Just as a side note Ztune,
I just took the time to actually look at who uses the CZ75, and a rather long list of military, paramilitary and law enforcement. Delta Force among them. I hardly think these organizations would consider the CZ75 if it wasn't; to quote you 'serious hardware.
To further the point: Česká Zbrojovka claims it is in service with "more Governments, Militaries, Police and Security agencies than any other pistol in the world." Not just any company can make that claim.
As far the the Viking goes, the Russian military is very pragmatic with it's weapons choices - I doubt they'd make it standard issue if it didn't work.
Again, not saying the USP is bad - but you seem to treat it as the be all and end all of pistols. It's not - it's a viable military and self defense option; as a sporting pistol however it falls by the wayside like so many other military pistols. That has been proven. As a military pistol, it's good but is certainly rivaled by CZ, Glock and numerous others. The only difference is the USP usually costs more; at least for civilian purchase. And frankly it's just not worth the extra dosh (this is the only opinion I offer on the HK, even then it's an opinion based of facts). The Viking has every bit of the reliability - possibly more so though it's hard to test; the viking is unique in the fact that it uses an SMG style feeding ramp and magazine or 'dual feed ramp' as opposed to a single feed ramp which every other pistol uses. This offers an incredibly reliable feed in general use and rapid fire.
As I've said previously; I've put 2,000 rounds through mine including rounds of dubious quality and it's eaten them all and asked for seconds - I've not had a single failure of any kind. And my research before I bought the pistol indicated that this kind of reliability is normal for the Viking. Overwhelming anecdotal evidence for this website and many others seems to indicate as much.
Combined with it's CZ influenced ergonomics and trigger and a HK/Sig influenced breech locking mechanism the result is an incredible amount of handgun for less than what you pay for a HK. Especially given the accuracy is on par with Glocks and HKs. The only thing that the HK has over the viking in my observation is the finish - the Viking has machining marks visible on the slide where as the finish on the HK is very high. That being said, this is purely aesthetics and does not affect the performance of the gun. If I were to offer some conjecture here it would be that Baikal has sacrificed aesthetics to save on price while retaining a high degree of function.
It is this rational that leads me to conclude for a cheap pistol it is very difficult to overlook the Viking; it's kind of an ugly duckling though.
I think we'd all appreciate it if you would stop dismissing other pistols without doing your research. I certainly don't want to hear your opinions about a gun you've never shot.
Why?
YOU'RE NOT QUALIFIED.
Not in the sense that you don't meet the minimum requirements to have an opinion, but because you haven't qualified your opinion. In order for anyone to give a damn about your opinion, we need a frame of reference so we know what makes you tick and what your experience with other pistols is like. You seem to really like HK's, that's great - they're a good gun! But you've thrown out a bunch of praise for a gun without really telling anyone why it deserves it over another pistol and you certainly haven't qualified why it would be a good pistol for the OP.
And 'because seal uses it' isn't a justification; as I've said - Delta Force uses CZ and Spetznaz uses the Baikal alongside their Glocks.
You're like the salesman that tries to sell you the most expensive thing in the shop without thinking about whether or not the customer needs or wants it.
FYI: No one likes that guy. Think about that next time you laugh in someone's face.
Have you been reading my posts or did you just read the first sentence and then respond?
I have been recommending this guy a glock or m&p for the last 3 posts I made. Where do you see me say buy the HK? I don't want him to buy the cheap hk? Why? Because there are none. Parts are expensive. mags are expensive, the bloody gun itself is expensive.
You wanted a frame of reference. The first handgun i shot was TDCs glock 17. Chucked at best 500-1000 rounds through that with no issues, and probably have another 500 or so on other miscellanous glock 9mm, over 1k on his 22 conversion. Around 200 on a sig 226. I am reasonably accurate with the sig, but the grip is too big for my itty bitty hands, I have tried some other stuff like the burrito px4(despise the thing with a passion), S&W M&P, I have also shot a cz75, more on that later. My first pistol was a p30l I purchased late summer currently has 1900 through it the 3 times I took it out (600,1000,300 rounds per session) shortly to go to 2200. Maybe higher when I get a chance to grab more ammo, either way I haven't experienced a single failure in the gun yet. My usp that I purchased last sunday went through it's test 300 with no flaws, looking forward to seeing what it can do around christmas time when I will probably do a 1500 round test day on the usp. If you would like I would be happy to tell you the results of the test. Ammo used so far was 900 bdx 124 grain, and 1000 cci blazer 115 grain for p30L and 300 rounds of bdx 124grain for the usp. Oh and all of this was 9mm. That's personal experience
The reason I am not so trusty on cz are because I have seen too many threads with them suffering glitches far too regularly, that I have not really heard that many complaints from glock or hk or m&p owners. Not at that volume at any rate. On top I have seen too many non high mileage czs be it poly framed shadows or metal framed 75 choke up under simple problems with feeding, extraction ejection etc. I have shot a couple cz75 myself. I dislike the slide in frame design because it is harder to operate with gloves on, and although I haven't attempted it so take this with a grain of salt, a more difficult slide to manipulate if you have sweat or blood on your hands or it's raining. Everything is very smooth on it. And that oversized mag release in my eyes is another liability, in a stressed situation I can see the defensive shooter accidentally ejecting the magazine. The standard trigger is nothing to brag about as far as I am concerned the second one I tried had some funky doodle match trigger and it was nice, but the lingering doubt in the guns reliability dogged me. As a result I never got one.
As for vikings I'm still not entirely convinced it's all that great. For starters it's a heavy sob(the metal variant at least), shooting 1k rounds in one session my shoulders probably won't like me. Either that or your shoulders are made out of cable steels used in bridges. As for value, I don't know how much spare parts are or where you get them, same with magazines, I have a source lined up for mine, but in general HKs are a ##### for sourcing spare parts & mags as well.
Incidentally what time frame did this viking chew through the 2000 rounds? Was it over a year? A month? And like I said I know nothing nor do I care about competition guns. You seem to have more intimate knowledge about that because I assume you competed or compete currently.
The op has made up his mind so there really is no point to try and convince him otherwise, if you are trying to pinch a penny hk is definitely not for you.