Testing of M9 replacement to start next year

[joker31]

Lots of good comments, but don't forget the sequester makes the point moot, and also the fact that the Army is absolutely never having anything but a double action sidearm again. The vast majority of folk who are issued these weapons need something more like a P-90 or MP7 anyhow. There is no reason why something like that could not be in their existing chamberings or something like 22TCM in a different but similar weapon.

Bottom line is what we need is something that penetrates body armor but does not over-penetrate in QCB.

You can either do that with something solid, light, and dazzlingly fast or with the sidearms we have with extremely light and frangible projectiles. Since we are exceedingly unlikely to ever be fighting a Geneva Convention signatory again in a force on force conflict, perhaps we should just consider the latter in the platforms we have. We might even be able practically to get that done as well, and quit spending a few million every few years on vetting stuff we are not going to buy anyway.

Not to disagree with ya too much but the money for the swap over is not very much because the new procurement standards only cost us for the pistols themselves which big Army is going to do anyway, the M9's are going to Poland through an agreement for their support as are most of the M4's that have seen battle. The Army is switching to M4A1's and the M-16A4's for Long arms and last I saw on the contract bid contest the pistol will either be an FN, Colt or a Sig. I do believe the 40 will make the cut because all 3 competitors are chambered in 40 S&W. Beretta M9A1 is an interim replacement for MP's and certain other MOS's like drivers. From what I seen most of this Weapon stuff is going away until someone comes up with the Battery Package Standard and wins that bid. The next generation weapons are supposed to have live Rails (Powered) so they can be powered by just moving an accesory from pistol to rifle. out of all the ones I have seen, I like the FN the most and the Colt the least. Colt should have folded their R&D department when Browning died. They are like Glock, Porsche and other innovation stagnant companies. They make it all different ways but the only ones that will sell are the ones that look like the first of each catagory. I dont think they will go with a high pressure round because they didnt even like the idea when HK wanted to give them MP7's to field for testing. Besides most of Nato is still pissed off about the 5.56 thing (When we made them all switch from 7.62 because they dont fit in the STANAG Magazines)

I think that soon we'll see a move away from a true FMJ across the board because everyone agrees that Hague is outdated and most JAG candidates are authorizing the use of a lot of "open tipped" rounds because unless your fighting a uniformed enemy, your fufilling a Law Enforcement Duty. In the post 9/11 world we see this all the time, more and more the justice department and the supreme court are calling "Bad Guys" defendant and prisoner and giving them a trial. It wont take long to go back up that stream and start using Hollow Points against these Defendants and Prisoners because we are defending ourselves against "International Criminals without a nation"

By the way, I only carried an M9 when my issued Sig was broken, you remember when that was?....Never