H+K maintenance...

[zwiefel]

I was talking to a friend recently who owns an H+K USP. He is moving to the glock b/c of the cost and hassle of maintenance (replacing springs, pins, etc.) with the H+K. Has anyone else had that experience?

Is this common with the SA/DA class of pistols? Or just the high-end varieties?

Are 1911's like this as well?

I know most of the striker-fired weaons (esp the glock clones) are extremely forgiving.

 

[Comedian]

Not in my experience. My USPc requires less maintenance then just about any other gun I've ever handled. I've never changed the springs in mine and the only problem I've ever had with the gun was that the firing pin broke during dry firing (a part that I knew was faulty before I bought the gun). H&K replaced it for free, even though I wasn't covered on their warranty. Glocks are very similar to the USP in that they don't require a lot of maintenance, but you will eventually have to replace the springs on any gun.

 

[CPshooter]

Your friend probably drank the Glock kool-aid and is making excuses.

I've owned both Glocks and H&Ks (no longer own any Glocks) and can say with absolute certainty that H&Ks require no more maintenance than a Glock, which basically just consists of a few drops of oil on the frame rails and the barrel/barrel hood. As far as parts breakage goes, I think you are actually better off with the H&K. The Glock's plastic guide rod alone is more prone to breaking than any part on the USP.

If your friend unnecessarily detail stripped his weapons, then yes, the Glock is much easier to detail strip than a USP. However, detail stripping is totally unnecessary unless you have 20,000+ rounds down the pipe and want to inspect every single part. Even then it's not really needed. As far as routine maintenance and cleaning goes, the USP requires no more effort to maintain than the Glock. If anything, it requires less. I say this because my H&Ks can go several range sessions without cleaning and still don't skip a beat. I can't say the same for the Glocks I used to own.

As far Comedian's firing pin breaking, I'm going to guess that it was a USP with the older style firing pin/firing pin block. There have been a few instances where these have broken with insane amounts of dry-firing. However, several years ago H&K replaced it with a newer and stronger firing pin that isn't as prone to breaking with excessive dry-firing. (Snap caps are a better idea anyhow.)

 

[Jed Carter]

I own both Glock and H&K, and the only thing "better" about the Glocks are the cost of their magazines. The H&K mags are out of orbit as far as value, both are good, but H&K $60 really? H&K SA trigger way better than Glock long trigger pull and reset but both run flawlessly, USP outshoots the G17 but G34 shoot as well as USP Expert .40. Have yet to change any parts except the sights on the G34 but if the mag costs are any indication about spare parts then the H&K parts should be much higher. Love both but trust my life to SIG P226 at home, and CZ PCR ccw.