Coming around full circle
Why would I do something like that? In all honesty, it is quite a boring pistol. Stupid reliable, accurate, and it fit me well. I absolutely love the H&K paddle magazine release, I find it very easy to activate using my trigger or middle finger on my strong hand. I thought that somewhere out there, there was a better pistol.
My ventures have taken me from Glock, to Kimber, to STI, to Steyr, back to Glock, and now here I am, thinking of going back to H&K after all these years. One of the reasons is the fact that the last three pistols I have purchased have had some sort of issue, right out of the box.
The STI never worked right out of the box, I chronicled that in a video here. The Steyr M9 was reliable, but had the older weak extractor design. This was the most minor issue of my last three pistols, but still, none the less, it is an issue. Then there is the Glock, which likes flinging brass into my face at Mach V.
I have owned an H&K USP45, USP9C, and HK45 (which I sold, as I was going to go all 1911...), and they have been phenomenal out of the box. Sure, H&K pistols have some things that are deemed not desirable. The first thing is the price, they tend to cost nearly a grand for any of their modern polymer framed pistols like the P30, HK45, or USP series. Some people hate the paddle magazine release, but I love it. The magazines are expensive, and the USP has a proprietary light rail (but they did it before it was mainstream). Some people don't like the double action triggers, but I find the single action quite palatable, and the LEM is a great trigger all around.
So here I sit tonight, pulling my KI date code H&K USP 45, from the depths of my safe. Handling it, and dry firing it feels like shaking hands with an old friend, it just seems familiar, and just plain right.
To me my USP is like that girl next door. She might be a little plain, and a bit chubby. Sure there are hotter little things out there, but when you get down with her, by god does she perform.
EZ