If you could choose the sidearm of the military?
What would it be?
Why?
What caliber?
What features?
Why?
What caliber?
What features?
0
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Not A 9 MM
Round puffs big time
.40 or .45
Shoots to POA, SA / DA, Amb. All SS no Alloy Frame, 10 RD mag, Night sites, changeable back strap to fit all hands M or F.
USA made ONLY..0 -
120 MM howitzer or possibly an Abrams. 0 -
What would it be?
Why?
What caliber?
What features?
1911A1
It wasn't broke.
Are you kidding?
COLT on the slide.
Anything that worked so well for over 75 years must have had SOMETHING going for it.0 -
quote:What would it be?
Why?
What caliber?
What features?
1911A1
It wasn't broke.
Are you kidding?
COLT on the slide.
Anything that worked so well for over 75 years must have had SOMETHING going for it.
YEP0 -
YEP, YEP !!
Doug0 -
<a href="http://serbu.com/top/superShorty.php">Super Shorty</a> firing Dragons Breath shells. That'll shock and awe 'em.
Or, yeah, 1911 if you want to be all boring and useful.0 -
1911 worked real well for me 39 years ago on my senior trip, don't see why it won't work today.
W.D.0 -
I love the 1911 and don't care for plastic guns but, realistically, Springfield XD .40 or .45... 0 -
Sorry guys, but the 1911 is yesterdays big news. Great for civilians, but on a battlefield today there are serious contenders that are much better products. Besides being much harder to field strip, the 1911 isn't as reliable as our modern plastc marvels.
9mm is fine for the basic sidearm. Armies use rifles and cannon. Pistols are personal protection only, so 9mm is perfectly adequate and in some ways better suited to the purpose. Of course any modern military uses a mix of weapons and caliber. I foresee a standard 9mm along with a similar model in .45 caliber used by special units. It will be Polymer, DA/SA, adjustable grips, have a hammer, decocker, no safety and ambidexterous. I foresee all branches using the same weapon as a cost cutting measure. Perhaps the guns will be different colors to denote the branch, for example green for the army, brown for marines and pink for the navy.[:D]. Just kidding...blue for the navy, of course.
It will be similar to the new HK P30 or M&P models. The 1911 lacks reliability and magazine capacity, takes longer to clean and costs too much. Also, it doesn't come in pink navy blue.
Edit:
Here it is...
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=825114730 -
quote:Originally posted by ripley16
Sorry guys, but the 1911 is yesterdays big news. Great for civilians, but on a battlefield today there are serious contenders that are much better products. Besides being much harder to field strip, the 1911 isn't as reliable as our modern plastc marvels.
9mm is fine for the basic sidearm. Armies use rifles and cannon. Pistols are personal protection only, so 9mm is perfectly adequate and in some ways better suited to the purpose. Of course any modern military uses a mix of weapons and caliber. I foresee a standard 9mm along with a similar model in .45 caliber used by special units. It will be Polymer, DA/SA, adjustable grips, have a hammer, decocker, no safety and ambidexterous. I foresee all branches using the same weapon as a cost cutting measure. Perhaps the guns will be different colors to denote the branch, for example green for the army, brown for marines and pink for the navy.[:D]. Just kidding...blue for the navy, of course.
It will be similar to the new HK P30 or M&P models. The 1911 lacks reliability and magazine capacity, takes longer to clean and costs too much. Also, it doesn't come in pink navy blue.
oh yea!? I bet you listen to those newfangled cassette tapes too!0 -
1911a1.
time proven.
usa made.
lot of people understand it.
old drawings and blueprints are still around and well practiced.
plus old guys can fix them w/o having only new hi-tech factory reps sucking tax dollars out of military comptrolers to fix them and maintain them.
and, if the shtf, the PUBLIC and MILITARY will be on the same sheet of music.
its a numbers game. more people understand and can fire the 45 then the new hi-tech stuff. it has better 'uni'formity.
45acp/bar none.[^]
and all my cassette players still work, because i take care of them.[;)]0 -
From what I hear, the 9-mils aren't very popular among the troops actually serving and there's a run on .45s whenever they can carry those without being brought up on charges. I can see how the nines look like a good idea on paper (like 5.56 looked better than 7.62) but there's still a lot of demand for that extra firepower. Like one of the wise men said, I've never been in a firefight where I wound up wishing for less gun.
I'm sure there's better guns than the 1911 out there. I can think of a couple H&Ks that are more solid performers nowadays. But there's a good case to be made for 'good enough' and a gun that's been massively field-tested and is familiar to most anybody, until there's a really compelling reason to switch to something newer. Unless you wanna slap select fire on your service sidearm or want something substantially smaller and lighter or have a good reason to change the caliber (like the Beretta), upgrade for upgrade's sake can be a bad idea.0 -
Ripley16 is right about the military importance of a sidearm. (This is unlike Law Enforcement where the sidearm is of primary importance.)
Also for logistics reasons, in the military the sidearm ammo is also the submachine gun round. The submachine gun is important. The 9mm Parabellum is currently considered the best submachine gun round. This is why the military switched calibers.0 -
quote:What would it be?
Why?
What caliber?
What features?
1911A1
It wasn't broke.
Are you kidding?
COLT on the slide.
Anything that worked so well for over 75 years must have had SOMETHING going for it.
AGREED, That's why I own one.0 -
I like to have one of whatever this cowpoke is wearing please!!! 
0 -
Mowart: Does the M9 take +P rounds? Hadn't heard of that, thought they still used separate ammo for pistols and SMG-power stuff. 0 -
The switch was also to standardize with NATO.
I agree that they seem to have forgotten what the reason for the switch was.
Imagine WW II if the Thompson, grease gun and 1911 all used different rounds.0 -
Hi, there. I am new here and just thought I would throw in my 2 cents. The 9mm caliber is fine, the problem is that the military is stuck with using FMJ ammo. If you HAVE to use FMJ ammo, you might as well throw the biggest one you can find, like the 45 ACP. Now, if we could get away from using the FMJ in the 9mm and use a modern HP like the +P Gold Dot, the 9mm "problem" would be easily and quickly fixed.
As for going back to the 1911 platform, I do not see it happening. Even when we did issue it (I was in the Army during those days) we had to carry it chamber empty for fear of accidental discharge. And now the only people authorized to carry them are highly trained SpecOps types. As for what I would pick:
Rifle: Gas operated version of the M-4 platform with 18" barrel, in 6.8 SPC caliber
Handgun: (stuck with FMJ) any modern 45 ACP DA/SA or DAO
As my user name indicates, I am a BIG Sig fan, but I also really like the XD, and the HK, and others.
Handgun: (not stuck with FMJ) keep the Beretta and issue +P Gold Dot ammo0 -
What would it be?
HK USP 45
Why?
It is the finest sidearm made today
What caliber?
45 ACP
What features?
Double action, great saftey, can be carried in condition one, has a decocker0 -
quote:Originally posted by p3skyking
What would it be?
Why?
What caliber?
What features?
1911A1
It wasn't broke.
Are you kidding?
COLT on the slide.
Anything that worked so well for over 75 years must have had SOMETHING going for it.
DITTO[^]0 -
Have you heard of the "Lethality Improvement Kit" for the Beretta's in Iraq? It is a six foot length of 1" pipe. You weld the useless 9mm piece of ka-ka to the end of the pipe and try to beat the bad guys to death [:(!][:(!][:(!][:(!] 0 -
S&W 460 XVR
Why? because some can't handle the recoil of the .500, and I wouldn't want to offend them. When your primary goes down, you're probably in a world of hurt and would need something that'll make a difference.
Caliber: S&W .460
Features: 10" barrel. Kills everything it hits.
Either that or the Guncrafter Industries .50 GI.0 -
okay so what percentage of american troops actually fire their handguns in combat in iraq and afghanistan ? 0 -
quote:Originally posted by BarkingDog
okay so what percentage of american troops actually fire their handguns in combat in iraq and afghanistan ?
Really, an extremely small percentage. As I noted on the other thread, everybody has either an M-4 or M-16A4 outside the wire.
Although there was a report when I was in Iraq 2 years ago of a .50 cal gunner on a HMMWV that shot a hajji with his M-9 because the ma deuce wouldn't depress far enough at the close range to hit him.0 -
To SIGFAN, use of expanding ammo during war is against the rules of the Hague convention. Nobody can use it (legally) which is why every military force in the world uses FMJ ammo.
If I had the "power" I'd do a 1911 purely for nostalgia reasons.
It may not be the "best", but its certainly "good enough", and most of the soldiers like them, so it would be a morale booster. What says "American military" more than the 1911?
I'd put a few modern "tweaks" on it, though, like better sights, synthetic finish, front and back checkering, spring-loaded extractor, etc.
Truth is, it really doesn't make that much of a difference. Use of a pistol during wartime is pretty limited. There are so many good guns out there nowadays that any number of them would work just fine.0 -
quote:Originally posted by Mk 19
What would it be?
HK USP 45
Why?
It is the finest sidearm made today
What caliber?
45 ACP
What features?
Double action, great saftey, can be carried in condition one, has a decocker
+10 -
quote:Originally posted by p3skyking
What would it be?
Why?
What caliber?
What features?
1911A1
It wasn't broke.
Are you kidding?
COLT on the slide.
Anything that worked so well for over 75 years must have had SOMETHING going for it.
Works for me!0 -
Glock Model 20, 10mm with plenty of high cap mags and some hot loads. 0 -
high point of course, pick your caliber, according to the group spamming the board it never jams, impervious to a kb, slide is made of the same material as the black box in commercial airliners, the frame is made of space shuttle tiles, internal parts are made of metal so tuff it hasn't been invented yet, accuracy is so good a 9mm makes a .005 mm with 10 rounds at 100 yards, it's called "the santa claus effect"
all this for 150 bucks, so its the logical choice0 -
What would it be? EAA witness
Why? can be change for any handgun calibar out there with a switch of the barrel. 10mm can hold 14 or 15 total
What caliber? .45 or 10mm, which ever one feels good to them. 10mm preferrably since its more power
What features? double sided thumb safety, desert camo color or od green0
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