Broke USP

The Tanaka USP, well we all know that in the past the USP was a bad model, triggers breaking, frames breaking, slide breaking etc etc. So when Tanaka brought out the evo version i thought great problems solved as all the other evo models proved to be reliable.
Anyway bought my evo USP ages ago but never got round to firing it, so a couple of months ago finally got round to trying it out, fired 2 rounds and the recoil rod assembly broke, never had that on any other USP (and so far i have had 5), could not believe it i really did not expect any problems. So a spare recoil guide needed and purchased (thank you shaz). pics below where it broke.






So today finally got the chance to give it another go, disaster! the recoil guide was fine but the top of the slide came apart and the barrel lugs look they have gone through a blender. i have no idea what happened as i always manually work the gun before firing to make sure everything is in place and running smoothly.
Anyway to say that i have had it with USP is an understatement as i have not had one model that has not broke, obviously i cannot recommend this model to anyone which is hugely dissapointing as i like the USP and the other EVO Tanakas are great, including the new desert Eagle.

Wow! That is rough!

Annoyed more than anything Cerwyn, i had great hopes for the EVO USP and they have been dashed. As i say all the other EVO models are great, so what the hell happened with this one, i cant figure it mate, even if Tanaka bring out another improved USP i wont be buying it.
That said i have the P8 which is a USP and so far had no problem, go figure.

I think any of us who have been collecting and "firing" these models over a period of time has had the unfortunate experience of models breaking. It is not only aggravating, it is expensive - IF you can get parts!
There are just some models I don't collect because of their fragile nature. I may like the looks of a particular model, but it has to be reasonably reliable. I only collect models if I can fire them!

I'm disappointed to hear of this experience with Tanaka as I have some of their models and have had pretty good luck - so far...................

Ouch...

There must be a whole science project behind modelguns - on mechanical design, material, cap dynamics... Pity the industry is not in the strongest years. At least people like Lucifer still do research and share tips.

Those two damages combined it seems to me that the barrel got stuck in a higher than normal position on the recoil spring guide, wedging the slide up. Since you said that you normally run the slide a couple of times by hand before shooting, this seems odd...
Maybe the barrel jumped out of the grooves of the recoil spring guide upon recoil, or sheared off some material that got stuck and forced the barrel up, causing it to wedge the slide. Was it the first shot?
Not to sound impious in your time of grieve, but what happens to the USP now?

One way to look at it............... if claymore decides to not give up on this model then he will have a lot of spares for the replacement one he gets!!!!!

I know he is cycling by hand, which is a great idea.  However, the action of the gun firing is so quick and "violent" that it can't be replicated by racking the slide manually.  A tiny hangup can be catastrophic, which is likely what happened here.

Let me share a similar experience I had with a Tanaka Glock - and maybe this helps, and maybe it wont.....

Keep in mind, I never have owned a USP in real life or as a model, so I am not familiar with its action........so on with the story.......

Pretty sure it was my first Tanaka Glock.......I think it was an Evo I version.  I started firing it and had a couple FTF's, so I kept firing the mag.......end result was the same thing claymore pictured.  My slide broke out on top at the ejection port area and the barrel ramp and guides were sheared off!

I was devastated!  My spirit was dashed and my wallet started crying...............

Choice to make was to say I'm just not going to have this model in my collection because I only keep models that 1. I like; and 2. I can fire them (reliably - at least mostly reliably - 95%).

So I started investigating and what I ended up figuring out was that on this particular model, it was an issue with the barrel not tilting freely when it was in the part of the cycle where the next round would be chambered into the barrel.  If the barrel had insufficient or inefficient timing of the tilt, the nose of the round would contact the feed ramp on the barrel too low and this eventually led to the ramp and guide area of the barrel being broken off, which caused a serious jam that led to the slide being damaged.

The culprit on this model for me was friction.  There were 2 main areas where I noted I could relieve some friction  - the recoil spring guide rod and between the slide and barrel hood area.  Once I addressed those potential issues (and got a new barrel and slide) I gave it another go..............squeezing the trigger with a lot of apprehension at first.............and it worked perfectly.  On this very same model I have fired dozens of rounds now of many types and it has performed without a hiccup.  Needless to say, I now keep this model and enjoy it very much as I have a couple of real Glock's, too.

I believe my main issue - probably 95% - was the spring guide rod not putting enough pressure to cause the barrel to tilt.  I was able to address that quite easily by examining that part and removing the slight roughness in action there.  I'm glad I didn't give up on it, but I certainly considered it!

I'm not sure it is a widespread issue with the Tanaka Glock model or if I was just a "lucky" one to get some parts in my model that were not quite "spec".  Regardless, it was an easy fix and now I wish I had another Glock in my collection!

If this isn't applicable to the USP, another thought I can share is that I frequently check the feed angle of the cartridges in the magazine on every self-loading model I get. Sometimes that can be improved by slight alignment tweaks to the mag feed lips, too.

Please let us know what you decide to do!

Always good to find the culprit.

ljerr2, i think you are probably right and what happend to your Glock happend to the USP. I have 2 older models that are broke, the lower frame on those snapped in half but if i can get parts off them to repair this evo model i will do so and after that play around with it to see if i can figure the problem.
Not going to do that just yet as i am bloody frustrated with the USP's (even my airsoft one has a mag leak i cant cure).
I will look at the P8 i have as well that has (so far!) given me no problems and compare the 2in how they operate.