Der Alte

Listen to Sixto - one of the major reasons for the military going to 9mm from the old 45 cal was to improve the accuracy. With the advent of the modern military, many women and a lot of men that never fired a gun couldn't hit the board holding the target much less the bullseye. You will also notice that the military stayed with the 9mm for many years. Some outfits, with only men, such as the seals and other SOCOM units are going to larger calibers such as the .45.

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dukalmighty

If gas prices keep going up cops are gonna be carrying .22's lol

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Blackhawk6

I agree that a 9mm or .45 is much easier to shoot at speed than a .40. Not significantly, but noticeably.

I have never noticed much of a difference in accuracy between the three calibers with service ammunition.

Uh... no.

The decision to replace the M1911A1 was due to the fact that all of the pistols in the inventory were 40+ years old. The 9mm was selected in order to standardize with NATO. If outfitting females was a primary driving force behind the switch, the M-9 (Beretta 92) would not have been selected as a replacement, as it is a large gun for small hands.

The poor pistol shooting exhibited by military members is less a result of the weapon or caliber they are using but rather the almost universally abysmal training they receive and the pathetic standard to which they are held. There are, of course, exceptions...

The M1911A1 (or a variant thereof) never left certain units in the Special Operations community. While some units in SOCOM may be moving toward the .45, others retain the 9mm and some have actually moved away from the .45.

Erik

"Anyone else heard this?"

Nope. If pressed, I'd wager that it is another in a long line of gunstore BS.

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Der Alte

Blackhawk6, no desire to create an arguement but being in the military at the time of the change from the 45 to the 9mm we received an official letter explaining the reasons for the change and one of the reasons was to match the NATO requirements - the other was as previously stated, to improve accuracy, especially due to the number of women and men that had never fired a gun. The letter was from the Pentagon and I have to assume they had qualified input prior to sending the message.

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Biloxi Bersa

Ditto.

Biloxi city council just made two large expenditures for Glock 21 SF .45 cal. Enough, I think to give every gun-toter in the department one.

I believe 9mm has been the choice for this department for sometime.

rmarkob

True. I was active duty at the time and there was a lot of scuttlebutt about this being to become standard with NATO. As for the abysmal training, most outside of SF/MP get minimal training. Range time for Navy ships while inport was hard to come by and one of the first things to get bumped when schedule conflicts arose.

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InspectorGadget

The people pushing the Downsizing are the same ones, I.E. Gov of NY. That want officers to try to shoot and armed criminal in the hand to try and disarm him, Or the Leg to keep him from running. The new Gov of NY tried to push this legislation in NY as Lt Gov, but that was too liberal even for them. They don't want stopping power or Hollow points, they would rather see 22's with rubber bullets so you don't hurt their constituency.

They Switched the Military from .45 to 9mm because “It will make it easier to work with NATO.” Strictly a logistical decisions from people who’s A$$E$ are not on the line.

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mojust

Not a bad idea, but is there any documentation on this? How widely spread is the change to 9?

SIXTO

Its not a big thing yet, but in my area I know of three larger depts. that just retired aging .40's and went with 9mm instead. I doubt they would have made the switch if they didnt need new guns anyway.

In my own department, we get to choose. .45 is the most popular, followed by the mighty 9mm. Only a few chose a 40. Those who did, all have asked to switch to a 9 or 45.

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