re: Army Picks Sig Sauer's P320 Handgun to Replace M9 Service Pistol

quote:

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1) what will be the standard "ball" 9mm?
115gr or 135 or something else?

2) the modular req is straight up money wasting BS
so they are going to carry swap out barrels and mags?
that will never be a feature that will come in to actual practice
can argue the external safety till the cows come home, it is what it is

3) are there/is there any other service currently under contract with sig for this firearm?

if the safety was the deal breaker they should have just stayed with the M9 and saved the taxpayers a large sum of money

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I am going to reply to this in pieces and update as I go since I just wrote a detailed response and the wonky phone I am on updated the page and deleted the whole thing before I could summit.

1. Expect to see standard 115 gr ball issued but special ammo for SOCOM and other units. Just like they currently do with 5,56.

2. The Modularity actually makes perfect sense and is a huge money saver. There are currently multiple handgun weapons systems in place due to mission profile. A perfect example is the M9 carried by uniformed MP's and the Sig P229 M-11 carried by CID for concealed carry. In a large organization like Army this is a huge expense. Multiple parts caches, multiple magazine types, tracking all that disparate equipment, multiple armorers, different training courses, etc. All because you needed a more compact pistol. With the Modular Sig, the intent wasn't ever for a soldier to be swapping parts in the field. Rather, the idea is if a Command decides they need 50 compact pistols for a mission that their Armorer can go into the parts bin and put them together without any major purchasing / supply issues. And guess what? The soldiers issued the "new" pistol don't need additional training or quals. And it's not just slide and barrel length. They have different sized grip frames, lengths, threaded barrels for silencers, light mounts, etc. Modular is a good thing.

3. Not that I know of but I would imagine everyone else was waiting to see what happened with this solicitation. I am sure Sig Execs are counting their bonus checks.

Lastly, the M9 IMO has run its course. The long DA / SA trigger is hard to shoot well without lots of practice and the pistol is bulky and heavy. It was great when we needed Italy to let us put anti-ICBM missiles in their country but it is time for it to go.