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Saturday, July 05, 2014

The Army Wants a New Handgun. Here It Is. And By The Way… You Can Have It NOW

After many years of service, the Army is looking to replace the venerable Beretta M9 9mm handgun with something else:

The U.S. Army is moving forward to replace the Cold War-era M9 9mm pistol with a more powerful handgun that also meets the needs of the other services.

As the lead agent for small arms, the Army will hold an industry day July 29 to talk to gun makers about the joint, Modular Handgun System or MHS.

The MHS would replace the Army’s inventory of more than 200,000 outdated M9 pistols and several thousand M11 9mm pistols with one that has greater accuracy, lethality, reliability and durability, according to Daryl Easlick, a project officer with the Army’s Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Georgia.

“It’s a total system replacement — new gun, new ammo, new holster, everything,” Easlick said.

The Army began working with the small arms industry on MHS in early 2013, but the effort has been in the works for more than five years. If successful, it would result in the Defense Department buying more than 400,000 new pistols during a period of significant defense-spending reductions.

Army weapons officials maintain that combat troops need a more effective pistol and ammunition. But experts from the law-enforcement and competitive shooting worlds argue that tactical pistol ammunition — no matter the caliber — is incapable of stopping a determined adversary without multiple shots in most cases.

One of the major goals of the MHS effort is to adopt a pistol chambered for a more potent round than the current 9mm, weapons officials said. The U.S. military replaced the .45 caliber 1911 pistol with the M9 in 1985 and began using the 9mm NATO round at that time.

The article goes on to say that the competition will be an open-caliber competition… which is false.

The .357 SIG and .40 S&W are dead on arrival as military calibers.

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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glock model 21. There is no substitute. Accurate, reliable, durable, 45 cal has been around for a hundred years. It takes care of business better than any other mass production pistol round.

Anonymous said...

45 cal Beretta

Anonymous said...

9:22 They want a reliable handgun, not a grenade, waiting to go off in your hand. You buy a glock for the name only.

M&P .45 for performance, and reliability.

Anonymous said...

9:49 you have no idea what you're talking about. I have been shooting Glock for more than 20 years. Smith & Wesson can be relied upon to malfunction. Same with Sig. One must be able to be confident in their sidearm. Glock is the only way to go. I agree with 9:22.

Anonymous said...

Boberg

Anonymous said...

You know what happens when your Glock runs out of ammo? You've got a piece of plastic. I like being left with the option of a pistol-whip. It's quite effective.

Anonymous said...

Doesn't matter to me. Just so I have one for each hand...