Agreed, amazing how emotionally attached some people get to something that matters so little.

To address your original question.  I think they make them as a limited run obsolete "gimmick" item, hence why the design hasn't been updated with simple things like a picatinny rail.  Many video gamers love them because they are prominently featured in popular shooter games and they want to have the real thing exactly as it appears in the games.  I would bet money that the majority of the USP market is centered around first time gun buyers who base their purchases around what they know from playing counterstrike or call of duty.

This is how I was introduced to the USP,  from coworkers who played Rainbow Six, sometime around 2005. It was presented to me as an elite handgun, that only elite forces could acquire.

I bought 2 USPc’s after being a Glock shooter for 20 years.

The whole German car thing is a lot more in depth than that.  After the war many companies did not want to do business with German businesses or sell German companies technology.  So the German companies went about developing and designing many parts for cars on their own.  Thus leading the German cars having far different designs or more complicated for very common items on American and Japanese car.  Even to this day they still do a lot of stuff differently than the rest of the world because they put all the R&D and implemented a design to change over to how everyone else does things sometimes much simpler it would cost even more.
German guns/arms as well are regulated and scrutinized heavily by the government sometimes so much so that it drives the cost up for export countries.

People will pay that for it.

When people aren't willing to pay that price, the price will be lowered.

We Americans truly are an odd bunch. We will overpay for stuff all the time. Houses, land, vehicles, high interest , etc all at historic high, people are lined up to sign up for all of it. It’s as though they couldn’t care less about the price.  It’s insane.

The German car industry reference I'm referring to is that outside of Germany, they sell their autos as luxury cars. Cars that in Germany, weren't originally luxury cars. That was part of the German economic miracle in the 1960s.

Shot my buddies HK USP Elite 45 acp.
6 inch barrel!
Accurate, velocity and all around sweet!


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I like the usp.  I have never paid more than $500.   I bought used however.
Take your time and shop around.  They are high quality guns.  
I really don’t think hk hates us.  I think we are not there priority.  Sadly

Because HK. Great guns, but overpriced IMO. I've owned a couple.

I'd own another if there was no thumb safety

This is the dumbest shit I’ve read in awhile.

The far and away majority of USP production goes to the German military and federal police as their standard issue P8 sidearm. There is a TDP they cannot modify. Same reason Beretta’s catalog exploded with new variants when the M9 contract finished. And Beretta didn’t even have to contend with the government owning the entire design either.

The small amount of guns they pull to put non TDP fire control groups in is probably pocket change compared to their delivery and service contracts on the P8.

It’s funny how one can go on a self righteous rant about how dumb other people are for owning different guns than them, yet claim anyone who doesn’t agree is a fanboi. Find some other way to validate the guns you own. Starting shit with others about liking different things than you is some weak minded democrat gaslighting bullshit. It’s a hobby and I fully support people buying and shooting whatever they want.

(I own one USP, prefer my P226 and 92X over it, and have never played Counterstrike.)

Lite LEM with SRS is the answer.

My LEM kit showed up yesterday and the SRS from Grey Guns should be here on Monday.  Looking forward to triying it out in my USPc 40.

Literally decided the G19's were gone on the way home from the first range trip.

Hard pass on LEM trigger

This has been my experience. I haven’t tried the SRS, but the factory LEM was just too sloppy for my preference.

Expensive is relative.  Compare a USP with a Wilson or Ed Brown 1911 or say the Mark 23 and the USP is cheap.  Compare it to a Glock, S&W M&P or Walther PPQ and you may see it as high priced.  Compare a USP to say a Ruger P90 or Taurus 24/7 and it may seem like highway robbery.  Compare a USP Tactical to an FNX-45 Tactical and it’s roughly even.

For me, I’ve bought a LOT of .45 ACP handguns over the years to find my “USP-killer” and haven’t found one yet although I haven’t added a PPQ or FNX-45 to the collection yet.  They are overbuilt like a tank, accuracy rivals match grade pistols and I’ve never had one stop working.  I put the match trigger in mine and the single action trigger is pretty nice now.  No, the DA trigger isn’t very good but that’s not a concern to me since I carry mine cocked-and-locked like my 1911s and consider the DA trigger nothing more than a second strike capability.  What really sets my USP apart from my other .45 options is that it’s like it’s designed for cold weather.  

Now when I’m talking cold, I’m not talking some weak-sauce 10 degrees outside, but like -30 or -40 degrees before you add in the wind chill factor.  Tempetures where you wear thick, heavy gloves or you’ll have the docs cutting off your black, dead fingers are what I get up here.  This is where the USP shines.  Not only does mine keep working in these conditions when you spend an entire day out yote hunting but I can easily manipulate all the controls as well as safely access the trigger and have enough room for the trigger to reset even with the heaviest of gloves.  I can’t say that for my Glocks, 1911s, M&P or even my P90.  My old EAA Witness comes close and I just ordered an HK45 so I’ll see how it will fair but to date, nothing I’ve found beats the USP up here in America’s Siberia. That makes their price tag acceptable to me.

They're rolling in gubbermint money and they hate you

Let's put this in context.

It's $900 compared to a $550 Glock or $650 Sig.

So like $300 more...

It's going to hold it's value and last you a life time.

What is $300 in this economy over +20 years if it makes you happy.

I'm at a life stage where I'd rather just have fewer premium things that bring me joy instead of chasing the latest Meta, Trend or trying to maximize my dollar value.

I don't care you can buy three used Taurus 9mm for the price of a USP. I'd rather just have the USP.

Anonymous Internet user doesn't like that? So what.

Nice strawman, but it doesn’t address the question as to why the USP is double the price of a lot of other guns that do the same thing, some even better. I get that “I just like them” and that’s all well and good, but doesn’t explain it costing twice as much.

Fit & finish? Materials? Milled slides? Accuracy? Importation from Germany? Can you understand that?

I paid under $400 for my USPs.

None of these things are any better than other imported $4-600 Glocks, Berettas, Walthers, Sigs, CZ’s, etc. What’s your point?

In which decade? Was it still the late Nineteen Hundreds?

Are those imported from Germany?

Why is a Glock twice the price of Canik or Dagger? It does nothing better....

Walther is from Germany. Glock from Austria. What’s your point? If German importation is the answer, why is the VP9 and all other HK polymer guns cheaper than the USP?

German engineering
Globally accepted by the "it goes bang" elite forces.
It goes bang, each time, every time.
Marketing to the civ. market.

So, that is why the USP costs appx> 44% more than a Glock.

The USP is a brick in a world of thinner pistols.

Do I care?
No, no I do not.

Is a VP9 more expensive then a Glock or M&P?

Is a VP9 as complex as a USP?

Does Walther have the same margins as H&K? Why is Walther double the price of a Dagger and at least $100 more than a Glock?

Is Canada the same country as the United States (Germany vs Austria).


It's okay to be poor and unable to afford a USP. Not everyone can afford or understand luxury goods.

I think the whole point is that people are asking why the USP is considered "luxury goods" you really aren't paying for more gun versus other German pistols like the P30, P2000, VP9 or a Walther.  The cost is associated with the name and look only so don't try to fool yourself that you are paying for an objectively "better" gun.  The only people that think this are low-info first time owners who think that it is a better gun due to the fact that it does the most damage in Call of Duty and Metal Gear Solid.  Those people and collectors are the market HK is targeting with the USP and they are willing to pay it.

Its kind of like paying 3k for a G3 for nostalgia purposes and trying to convince yourself that it is a better gun than a SCAR or SR25.

You obviously have no idea what the word "luxury" means.

Aren’t you the same guy who brags about his Tapco’d Mini-14?

ETA: Yeah it is you. Same guy who goes into every higher end gun thread starting unprovoked bullshit about how his cheap guns are better than anything else. Bet you’re the life of the party.

Low information buyers seem to believe that paying more money equals "higher end" this makes sense if you are paying for a Staccato, but paying a premium for 1980's tech and thinking it is better is actually cringe.

Yea so I live in a commie state where we can't have un-neutered ARs, so what?  Must have hurt your feelings pretty bad for you to have to bring that up.  Since I see you're such a fan of mine you can go on ignore now, please feel free to do the same.

Seems to be you in this case.




Words have meaning and you are not understanding that.

A $900 USP is in fact on the "higher end" of the polymer frame pistol market. Regardless if you think it should be "valued" at that or "justifies" that with "features".

So yes, it's a higher end polymer service pistol. It is a luxury good because you are paying a premium while gaining only minimal additional utility.

If you are purely a utility buyer, go buy that Dagger with 15 magazines, a case, threaded barrel, Cut Slide and Holosun for $300.

You are only ever going to put 500rds through it and you'll never use it in self defense anyways.



A Staccato is not a "high end" 2011. Until recently it was the "budget/value" 2011. While on that subject, what makes a Stacco better than a USP at almost triple the price? Hmmm?




Someone is insecure.

You're coping hard here.  Your definition is technically correct, except a USP does not add minimal utility, it is a net negative in utility.  You are also strawmanning your ass off using low end gun like a dagger as a comparison.

A modern Gen5 Glock, M&P, Walther PDP or even Sig P320 are all clearly superior guns to the USP with necessary modern features (optics ready / picatinny rail) while costing less money.

If you disagree, please explain objectively how the USP is superior in any way, facts based, instead of making childish personal attacks.  I'll wait.

USPs are consumer grade pistols with mediocre triggers and I say this as a USP owner. You clearly know nothing about luxury firearms. When you get measured for a Perazzi, let me know.

Lots of questions that have absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand. I’ve already said I have owned multiple HK pistols. If you think the USP is luxurious, you have truly never fired a high end handgun. It is a polymer handgun with a high bore axis, crap trigger, useless light rail, chintzy safety,and overpriced magazines. There is nothing high end or special about it. If so, every gun gamer and special teams in the world would have one in their holsters, but they don’t. Sorry if you can’t handle that.

Keep the purse swinging in GD and out of the tech forums.