The final insult for Walther was the adoption of the Beretta 92...a pistol that used the falling block action that the P-38 pioneered!!!!
The reasons and theories for Beretta being adopted are numerous...including a deal made by Uncle Sammie to base missiles in Italy. Plus Beretta undercut the replacement parts costs of the SIG by a few pennies. What is even more amusing is the later M11 adoption. Seems SIG got the last laugh and the Army adopted the SIG 228 (As the M11) as a substitute standard pistol for it’s forces. Seems there was a lot of complaining about the big grips of the M9, and the Beretta was having all kinds of reliability problems with magazines and slide detachment from the frame (hence the saying “you ain’t a Navy SEAL till you’ve tasted Italian steel”).
As to the rest...Glock was dead in the water before they even entered. They didn’t pass the requirement for a seperate manual safety. Steyr GB is a weird gun to start with. It was actual based on a gun made in Morton Grove, IL by Les Rogak called the Rogak P-18 (which was based on a WW2 design). Steyr eventually took over design and production of the gun (after the P-18 flopped badly), but even Austria, where the gun was made, decided on the Glock instead. Ruger has tried to get his guns accepted for military use previously and has failed each time. The Mini-14 is a prime example. He tried to market it worldwide (France tested it) but has not had much success with it. Accuracy and reliability problems plague it. Some police departments have adopted it, but with the advent of dirt cheap M16 rifles released by Uncle Sammie, Ruger Mini 14 is pretty much a “sporting rifle” now. Ruger may have had more than fear of embarassment that kept him from entering the military trials. Shortly aftet it’s introduction, the P-85 had a massive recall of EVERY unit because a broken firing pin caused an AD during decocking. I suspect that would have been the end of the P-85 as far as Uncle Sammie is concerned and would have killed civilian sales too. While the Colt does appear to strongly resemble the Model 28/30 Star, one wonders why Colt would hook up with a gun that has had nothing but problems since it’s introduction.
Then again, Colt made some really dumb marketing moves back in those days Anyone remember the Colt double action semi-autos (Colt Double Eagle?) A real turd in stainless steel. They even had a Rube Goldberg plastic frame gun (the Colt ALL American 2000) that ranks with the Edsel for dismal failures. Surprisingly, it was designed by Eugene Stoner and Reed Knight.
http://www.waltherforums.com/forum/p88/6308-p88-failure-pass-drop-test.html
That brings back a lot of memories. I remember the Rogak and also recall it was made in the city in Illinois which banned handguns. I have never even seen one.
I can remember a lot of people wondered why the Star did so poorly. It seemed a good solid design. I had one and never had the slightest problem with it.
My Father was working at Eglin when they were doing the first round of tests. He used to talk with the guys doing the tests regularly.