The Marines come back

[Rusty]

About time....

http://www.foxnews.com/us/slideshow/201 ... 5/#slide=1

[Sixgun]

Yea, ain't that somethin'! I was down at my buds gunshop tonight and it was big discussion there.

They claim history repeats itself..........38 to 45 to 38 to 45 to 9mm to 45............--------Sixgun

[Rusty]

I always figured that when you had a 9mm you actually had a 14 shot .38

special anyway.

[AJMD429]

In my oh-so-humble and expert opinion , 9mm seems to be at its peak in SMG's, ultra-slim backups for CCW, or for recoil-sensitive persons who have hands large enough to operate a mid/full size semiauto, and that's about it.

[Ray Newman]

From what Military.com says, it is for Special Ops only:

"The Marine Corps has tapped Colt Defense LLC to make more than 10,000 new Close Quarter Battle Pistols for the service's elite special operations troops.

"The July 19 contract, which has a total value of $22.5 million, brings an end to the Corps' exhaustive search for the top .45 caliber, 1911-style pistol to replace the fleet of worn-out Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, or MARSOC, M45 pistols."

Read all 'bout it:
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2012 ... ESRC=eb.nl

[jeepnik]

Like Ray says, Spec Ops only. It seems the military knows the 9mm isn't the "best" caliber (other spec ops types already use .45's), but the darned politicians that decided we had to use ammo common with our "allies?" are too stupid or well paid (by some supplier) to allow the military to make decisions on military equipment.

[Ray Newman]

Problem with having a .45 is when you are out ammuntion, you can not fire your opponent's or your allies' 9mm ammunition. All part of logistics and ammunition commonality.

Also think another reason for retaining the 9mm is the number of women now in the US military.

And from what I have observed, most females have trouble handling and/or operating large framed automatics like the M1911A1 and its variants.

[hfcable]

i like the 45 cartridge, but much prefer the sig 220 in 45.

[jeepnik]

Problem with having a .45 is when you are out ammuntion, you can not fire your opponent's or your allies' 9mm ammunition. All part of logistics and ammunition commonality.

Also think another reason for retaining the 9mm is the number of women now in the US military.

And from what I have observed, most females have trouble handling and/or operating large framed automatics like the M1911A1 and its variants.

Now, I don't have a lot of experience, but I do have some. It seems to me that if you get to a point where you don't have your own ammunition, and you need to use ally or enemy ammo, there are usually plenty of perfectly serviceable firearms just laying around. The folks that dropped them aren't going to need them, ever again.

[DixieBoy]

jeepnik - Excellent point. "Commonality" has its role, maybe. But sending our guys in with the absolute best equipment to do the job asked of them is - or should be - priority number one. - DixieBoy

[93marshooter]

If situation is that bad I am going to be looking for a rifle.

[jeepnik]

If situation is that bad I am going to be looking for a rifle.

Sometimes rifle break. Been there, done that.

[olyinaz]

9mm would be acceptable if they didn't have to run hard ball ammo in it. It's nuts - dang stuff just flies straight on through with minimal damage done. Note: I said acceptable, not optimal.

If you must use hard ball, use as big a ball as possible!!

(Here's one for the Glock fans: http://www.guncrafterindustries.com/sneakpreview.shtml )

Oly