Army wants to dump the M9?

[Shadowrider]

After all this time they figure out that the M9 has all kinds of shortcomings?

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The MHS would replace the Army's inventory of more than 200,000 outdated M9 pistols and several thousand M11 9mm pistols with one that has greater accuracy, lethality, reliability and durability, according to Daryl Easlick, a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.

More here

 

[SMS]

They've been tickling the nut sack of that idea for awhile now. We'll see what happens.

 

[RyanSixer]

The Marines moved back to the 1911 a year or two ago, didn't they? Think the Army will follow suit?

 

[reddog1]

Good side arm. I dont care what anyone says.

 

[Spata]

Good side arm. I dont care what anyone says.

it's big, heavy and shoots little girly bullets.

 

[Grindstone]

Wonder what NATO has to say about changing cartridges?

 

[Shadowrider]

The Marines moved back to the 1911 a year or two ago, didn't they? Think the Army will follow suit?

I think it was only for SF units. Don't know about the gun, but I'm betting they go back to .45 though. It makes sense, they know it works and have a bunch on hand most likely.
The military always seems to jump all the way from one extreme to the other. Hopefully we will see metric **** tons of 9mm NATO milsurp ammo for sale in a couple of years.

 

[dennishoddy]

The Marines have purchased 12,000 M45 Close Quarter Battle Pistols.

http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/the-return-of-the-m1911-45-acp/

 

[Sanford]

Wonder which retired Army general recently went to work (or will be going to work shortly) for which firearms manufacturer?

 

[aestus]

My initial response was to say "Switch to Glock or M&P already and stick with the 9mm. Stopping power is a myth with handguns and the differences between modern JHP bullets makes any difference between 9mm and .45 almost nothing." Then I realized that the military can't use modern JHP bullets due to the Hague convention and are stuck with round nose FMJ rounds.

With that in mind... the military really should switch back to the .45acp ^_^

Not convinced the 1911 as the platform though. I would think Glock, M&P, FN or even HK would be a better choice... especially if HK releases their new striker fired VP series for the .45acp.