Tanaka USP 9mm

My Tanaka USP has some history.
It is originally USP that comes with 5 evo1 carts
and the slide made of HW plastic.

I shot about 50 rounds the barrel was broken
and the slide was cracked (around the chamber)
so I went into finding out what was happening.
I found out on some Japanese blog
says that Tanaka USP (and P8) evo1 HW is problematic.
The bad design of the barrel cost all what goes wrong
Tanaka made a fixed barrel and put in in the market after some user's complaints.

Tanaka USP and P8 evo2 have this fixed barrel and HP(high performance) slide.
Tanaka stated that HW plastic material is not suitable for cap firing
So they developed HP and use it on all of their new guns.

I bought the fixed barrel and a HP slide fixing my USP and it works(it's drop-in fit)
for me HP slide is more like abs plastic
which Tanaka said that HP is more elastic than HW plastic and more durable.
meanwhile, I'm going to fire it a lot more than I already have to see if that's true

Thank you again for posting up yet another video!!!

Also, thank you for posting up your experience with this particular model. As all of us modelgun hobbyists know, wear and breakage is always a possibility - and essentially an inevitability if firing them. I personally have invested a lot in having spares on hand available because I love to "fire" these models.

I find it interesting that Tanaka claimed HW material is not suitable for firing. I have had a number of the M9 HW Evo models and have not had breakage issues with my firing of them. In fact, I have had more issues with the ABS firing pin mushrooming over time instead of problems with the HW slide.

I have had a crack with a Tanaka G17 HW slide, but that was due to a barrel breakage first, which caused significant stress to the slide when it malfunctioned. Although, I have seen videos showing breakage near the rear of the slide on this model.

How would they respond to models such as the Tanio Koba GM7/7.5's that have a reputation for durability when firing? I understand they are capable of 1,000 rounds and more. I have put hundreds through mine and not had an issue with any of the slides yet.

I had a BWC micro 45 that cracked a slide within the first few rounds. Ughhhhhhh........

Perhaps it is more the design of the specific model that multiplies the vulnerability of the brittleness of the HW material?

I would be interested in hearing more of yours and others' experiences in this area.

Thanks again for your contributions so far!!!!!

they use abs mix with something to make the HP resin material, it is not pure abs as I understand. Tanaka uses the HP slide on their newer guns replaced the hw slide which is common on older models, instead they use hw plastic on lower frames.

My Tanaka M9 evo also bought in hw slide and later bought a HP slide as a spare part, the hw slide still in good condition never had any problem with that model. I think like ljerr2 has mentioned above, it must be about the design on the particularly guns.

The new Tanaka models are 100% better and great to fire, i had nothing but problems with my USP's. Same as you barrel and slide breaking, but huge problems with triggers breaking practically on the first mag, but also the lower frame just in front of the trigger snapping in half as very thin weak plastic in the area. To be honest the whole gun was badly made.
It took them a long time but at least they have now fixed the problems.