Quote Originally Posted by fannin View Post
... i think otherwise the hw40 is much cheaper, much lighter, looks better (subjective) and has no report or recoil so why do guys love their hw45's and why does it exist? got to be the harder-hittingness i think
All the above is true, but you missed one thing - the HW40/P17 is as dull as dishwater...
Obviously a subjective thing but for all their smart looks and good performance they can't match the character and purposefullness of the HW45 IMO. Ugly teutonic monster that it is, it has an appeal when held in the hand that doesn't come across on the page or screen.

Hitting harder always helps too though As far as why anyone would want a harder hitting pistol, it may not make a difference to paper but reactive targets are definitely more fun the more they react, within reason



Re:the HW45, at some point - I don't know if it is the current crop or a previous production run - the .22s were single power only, so not all are dual power. AFAIK all the .177s are dual power though.
Buy a good second hand one, and you can have proper iron sights and not the silly plastic glowy things