USP, Beretta, Colt?

[Fr0ntSight]

I love Colt 1911's and am a HUGE fan on HK USP's, not so much the Berettas though. I shoot better with the USP and I really enjoy the balance of the gun. It has a really solid well built feel to it and will last you FOREVER. I've put well over 5k rounds through mine and it shoots like it did the day i bought it. If you are willing to spend a few bucks I would go with the USP...not saying Colt's are inexpensive

FS

[tacticalcity]

I am not a fan of the Beretta 92/96. For target shooting and plinking it is fine. Ironically enough, it is not the best choice for a tactical or combat pistol. The first DA pull is extraordinarily hard and long, the follow up shots are short and light. Increases the learning curve. Cannot bypass the DA pull from the holster because the safety doubles as a decocker. Which means no cocked and locked carry to exploit the SA pull. If you plan on joining the military, it doesn't hurt to learn on government issue weapon. But since you are a youngster, I see no other reason this should be your first choice. You have no nostaligia blinding you to its flaws.

The 1911 by contrast is SAO. It only has one light pull. The safety is a tradtional safety and not a decocker. You carry it cocked and locked. Just pull, point in and flip off the safety, and fire fire fire your sighted shots with easy. Learning curve is much lower. Properly maintained they run great, but they can require a little more TLC to keep them running. They are not guns you trick out after the fact. Unlike other guns, after market parts are almost never drop-in and usually cause problems. Buy it the way you want it. Shoot it the way it comes. Changing sights, grips, magwell is fine. Just everything is is really terrible idea to change.

USP comes in every possible action combination. Which makes it difficult to compare to other guns. Does have a very goofy magazine release that a lot of people cannot master without using both the thumb and trigger finger to attack it from both sides to get it to function properly. If a round is in the chamber, you get dangerously close to the trigger well when your finger would normally be high on the slide. The finish is crap. Noticable holster wear begins the very first time you holster it. Other than that I like it.

Glocks and Glock clones are the easiest to learn on. No thumb safety. No decocker. Same medium weight trigger pull every time. Short trigger reset. Very fast gun. Easy to learn on. However, you will definately need a course to engrain the proper safety principles into muscle memory and learn the basics of defensive shooting. You pull the trigger it goes boom. So there is zero forgiveness for stupidity. Follow the rules and have the discipline you should have with all guns and you will be fine. But if you are new, you will have great difficulty keeping your finger off the damn trigger. Everybody does. Thank Hollywood for that one.