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  5. SRC: USP .45
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Category: Pistols
Batmause By Batmause
Batmause
24.Jun
Hits: 714

SRC: USP .45

The Universal Service Pistol has always been a very strange pistol to me. I mention this not because of its shape or form, but because I thought it was both an ugly pistol and a beautiful one at the same time. You can see the German design on this model, it's big and angular in all directions, it has some odd design choices. But somehow, despite the drawbacks, I had a positive experience with the model, which later turned into a form of admiration - and after years of use, this admiration turned into longing.

When had the budget to buy a USP - especially with the idea of a secondary weapon to accompany the G3 – the KSC/KWA version was nowhere to be found. The Japanese manufacturer was pushed out by VFC, whose first series were not very well received, and I saw them as overpriced paperweights – the price of their continuously cracking outer barrel is scary, while the pistol itself also comes with a hefty price tag. Then came Tokyo Marui with their own replica, which would have been a good option, but aftermarket support was starting sluggishly, so I ended up going with a close copy of this in the form of SRC's USP. The SRC had the advantage of being a full-metal pistol straight out of the box. In addition, it has a CO2 magazine option, making winter skirmishing completely viable. When looking at the manufacturer's promotional video, I was saw a rugged and well-assembled model, and accordingly, I was among the first buyers on TaiwanGun at its premiere. Unfortunately, the attitude of the Polish shop sealed the fate of the pistol for quite a few users, despite the fact that I experienced minimal malfunctions on my own pistol.

The first nice point is that the pistol came in a sturdy and good plastic case. The second nice point is that they did not copy the attitude that H&K users usually encounter, so the standard mount came pre-installed on the pistol. Another surprise is that the colour of the pistol is very uniform - no different shades of black on the replica. The finish is a nice semi-gloss black color with a metallic feel. There are no markings to be found anywhere, these have been understandably dropped after Umarex's defensive attitude on the European market. The only things that break the uniform colour of the replica, are the white and red marks on the safety lever and the sights. The plastic used for the frame of the pistol is robust and durable, it does not creak or deform. The metal parts, by the way, have machining marks or lines in many places - I'm thinking of the safety lever in particular, which turned out extremely ugly. 

The controls are very much designed for the German hand, and SRC has replicated this perfectly. The slide catch is pitifully huge, long and protrudes to the back. It's in a very prominent spot, but at least it isn’t in the way. These features are very advantageous because the pistol handles very well. Then there's the safety/decocking lever. It is a sizable part that protrudes from the silhouette of the pistol a little more than necessary. If you hold the pistol with a tight grip, it can get in the way and it's easy to push it up to the safety position. When it is activated, it blocks the firing pin - you can pull the trigger, but it does nothing. It can be tilted downwards for de-cocking, which can be very useful for a service pistol. The next item worth talking about is the magazine release. It's very tiny, and is in a horribly wrong place. If you want to take the magazine out, you'll almost certainly have to change the grip. That means the ability to quickly change magazines is just not happening. Also, trying to find or operate the mag release in gloves is not easy, either.

And then there's the trigger. On one hand, it's surrounded by an uncomfortably large trigger guard. I guess this can be attributed to the fact that German men are bigger (at least their hand :D ) so the trigger guard had to be enlarged. Also, the guard may be bigger because of the idea of glove use. The other thing is that the trigger itself is made of very little material, so unfortunately it breaks regularly. This breakage can occur because you can pull the trigger in a strong manner, it doesn't stop at a barrier, so you can keep stretching the material itself - then it suddenly snaps off on the right side. Finding a replacement part is borderline impossible – you either order a TM HK45/USP steel replacement part, or maybe a TM factory part, or you have to contact SRC directly to buy from them. Unfortunately, TWG usually treats it as a non-warranty failure, so the replica has a chance to land in the trashbag after „a little squeeze”. Interestingly, it hasn't broken for me so far, as I carefully „dance” around the firing pin - I don't wait for the reset of the trigger, instead I release it back immediately with a characteristic bouncing motion.

The sights on the gun are very good, by the way. They are massive, large and very visible with their white dots. The assemble of sights is quick, accurate and efficient. However, there can be problems with the front sight – you can break it or and abandon it, usually due to dropping.

Unfortunately, the outer barrel is not threaded, so it is not possible to install a tracer by default. There is a SR-SP version with a threaded outer barrel. Note that there is also a version with adjustable sights and a compensator.

The interior is basically based on the Marui design, but not exactly a 1:1 copy unfortunately. First of all, the slide is all metal. Despite being huge, chunky and made of metal, it's a pretty fairly lightweight - I mean, for its size and the material inside, it's light. This metal slide gives you a nice feel when you fire a shot. Complemented by the large volume piston/ nozzle system, it kicks like a mule. It's further enhanced with a CO2 magazine, but this comes at a price. Also, the slide catch has been carried over from the Maru, meaning the slide catch lifts an internal piece and it catches on the piston housing/blow back unit. This completely avoids wear and damage to the slide and the lockback feature is running accurately and beautifully.

The recoil spring guide also strongly resembles the Marui design, except with a much stronger spring. The spring guide itself is considerably more robust - there are also more plastic spacers and other similar stuff. The spring guide has two stages, of which the second stage is very well sized. When the slide gets to the fully rearward position, that's when the second stage starts to work - absorbing a lot of energy, giving the gun's slide a brutal swing boost. Because of this, the recoil is dampened, but it still packs a huge punch - making the lever do a surprising amount of work. The two-stage spring guide also helps a lot to ensure that the slide catch always engages, as it leaves minimal pause and wait for the force of the second stage in the spring guide.

The trigger action is pleasantly smooth. The gun has a DA (double-action) firing. This means that the cocking lever can also be used to cock the gun and fire the first shot. After the first successfully fired shot, it continues to operate in SA (single action) mode. The whole process of pulling the trigger is quite smooth, all the time working with a similar force against your finger. Pleasantly firm, but not at all raspy, distinctly smooth and nice. However, here I must mention the problem of the aforementioned trigger breakage again, which has happened to a lot of people. The trigger group itself contains no steel at all, and I was very worried about the hammer at the beginning. The hammer weakness is primarily a Marui problem, with the Japanese manufacturer having a strikingly high amounts of hammer breakage - however, I feel SRC has used better material on this part.

The hopup unit of the pistol is also similar to the Marui, but not identical. It is externally adjustable, so the slide does not need to be disassembled for hop adjustment. For me, it was smoothly adjustable out of the box for 0.25-0.36 BB weights, and I was able to go up to 0.32 with replicas of the same model from other people. The spread, accuracy and range are definitely good, as is the power of the pistol. With a CO2 magazine, you can easily shoot over 1.5J (which is the local Hungarian CQB limit). However, it is also an unfortunate experience, but hop chamber breakage is a common occurrence. It is the end of the chamber that breaks off, more specifically the claw that slides under the frame. This leaves the gun working, although with a slight loss of accuracy – still, even with this loss of accuracy, it remains a viable backup option if you need to use one, everything remains smooth and usable. The hop chamber can swing a little more upwards, but it's really the slide that determines how far it can swing out in the end. What I've noticed is that people who have dropped it or run it with a CO2 magazine in hot weather have almost always had this failure. What is also striking is how much the outer barrel tilts when the slide is in the rear position – with it hanging backwards, the muzzle is pointing all the way to the sky.

I have had the pleasure of using both types of magazines. The first observation is that the two magazines are so different, as if they were from a different manufacturer. The green gas version is very light, presumably due to the material used. And the CO2 version is very thick because of the magazine base, which is needlessly big. What both magazines have in common is that the feed lips mimic the newer Marui design – to which WE has also moved to, for a good reason. The elevated feed lips feed accurately, preparing the BBs for the nozzle precisely one by one. You can pretty much push it straight into the hop chamber. However, the biggest disadvantage of this solution is that the feed lip will be very vulnerable. If you drop the magazine, it will almost certainly crack, or worse, break instantly. When I lent my USP to a player, he managed to break a magazine after dropping it. CO2 versions can slip out of your hand even more easily due to their shiny, polished surface.

Another common feature is that the loading ramps of both magazines are wide and quite high – meaning, loading BBs into them is very easy. The upper part of the feeding block is pointed, so you can start loading BBs from the left and right equally. The block locks tightly with a follower that can be gripped with a fingernail and the whole block pulled back. It's a bit awkward to grip and pull back the follower, you need to have some fingernail. The part that lifts the slide catch is sturdy, but not very large.

The gas version uses the same paint scheme as the parts on the pistol. The magazine material is aluminium, incredibly light compared to the magazines of other pistols. On the magazine body you can see holes similar to the real steel ones - which would help you count the available ammunition – but here they are just for decoration. The notches for the magazine catch are at the front, they are not very deep notches. In addition, the wear is already visible after a few games - and after completely wearing off, it needs to be sanded again to have a notch. The magazine base is a tiny, thin plastic. It doesn't seem to be strong, but it's more likely to fall off the magazine than break when dropped. The filling valve is located under the magazine pad, nicely accessible through a hole. My biggest problem with the whole magazine is that the o-ring is very undersized. Specifically, an o-ring with an excessively thin diameter was installed here, which can dry out or get damaged easily. When I used the pistol mostly with black gas in the winter, the main seals failed much faster. On a side note, the sealing block is attached with pins, which I absolutely hate, experience has shown that they are much more susceptible to dropping, gasket aging, etc.

The CO2 version is very different from the gas version. Obviously, the first thing is that they used a completely different material, hence the different paintwork. The base of the magazine is also very bumpy, which is completely unnecessary. The huge magazine pad hides the CO2 cartridge insertion thread-piece, which has a straight notchon it. You certainly won't use an Allen key here. Because of the cartridge, the magazine body is cut out on two sides, so you can see a hole in the whole magazine body and the cartridge is visible – I recommend that it is placed in a closed pocket, because it is visible from far away and prevents you from hiding during skirmishes. There is a large gasket around the cartridge puncture piece - generally SRC CO2 magazines tend to be quite durable.

Using the pistol replica is a great experience. It has a powerful recoil, and is quite loud. On the field, it can strike fear into the opponent after a few shots, considering the power it has. And with a heavy BB, this can be increased. It's a shame that Umarex has damaged the European distribution badly for brands under their licence, because I would put this pistol in the „not recommended” category due to the parts requirements. Even though I actually consider it a very good pistol, it needs some tinkering to make it work. With a beefed up, updated version, SRC could blow up the market - maybe even challenge the official licensed VFC replica by trying to licence their own version teaming up with Umarex.

Text: Batmause
Translation: Yssomru
Photos: Batmause

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