on this pistol measure 8 ½ pounds on a Lyman mechanical trigger pull gauge from Brownell’s Gunsmithing Supplies.
Accuracy is good with the PKO-45 making 4-inch groups at 50 yards. The sights are the right size for a gun of this type; not big enough to snag in a pocket yet big enough to easily see. Their visibility is greatly enhanced by the fiber optic inserts making them easier to see in low light. The extractor, on the right side of the slide, can be felt to see if it is bowed out with a cartridge under it so it also functions as a loaded chamber indicator. There is a rail under the barrel enabling the mounting of laser sights or flashlights.
The slide has extremely positive and comfortable large grooves to make slide retraction easy. There is no ejection port. The whole slide moves away from the back of the barrel and the resulting huge space provides more than enough room to eject the fired cartridge case with nothing for it to hang up on.
The action is a simple blowback type so it is inherently reliable. The design is well thought out to mitigate recoil, with the recoil spring located above the barrel enabling the gun to be thinner as well as putting the axis of the bore lower so that it recoils more straight back into your hand for less muzzle flip to slow down repeat shots in an emergency. Felt recoil is moderate. Not bad at all. Rapid-fire capability is excellent.
Controls are located on the left side, with an ambidextrous safety. The slide release and magazine release are on the left side in the familiar position, and the grip safety is below the trigger guard in the manner of the Schwarzlose pocket pistol. It works perfectly and virtually unnoticed.
Uniquely, the barrel has cooling fins running horizontally along the outside. It is fixed to the frame so there is no movement to impact accuracy.
Disassembly
This is one of the easiest pistols to disassemble that you will ever own. Remove the take down pin and the guide rod and recoil spring come out. The slide can then be withdrawn to the rear and off the gun. That’s all there is to it. Anyone can do it unlike some automatic pistols that seem to be designed for only a highly skilled gunsmith to take apart.
These guns are tested to 5,000 rounds with no failures. It is recommended that the recoil spring be replaced every 5,000 rounds or if +P ammunition is used, every 4,000 rounds. When you stop to consider that many modern guns have a design life of a mere 5,000 rounds, this becomes impressive.
Pistols get dropped so the PKO-45 was successfully drop tested from 20 feet, many times higher than most drop tests. You don’t have to worry if this gun falls out of your pocket or off your chest of drawers.
Pocket carry in the pocket holster that Heizer sells is very comfortable. Since it is a .45 ACP you only need one shot per assailant instead of emptying the whole gun into one big drugged up attacker who still gets to you before the bullets take effect as has happened often with lesser calibers and determined attackers.
The Army adopted the .45 ACP after the Thompson LaGuardia Commission determined that nothing less than a .45 caliber 230-grain bullet would reliably stop a fanatical attacker and history has repeatedly validated that report. It also works on the biggest animals in North America. Carrying one of these as a backup in bear country just makes good sense. Statistics show that pistols are more effective than long guns in surprise bear attacks because the bear often knocks the long gun aside before the startled victim can use it but a handgun can be drawn and fired even if the bear has you down on the ground.
You have plenty of shots too. The standard magazine holds 5 rounds and with one in the chamber you have a six-shooter. There is also an extended seven-round magazine, which ups the ante to eight shots when you have one in the chamber. This reduces the compactness drastically though.
Sharp corners are beveled off, which reduces the imprint of the gun in a pocket and can make holstering easier.
Everything about the Heizer shows precision, high quality machining. Just what you would expect of the Heizer Defense division of Heizer Aerospace. The company is a major aerospace contractor making structural components for military and commercial aircraft and military vehicles. They have two large state of the art manufacturing plants, one with 236,000 square feet and one with 115,000 square feet. Some of their customers include Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Arconic, GKN Aerospace, Howmet Aerospace, DRS Technologies, LMI Aerospace, Spirit Aerosystems, Triumph Group, and Timet. They build the PKO-45 to the same high standards and precision used in making components for these customers.
The story of Heizer Aerospace and Heizer Defense is worth telling. The founder, Charles K. Heizer, was born in Hungary before WWII. After the war, Hungary was occupied by the Soviets and the American government told the Hungarians if they would rebel against the Soviets the U.S. would come to their rescue. Well, they rebelled and temporarily threw off the Russians but the U.S. did not come to their rescue. The Russians returned in force with a vengeance. Charles K. Heizer fled for his life on foot to a port and got on a ship to America. In 1963 he founded Heizer Aerospace and Heizer Defense became a division of that.
Heizer and his son, Thomas and daughter, Hedy wanted to make a concealable and reliable pocket pistol chambered for a manstopper cartridge instead of the usual small and weak caliber pocket pistols that abounded. The three had very practical and definite ideas about what such a pistol should be and the result was the PKO-45 which debuted in 2016. Charles has since passed away but his son and daughter still run the company. Their jealously guarded reputation as a top aerospace contractor insures that the PKO-45 will always be built to the highest standards.
To test the PKO-45 I had 940 rounds consisting of:
- 500 rounds of Black Hills 230 grain FMJ
- 60 rounds of Steinel Ammunition Co. ammo including 20 rounds of 200-grain JHP @ 1200 FPS, 20 rounds of SCHP (Solid copper hollow point) 230-grain @ 880 FPS, and 20 rounds of SCHP 185-grain at 990 FPS
- 200 rounds of Privi Partizan including 100 rounds of 230-grain FMJ and 100 rounds of JHP
- 100 rounds of Remington 230-grain FMJ
- 80 rounds of Hornady 230-grain XTP HP
The PKO-45 digested them all without a hiccup.
The pistol more accurate than the smaller and lighter .32 and .380 pistols that have long dominated the pocket pistol market, and it was far more powerful. That can mean the difference between living and dying when you are in a gunfight. The PKO-45 is an original and highly innovative take on the pocket pistol concept with much to offer.
