Quote:
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Originally Posted by Bill Harsey
Honest question, Why does the HK USP .45 function better?
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The 1911 was designed in an era before CAD and CNC machines. The guns were made to work because the guys making them knew what they were doing.
The problem with design itself is that the gun has to be held to very close tolerances to work 100% unlike a Glock of H&K. If you get a couple of degrees off on the feed ramp on a 1911 and you'll have feeding problems. The only way to build a 1911 that runs really well all the time is to spend time ensuring that everything is set up just right. Unlike the modern designs you actually have to manually tension and radius the extractor on a 1911 for it to work properly. The problem is that you have to expend so many man hours going over the gun that it really starts to get expensive. To combat this 1911 makers have had to cut some corners (like using mim parts) just to get to a reasonable price point and the result has been a decrease in reliabililty.
The H&K is a modern design built with the aid of CAD and its parts are all made with very tight tolerances on CNC machines. Since there is only one H&K there is only one spec for the gun. Every part turned out by H&K for the USP will drop into any other USP of the same caliber and work. The 1911 on the other hand can have slightly different specs from manufacturer to manufacturer.
Even though I love the 1911 and own two of them I will admit that they aren't very practical from a cost perspective. Both of them run and run very well, and both are more accurate than I am but that came with a hefty price tag.