If I was looking for a damn cheap used gun in the easily under $300 range, I'd happily go with a S&W M&P .40- though I'd probably pick the .45 over that, or search for a 3rd gen.
For the price of a used Sig 229 .40, I can find used Beretta 92's for roughly the same price in various gunshops in my home area, not to mention other used 9mm service pistols.
"You win 100% of the fights you avoid. If you're not there when it happens, you don't lose." - William Aprill
"I've owned a guitar for 31 years and that sure hasn't made me a musician, let alone an expert. It's made me a guy who owns a guitar."- BBI
If I had inherited a .40 instead of a .45 twenty years back, I imagine I'd probably into be.40 into not .45 now. In a purely academic discussion, but I think the case for .40 being superior on paper is pretty strong.Originally Posted by BBMW
But I got a 625. Still quite happy with it.
REPETITION CREATES BELIEF
REPETITION BUILDS THE SEPARATE WORLDS WE LIVE AND DIE IN
NO EXCEPTIONS
In 1993 I bought an H&K USP-40. It was one of the first ones in the US and there were not even any articles written about it at the time. The gun was designed from the around the 40 S&W cartridge. I liked the feel of it and bought it because it was a modern reliable pistol that could be carried cocked and locked. I really wanted a 9mm, but the gun was only available in 40 S&W at the time, so I bought it.
The USP-40 did not seem to have excessive recoil, especially when compared to a friend's Glock 23, which I fired one magazine through and had no desire to shoot any more. I put maybe 4000 rounds through the USP40 over the years. All of the ammo that I fired was factory ammo. It included about 600-800 rounds of Corbon, which is a bit hotter than factory .40 S&W ammo. I ran the Corbon through it in the early to mid 1990s, at a time when I did not know any better.
In 2013 I was having the tritium sights replaced on the USP-40, and the person replacing the sights noticed that the stripper-rail on the underside of the slide that cocks the hammer was pancaked a bit. He also noticed that the back of barrel hood where it impacted the slide looked a tiny bit mushed so that there was tiny edge sticking up. I posted about it on the Hkpro.com, but no one who responded experienced anything similar in their USP-40s, even with more rounds through them. I am just one data point. I tend to have more things crop up with guns than most people. I sent it to H&K and they wound up replacing the barrel and smoothing the pancaked stripper rail on the underside of the slide. I still have the gun though I have not shot it in years, and have no desire to buy anything else in 40 S&W.
Below are pictures of the underside of the slide before I sent it in the H&K and after I got it back.
And here is a picture of the old barrel hood that is a bit mushed.
“Peening” is what I would call that, Ed. What we call the effect on metal that gets rounded from repeated hits.In 1993 I bought an H&K USP-40. It was one of the first ones in the US and there were not even any articles written about it at the time. The gun was designed from the around the 40 S&W cartridge. I liked the feel of it and bought it because it was a modern reliable pistol that could be carried cocked and locked. I really wanted a 9mm, but the gun was only available in 40 S&W at the time, so I bought it.
The USP-40 did not seem to have excessive recoil, especially when compared to a friend's Glock 23, which I fired one magazine through and had no desire to shoot any more. I put maybe 4000 rounds through the USP40 over the years. All of the ammo that I fired was factory ammo. It included about 600-800 rounds of Corbon, which is a bit hotter than factory .40 S&W ammo. I ran the Corbon through it in the early to mid 1990s, at a time when I did not know any better.
In 2013 I was having the tritium sights replaced on the USP-40, and the person replacing the sights noticed that the stripper-rail on the underside of the slide that cocks the hammer was pancaked a bit. He also noticed that the back of barrel hood where it impacted the slide looked a tiny bit mushed so that there was tiny edge sticking up. I posted about it on the Hkpro.com, but no one who responded experienced anything similar in their USP-40s, even with more rounds through them. I am just one data point. I tend to have more things crop up with guns than most people. I sent it to H&K and they wound up replacing the barrel and smoothing the pancaked stripper rail on the underside of the slide. I still have the gun though I have not shot it in years, and have no desire to buy anything else in 40 S&W.
Below are pictures of the underside of the slide before I sent it in the H&K and after I got it back.
And here is a picture of the old barrel hood that is a bit mushed.
That is the work I was looking for. The interesting thing is that my HK USP40 experienced it at a relatively low round count. From what I heard it did not seem typical for the USP40s. Was it my particular gun or a problem with .40 S&W?
At about what rough round count do Glock 22s become toast?
Last edited by Ed L; 08-24-2019 at 02:11 AM.
So regarding the above photos, there was no changing of the recoil spring and hammer (main) spring when they dressed the slide?
I bought a USP40 as well back in the mid 90's when the caliber was the new thing. It was ok in function but I felt it was larger than needed and accuracy was nothing to write home about...so I traded it for a G23. That pistol was more size efficient IMO and it already had night sights...still accuracy was mediocre at best, and not just with me shooting it, so that one got traded later on for a CZ75B/40. That pistol was accurate, but I never could get into having to lower the hammer by manually. That was early 2000's and it was also the end of my .40S&W days.
Later on, I traded that one for a G19.
Last edited by Redhat; 08-24-2019 at 11:20 AM.
Yes they did. When the gun came back from HK it had an integrated recoil spring assembly with a captive recoil spring. At the time I bought the gun it had a separate recoil spring that wasn't captive which I changed out periodically. They also replaced a lot of other parts including the fire control parts. Below is a picture of the parts that I got back in a bag marked "Obsolete, Do Not Use!"
Wow...that looks like a pretty extensive over haul.
It was quite some revisions since it was an older gun.
I took the gun out of the safe and handled it and wonder if I should consider selling it along with the magazines and ammo, since it is superfluous to my needs and I have other pistols that I like better that fall into a similar niche: HK45, HK P30L, VP9. Then I looked at the relatively low prices that used ones were selling for, and also wondered after reading this who would even be interested. If I had any thoughts on selling it I probably should not have posted about the issues that it had. I also wonder if there might not be an advantage to holding onto a 40 S&W that I already owned since in the past the ammo was more available in an ammo crunch.
Considering where .40SW "seems" to be heading in popularity, do you think it will remain as available as in years gone by when many PD's were using it? If the answer is yes, I'd probably keep it. I've been looking for a good deal on a used G26 and notice in my area, the G27 are much cheaper.
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