Apparently,...the new P30-L which is "due out"this september is supposed have a longer paddle mag release,..similiar to the Walther. Less "chicklet like"
Yah, I think that is a step in the right direction. The metal mag bodies on the P2000 are a good idea, primarily because I think it helps get the overall "girth" of the grip down. My feeling on the P2000 right now though, is that when you push that "chicklet" thing down it scrapes metal across metal until the mag drops. It feels stiff to me. I think making it more like the Walther P99 would make it both easier to use and also provide more options to the shooter - not just-right handed and left-handed, but right handers who prefer the trigger finger, right handers who prefer using their thumb, etc.
It might be too much to ask, but they keep refining the basic USP idea down further and further, and the guns are getting better as time goes on.
Edit: I just went and looked at the HK webpage, and yes you are right Mo. The P30's and the HK45's have a paddle which is more like what Walther has - whereas the USP and P2000 are using (what I seem to have dubbed) "the chicket" - a little thing that looks like a rounded off triangle-shaped button that you push down.
They have the HK45 at my local shop, so next time I go int here I will take another look at it and think about that issue of whether the mag release is better.
Don't get me wrong here guys, the P2000 mag release works fine, and the gun is a perfectly workable platform. Once people get used to them they won't even think about this issue. I just think it is one area that could be refined a little bit in future generations, and it looks like I am not the only one that thinks that - as HK has changed it for the newest generation of guns. It wouldn't surprise me if they switch the P2000's over to that system in the coming years as well.