Let's go to the source then.
On H&K Fans, Detractors, and Myth of "wannabe mentality"
Something is not a "myth" when it is grounded firmly in reality.
[Tardiness justification snipped]
H&Ks don't get talked about a lot on this board because certain posters, who shall go unamed (as if they anyone doesn't know who they are), get their panties in a bunch over the USP for various reasons.
What are the "various" reasons? Wait for it. . . .
Essentially, if you buy a USP, by default you become an operator/spec ops wannabe" who can't keep his mouth shut about how great the firearm is (all the while foisting his respective opinion about which firearm is the best off on all who read the garbage).
True so far.
Oh, and purchasing a USP automatically gets you a job at the local mall as a security guard. Of course all this is served up with a healthy dose of [smilies] so that if anyone calls them out, they can refer to the [smilies] and claim to have been simply yanking the chain of H&K owners.
Yep. One of the shortest books in Europe is
German Humor. HK pistols must be a vector of infection of this curious malady of humorlessness. When TIC is too strong for ya, you might be advised to acquire some more "tactically" thicker skin.
What's funny is that if you go back and browse the thread you'll find that the majority of complaints about H&Ks revolve around their prices, not quality or lack thereof of the product. Of the complaints given in the numerous responses to the thread, price was the issue most whined about. i.e. :
So much for those various reasons. It really comes down to money.
[Selective culling of quotes to make point snipped]
If we all simply bought firearms based on cost to benefit ratio, SIG, GLOCK, Walther, H&K, and numerous other gunmakers would cease to exist. Can't a Ruger or a CZ do everything a 1911, GLOCK, SIG, etc. can do for much less money?
Uh, no. The real question is that do any of them advertise as not being compromises? No.
So, my question to the price whiners is why are you all not shooting exclusively CZs, Rugers, Hi Points, Makarovs, etc.?? The price difference between a Ruger and a GLOCK is pretty much identical to the price difference between a GLOCK and an H&K.
No. The question you are really asking is why don't we shoot HKs, the suggestion being that we can ill afford them, thus denigrate them solely on price terms, which of course isn't true. Heck, the "tactical poseur" stereotype isn't even based on price, but more on the silly infatuation with an image that HK cultivates as
the choice of Spec-ops and anti-terrorist units, an image that the groupies embrace and have zero humor about.
Some of the more outspoken (one of which, by the way, is exceedingly more "into" the whole tactical scene than I am as I understand roughly 10% of the language he used in his "story"-
What's wrong, don't read the newspapers or Tom Clancy?
has he really thought THAT much about being an "operator"????) detractors will have us believe that the mere existence of a web site revolving around H&K firearms is proof of the "wannabe" mentality. Never mind the fact that the favorite weapon of many of these detractors has more fan websites than probably any type of firearm on the web.
It ain't the existence, it's what that website
is. Did you miss all of the gold-plated MP-5 porn? Did you miss the salivating over the stacks of briefcase subs? Can't own them, can't have one made after '86 yet the drool reaches the high tide mark without fail.
The reality is that 90% of this "wannabe" mentality is fabricated by internet posters who have an axe to grind (the other ten percent likely exists in the ranks of any other firearm on the shelf). Proof being that they rarely focus on perceived faults of the firearm, choosing to focus instead on the price and the supposed lack of intelect of those who would pay more for a firearm that has the same end result as a lower priced firearm (never mind the fact that their firearms cost more than many that would give them identical end results).
And now from the HK Fan Club's tactical retort armory is this gem from one of Shake's later posts:
The fact that you mixed in a few criticisims of the gun itself doesn't change anything.
No of course not, you have a thesis in need of proving.
[Incomplete sentence rambling snipped]
I, for one, selected the USP as my first handgun without knowing much about it at all.
No kidding? Wonder how that happened?
It fit my hand better than anything out there,
Note to self: Criticizing the grip feel of a USP is out of bounds.
I could carry it cocked and locked, it had a decocker,
Note: any criticism of a pistol that can go from C&L to decocked is inapproriate and REMEMBER criticism of the USP must be based solely on its price.
it has (for me) the fastest mag release of any autoloader without causing me to reposition, I shoot them better than any of my other handguns (all brands and models),
Wow, from owning the USP to owning all brands and all models? Are you Bill Gates by chance?
mine have been as reliable as anything I've fired. A reason to spend a little more money? For me it is. I had no knowledge of which "spec ops" unit if any uses them.
Well, then you didn't do your homework because Spec-Ops use is an HK ownership justification that cannot escape even five minutes of casual research.
Ironically, 1911 loyalists (Not picking on 1911s as I own them, just making a point) will drop references to the 1911s use in battle by the armed forces (and its superiority over the M9-another story) left and right, then snicker at an SIG/H&K fan's interest in who is using the SIG/H&K.
Don't go lumping the M9 and the SIG in with the wannabe USP--the former two are, at a minimum, pistols that have been used by world class military forces in real shooting wars.
Bottom line is why cry and whine about who buys what if you are happy with what you use? Beats me. I like H&Ks, I buy them, I shoot them, I carry them. . . you like something else, big freaking deal. Not everyone can be happy with a 1911/SIG/GOCK/CZ/Ruger etc. It is all about choice. I'm certainly grateful we don't all have to conform to some approved "standard". I wouldn't be here if we did.
Funny, I don't recall any crying and whining. It was more like mocking laughter. Then again, you can always get validation at HKPro.
Dohhhhhhh!!! I guess I've outed myself as an H&K lover. So, come at me with all the "see, you prove my point" "deep down inside you know you want to be a SEAL". I'll get angry, I promise.
You got angry enough to resurrect a thread you didn't even participate in. So much for your reserves of self-discipline.
SNIP
The fact is, I could light into the 1911 crowd with some of the same jabs, even write a stupid story (if I knew half the "tactical" lingo you do), but guess what? I won't because I'm not an idiot out to get a rise out of someone and I believe people should choose the firearm that works best for them in their situation.
I don't think you have the chops to do it, but I do agree with you that if overpaying and becoming as sensitive about it as a burn victim is to the weather fills a shooting need, by all means go for it.
I haven't owned a new Colt since the late 80s though.
