re: Veterans: How much use does a military pistol actually get in deployment?

It’s bar when an old coastie has to come in and check up a jarhead. But your statement of being impractical is just false. It’s a practical secondary weapon. As stated above, it’s to help you get to a long gun if need be. And since it’s impractical to carry a second primary weapon, the pistol fills in that gap. You do need a pistol as a secondary, it’s effective on keeping heads down, not intended for long range so in cqc it’s practical. It’s not intended for concealment, only as a secondary. But with that said, we Mainly carried sidearms and those guns went to the range a few times a year and had a thousand or so rounds sent through them each session with very little issues. Berettas originally then switched to the sig 220.