What is the favored handgun among the military these days?

Just to give a quik list of what U.S. units carry:

M9 any regular Navy, Army, Airforce, and Marine unit

M11(SIG 228) Navy Pilots, Aircrew, and Master at Arms Invetigators, other military Pilots, Aircrew, Tankers, some Cops etc. any body who works in confined spaces or has a need for concealed carry for there job

SIG 226 NSW, Army SF

MK23 SOCLUB NSW, Army SF

MEUSOC 1911 Force Recon

Personnel weapons are not allowed some do use them but Its one of those better to say sorry than ask and get told no

Hollow points are authorized for AT work and some Sniping

This is all to the best of my knowledge from what I have seen in the field
 
Personally, I prefer my Glock 19 with side mounted Homeboy Nyte Sytes for most SUPER-DUPER TOP SECRET missions.

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killerkain
 
Gee... thanks Pat!! Now I`m gonna be getting mail from everywhere... he he Maybe I should go into business selling copies of magazine articles other people don`t get. :) In all honesty..It`s a very good article and worth sharing with those less fortunate who didn`t get to read it in TS.

Take Care,
CS#158
 
The Marines guarding embassies were still using S&W 19's up untill we switched over to the M9 about 3 years ago. We get HP rounds.
 
i have several buds in the tx nat'l guard, in aviation, and i THINK they still carry the S&W .38 special snubs, some w/aluminum cylinders if i remember right

they never have gotten 9MM's, not yet anyway


sifu
 
love these threads...

I too prefer the USP .45 fullsize. I must say I started off with a Para P-13 that was nothing but trouble. A truly jinxed pistol.

MEU used to be MAF, right?

Seems like the ops like Sigs or 1911s. Civies and LEOs like Glocks. I know the NCIS 1811s are issued SIGs, 226 or 228. Can't remember.
 
I'm sure regular units carry what's issued; Baretta 9mm I assume. I can tell you that the special forces guys I've met (Ft. Bragg) who are in units that can carry/shoot what they want, choose 1911's without exception.
 
1911s and variants are top choice among SpecOps personnel but I have seen a good amount of H&K P7M8s and even an occaisional P7M13. I prefer the single stack reliability of the M8.
 
I like SIG's (229 .40)

The newish Springfield XD pistol is getting some VERY VERY good reviews also! I've shot one and it is nice! I think it is a cross between a Glock a SIG and a 1911.
 
Are the components any different than the original Croatian version? I've heard good things about that version, mainly the quality for the value.
 
It is the EXACT gun still made in Croatia. It was called the HS-2000 and Springfield found out about it and bought the factory in Croatia (I think) and put there name on it and renamed the gun the XD. The quality is as good if not better than Glock,ie much heavier/stronger silde rails and I think it uses a stronger polymer. It use to cost under $300 but when SF bought it the price went to $400+ The one I shot worked under water and the firing pin was not fluted! Great Gun at any price!
 
The Aussie SAS use the HK SOCOM in .45. Our other troops use the L1A9 Browning 9mm (Hi Power). I love 1911's. But I must admit my HK USP Tactical is just as accurate as my series 70 Colt which has been customised a fair bit.
 
:barf: The other members on this board are correct when explaining about the early Beretta's catastrophic metal fatigue problems, however......even with all of the upgrades to the FS model, these M9's are still an extremely unreliable weapon in a dusty environ.

The worst firearm in the Gulf War theater was the British L85A1 & A2, the 2nd was the Beretta M9. I've spoken to dozens of guys that were there and they turned in their M9's for the 1911's or they were carrying other sidearms if their commanders didn't care. Everyone I've spoken that's used the M9 in combat condition, hates the gun and refuses to carry it.

The 1st Beretta 92 that was being tested, upon the rigged & bribed acceptance trials, back in the mid 80's were tested to extremes with the Israeli TZZ carbine ammo that was designed for the Uzi. The frame & slides couldn't take the pounding, not too many guns could, and on 2 instances the entire rear block of the slide broke and flew into the tester's face causing severe injury. Nobody's ever died testing this gun.

On another tact, I've personally broken 2 Sig P226's in testing trials when they were 1st introduced into this country. They had metal fatigue of the frame rails which split away from the frames after about 1000 rds of TZZ black tip carbine ammo. The only guns that were able to take the beating was the MAB PA-15, Glock 17, Uzi pistol, HK P9S and the HK P7M13, other than that, most every gun experienced some type of failure during the testing. The other gun that was able to function without any major problems was the Ruger P85 but it was the little parts that broke rendering the gun useless.

My 2 cents,

Ray
 
Several questions...

1) In the war, what was the reliability of the M-4s and M-16s? I know some soldiers were using pantyhose to keep grit out of the action and bbl but it would seem to me that the fine dirt that is blown around in the duststorms would just love to stick to the finely oiled internals.

2) You said that 1911s were used by some instead of the M9s. Were these the beaten frame 1911s or the new ones with tight tolerances? My guess is that 1911s with tight tolerances would cause failure just like the Berettas experienced. Where did the 1911s come from?

Thanks in advance for the info. I've always been interested in this.
 
You're right, there were some problems with EVERY gun except for the AK designed weapons and the AUG's from the Saudi forces in the Gulf theater. The M60 had some major problems, as well as the M16/M4, SAW 249 as did most weapons including all of the tracked vehicles.

The fine grit wrecked havoc on most mechanical devices there, from aircraft, tanks, trucks, hummers and anything mechanical, however, the majority of the US forces converted to a dry lube after realizing how bad the grit situation was fouling up the weapons. Don't forget that the dust was only an extreme problem in the summer heat when the fine grit floated around on the slightest breeze. When the rains came, it helped keep most of the dust down to a manageable problem. Every gun was cleaned in the morning & evening, the pantyhose was used by some as a preventive measure, as well as using other breathable material, along with using muzzle covers all the time.

As far as the 1911's go, they were the older models, they were issued to primarily special forces troopers, they were the older models that were fairly loose tolerances and they did very well in that environment. As a matter of fact, I know of 2 officers who turned in their M9's after having multiple failures when they 1st arrived in theater and they were issued WW2 vintage 1911's that had been rebuilt many times.

I know for a fact that there were special forces troops that carried their own sidearms including Browning High Powers, a Glock 17 or 2, some confiscated Sig's from Iraqi officers and a few Hk's.

Personally I'm a Glock fan from 1985 when they 1st came into the country and I think they're one of the finest besides the HK USP & P7 line.

Ray
 
Gunnerguy, I never heard of a SIG having that knid of trouble! Have you heard of this happening recently? What other knids of problem have you heard of them happening? I have beaten' my 229 up with all knids of stuff and it has not had any problems yet(15,000 rds). It hasen't jammed yet but my Beretta has a couple of times. Should I be looking for anything to go wrong?
 
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