Beretta 92 or HK USP?
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen:
As I am new to the THR discussion forum, please allow me to say a big "HI!" to everyone out there. I am glad to be in company of people sharing my passion for guns and shooting.
Frankly spoken, I don't particularly care for either one (I have shot both in the past, though), but I've nevertheless voted for the HK USP, as I think it's a fairly robust, almost "over-engineered" and reliable weapon. Because of this toughness, I tend to say, the USP will give a longer service life and the owner (probably) will have less trouble with small parts breakage. If I remember correctly, when the USP made its debut, it already has passed some tough environment and reliability tests.
Don't know about you, but for me there's another attractive advantage: I don't know what's available in the U.S., but there are topends in "Expert", "Elite" or "Custom Sport" available that makes the USP a rather versatile weapon (Duty, SD, HD, IPSC, target shooting, plinking). Normally, the topends fit well and work well "out of the box" without help of a gunsmiths.
That said, I think the Beretta 92FS got a bad rap about its performance recently. I doubt, it's as crappy as many guys keep telling us. I certainly wouldn't feel ill-armed with this gun as there are far worser pistols out there. BTW, it's the Beretta is much more beautiful looking than the HK.