What is the favored handgun among the military these days?

I think that if you are active in the bush for any period of time and that bush happens to be in a dusty environment, it does things to your weapons that most of us aren't used to.

I mean that even if you go outdoors to shoot frequently but don't hoof around much, chances are that the weapon hasn't experienced as much exposure to the elements like those of used in combat. Especially in the desert.

In every other case, I would choose the AR platform over the AK. M14 over both. BTW, I bet the M14s did well over there...


Because I live where I do and cannot afford two at the time, I chose a Bulgarian SLR-100.
 
Hey Chris,

The Sig 229's are a stronger design, using stronger materials and they don't have the same flaws as the early 226's. The U serial number 226's had problems with the frame rails splitting, however, the guns never failed to fire, there was no catastrophic metal fatigue to the slide or other parts of the frame and I didn't realize that the frame rail had split until I tried to replace the slide after cleaning it. What brought attention to the problem was that my shots were all over the place, so I cleaned the gun and the split frame rail wouldn't allow me to put the gun back together. Nobody could believe what they were seeing but the rail was split almost completely back to the back of the slide.

To give Sig credit, they immediately replaced the gun for me, and after running a series of tests, the started to scallop the side of the rail to creat more strength for the lateral pressures on the rails.

I've broken 2 Sig 226's like this, I've also cracked a couple of Beretta's but I always inspected them before shooting and I was able to spot the cracks in the slide before it became a problem. FYI, the military came out one year after accepting the M9's with absolute directives that ALL M9 slides were to be replaced in 1500rds and all frames & slides must be replaced every 3500 rds to prevent any cracking problems. I don't think that would have gone over very well during WW1, WW2, Korea or Vietnam.

Ray
 
I'm curious to hear about any negative reports with the M14. So far, everything I have heard has been positive, but you never know...
 
Now there's a gun that's worth it's weight in gold. It's a little heavy but if you've ever needed it to work when the chips are down and in all conditions, the M14 is one of my favorites.

More than a few guys who carried them during the "police action" in Vietnam, cried when they had to give them up for the M-16. The design is excellent, it was accurate, it could shoot in any type of environment and it was reliable. I've never heard a bad thing about any M14 other than it was heavy to hump.

Ray
 
early sig 226's had a little groove within the rail gooves on the frame...this was there to supposedly keep the slide rails clear of gunk and debris...however that caused some weakness in the aluminum frames at that point and caused some breaks.
Sig fixed the problem and did away with the grooves.
cheers,
Derek
 
Well I hate to burst your bubble but the early Sig 226's had no "dirt" scallop in the frame rails and the early orig guns had solid rails. The 2nd model had the "dirt" scallops which proved not to work very well either.

Besides the metal fatigue & cracking of the Sig rails happened in the channel of the rail where it was thinnest along the frame, not where the scallops were milled in the 2nd model rails.

The early Sig rails were very weak, which is why Sig, to their credit, quickly fixed the problem. I love the Sig line but for the money, give me Hk or Glock.

Ray
 
thanks for setting me straight...i did not know of the earliest ones....
cheers,
Derek
 
After 21 years in the Army, I can safely say that it is not a democracy, and you carry what you are issued. It always entertains me to see troops going to the range for their every 6 month qualification, or for deployment, and go through a 3-4 hour goat rope to get their weapons issued! We are the ARMED forces right? Combat soldiers should be shooting their weapons (whether M-16s or M9s) a whole lot more often than that. We should be sleeping with our weapons! All the advice to combat terrorism is b......t if you don't have the means to fight back. Elite units? That's an entirely different issue. They can pretty much do what they want. But the typical grunt is stuck with poor training schedules, untuned weapons, a pervasive sense at higher command that they cannot be trusted with loaded weapons, and major obstacles at many levels to change all of that. Watching gate guards in Bosnia, and now at FT Knox with unloaded weapons, or with weapons that do not have a chambered round, makes my blood run cold.

I just had a recently promoted MAJ call me up and remind me of when I took a blow torch into my GP small (I was a LTC) and proceeded to reblue the crappy finish. I then did a trigger job on it. He (and I guess everyone else!) was astounded, especially since I'm a doc and it was a medical unit. I told them that when the **** hits the fan, you need to point your gun at the enemy, pull the trigger (w/ the Beretta; unsafe the weappon w/ the .45, and hear the satisfying bang that precedes the enemy going down. Got blistered by the Group Commander for that, but what the (you know what).....

In any event, all handguns have their pros and cons, and I think the M9 has proven itself as a fairly competent and durable side-arm. Having said that, I'd still prefer a well tuned 1911 any day of the week.
 
the Chinese mafia likes the CZ 52...fast, penetrates, reliable
and value priced...sorry to get off track GLOCKS RULE!!:p
 
I'm glad this topic came back up. :D For many reasons I decided to settle on 1911 pistols. I've been pondering about selling my Glock 17, Sig 226, Sig 229 in order to finance a Wilson CQB. Never realized how tuff it could be to sell them.

If you guys were in this situation would you do it???
 
Don't sell the guns.
Just save for the new one.
No matter what you hear or read about 9mm, if you have to carry just one firearm, a 9mm is a good one. That 226 and 229 will serve well.

Think of a gunfight not as a shootout, but as YOU needing to keep enough fire going down range to complete your movement and make a kill. You don’t need big pain pills for this, just a lot of them. Once you have moved, shoot them in the damn head.

For me, rate of fire almost always wins when it comes to a primary weapon.

Just my opinion.

mick
 
NIB, several comments.

1) if you are living in PRK I would strongly advise against selling ANY of your firearms, especially if they shoot well for you. You can always save up for a Wilson.

2) Wilson, might get a lot of flames for this. They make great magazines, but aren't their 1911s made with SUPER TIGHT tolerances? This could be a bad thing, especially if they require a lot of lube which in turn can attract crap. Don't get me wrong, I love 1911s and one saved my father's life in Vietnam, meaning I pretty much owe my life to that pistol as well. It rattles - genuine 1911 but it is no prom queen. Does not need very much lube and takes a licking like a champ and asks for more.

I'm not a 1911 expert, could very well be wrong , but it is my understanding that the newer ones (Wilson, Infinity, etc.) have supertight tolerances as opposed to some loose clearances (close fitting where needed but not everywhere). Have heard rave reviews about the reliability of Wilsons, however, but I wouldn't trade in three functional weapons I am familiar with for one!

9mm - as you probably know, ammo selection frequently trumps caliber. A good 9mm hollowpoint will cause more damage than a 230gr FMJ ball given an unarmored frontal shot. Got armor? IIRC due to the sectional density of the 147gr 9mm, it will out penetrate a .45 230gr ball. But if you go around using 147gr ball in a 9mm, you have a very poor chance of stopping without a direct CNS hit. Not much better with 230gr ball.

Surely 115gr 9mm +P+ hollowpoints are going to hurt the bad guy *very bad*. But then again, these don't penetrate the best. With any caliber you have to choose what the most likely scenario will be. When I carry concealed, I usually load the primary magazine with good med. wt hollowpints and the spare magazine with FMJ, just to have the choice.

I too prefer the .45, but it's just because that is what I grew up with. Love the 1911 as well, but got a less than stellar start with one and ended up trading for a USP .45. Recently, however, I have discovered the P7M8 and REALLY want one of those. It "only" holds 8 rounds of 9mm... but it's one hell of a platform.

Summary: keep what you have and save up for the Wilson is my honest recommendation.
 
When on duty - "they" make me carry a M9...but if I had a choice, it would be my Glock 20 w/ 15 + 1 rds. of 10mm medicine.
 
Mick and Krept,
Great advice, I have decided to keep them and save up for the Wilson. I do have a P7M13 as well which I will never sell. :D
 
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