I am sure there are many reasons (capacity, caliber, etc)but I'll bet 99% of the reason why departments are dumping the M8 is cost. Back in the early to mid 80's, you could get a p7 for around $600, a Sig 220-226 for about $550 and a Glock (fresh out of the mold) for around $400. And these were civillian prices. Today the price for a P7 is around $950, a new Sig 226 runs about $600 and a Glock runs about $469. The reason for this is that German currency values went out of sight compared to the dollar. You saw the same thing happen with German car prices. At the begining of the 80's a Porsche 944 (around 83') was in the mid 20's in price. By the late 80's the car ran around double that. Add to this the German worker's tendency to be highly overpaid relative to efficiency and you get a whopping price increase. HK decided in the late 80's that they were going to go broke with the "no comprimise" design philsosophy so they just copied what Glock was doing. Out the window went cnc machining the whole pistol from a single forging. All that labor intensive stuff was replaced by a single piece slide and a molded plastic frame. These "advances" are great for lowering costs, but IMHO, have done little to advance the quality of autopistols. To me, there is just no comparison between a Glock/USP and a P7. The P7 represents the end of an era in service autos.HK went nuts trying to manufacture a pistol that was truely safe, fast to use, and indestructable in construction. True, you can get this kind of quality from custom shops (with a fancier finish and $500 to 1000 more in price), but no company will ever again (probably)go for the brass ring the way HK did with the P7.
GHB
P.S. No offense to the USP/Glock. Fine tools, I have a G23 right now that I shoot regularly. I've owned two USPs. Great guns that represent the best of the new philosophy in gun design/construction.
[This message has been edited by Greg Bell (edited November 10, 1999).]
