Army orders another 20,000 M9s
November 20th, 2008
M9 9mm Pistol
U.S. Army TACOM (Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command) has ordered another 20,000 Beretta 92FS 9mm pistols. These will cost $410 each. The M9 is a 34 ounce, 8.5 inch (217mm) long weapon that has a 4.9 inch (125mm) barrel and a magazine that holds 15 rounds. It replaced the M1911 .45 (11.4mm) caliber ACP. This was a 39 ounce, 8.25 inch (210mm) long weapon with a 5 inch (127mm) barrel and a 7 round magazine. Both pistols were only accurate at up to about 50 meters. The M1911 had more hitting power, while the M9 was a bit more accurate.
The post points out that many military personnel who carry a pistol for combat use, rather than as an emergency survival tool, elect to carry a .45 instead of a 9mm. I will add that often this is done by using personal funds to buy the weapon rather than carrying an issued sidearm, and that it is frequently against unit regulations. Holsters with flaps that conceal the identity of the weapon are popular for this very reason.
Soldiers and Marines don’t do that unless they’re pretty sure it’s the right thing.
November 20th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
A good .45 or a Pimp gun…
Lemme think… Hang on…
November 21st, 2008 at 8:44 am
[...] Strategy Page via Gunpundit, the Army has gone ahead and procured 20k more M9 pistols for TACOM (Tank and Automotive [...]
November 21st, 2008 at 4:56 pm
In the comments to that StrategyPage link, someone pointed out that the contract is for Foreign Military Sales. Specifically, these are for Iraq. Just another example of the Iraqis wanting what we have. Chillax, OK.
November 21st, 2008 at 9:02 pm
The M-9 sucks.
November 22nd, 2008 at 11:25 am
Skeptic:
That would have been me. It always irks me when StrategyPage (and other blogs) fail to dig deeper than the contract announcement. Most TACOM contract documents are available online to the public. Even if you don’t have the TACOM web page bookmarked, a simple Google search of the contract number should have pulled up a link to the .pdf file on their site.
November 24th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
[...] week I noted a Strategy Page post on an order for 20,000 more M9 pistols for the US Army. The weapons are actually intended for the Iraqi police force, not our army. From [...]