Posted on 05/04/2015 9:47:01 PM PDT by skeptoid
MILLSTADT, Mo. -- At first glance, it seems absurd to suggest that a small company on the outskirts of St. Louis could be a serious player in the race to provide the U.S. Army with its next handgun.
This is, after all, a major event in the realm of military weapons -- having happened only twice in the past 100 or so years. And it's expected to draw the attention of the industry's most powerful names, including Smith & Wesson, Beretta, Ruger and Glock.
And then there's tiny Detonics, a five-person operation in Millstadt that fashions itself more tech company than gunmaker.
(Excerpt) Read more at adn.com ...
St. Browning smiles down from heaven upon his faithful brother...
There’s a Millstadt in Illinois, near St. Louis, but I have never heard of Millstadt, Missouri.
The military tends to look for one size fits all weapon solutions that are pretty much never ideal across the spectrum of possible battlefields e.g. the M16A2. They also focus on the "same-same" concept. Everybody has to be same-same. Deviation from same-same is almost always frowned upon. That isn't always as useful as they would like to believe either.
You links track precisely with my own (limited) experience with the platform.
I believe the 1911 is the most ergonomically perfect design ever conceived. I’ve seen newbies damn near sport wood the first time they handled a 1911.
Nevertheless, the weight, ammunition limitations, and manual of arms for the platform place it firmly in the realm of the (very) dedicated hobbyist by modern standards of use.
Professionals could be dedicating their “time to mastery” toward more profitable skill development, and laymen rarely possess the dedication required for mastery.
I would estimate less than 30% of those pistol shooters I observe on any public range can consistently group their shots in 18 inches at ten yards. Clearly, these shooters have other skills that need be developed before approaching a master’s weapon like the 1911.
Came to say the same thing.
Never equaled, never exceeded.
Yes. You have expressed it perfectly. There are nice compact versions out there, if that is what they decide on.
I think this is stupid.
I am all for getting our troops the best handgun available, but...there are plenty of excellent, solid handguns out there, developed for the civilian and LEO market.
I simply cannot see why we have to go through this process again. I am all for developing a new infantry rifle, but this just seems like a crazy boondoggle with money we don’t have.
I was qualified on, and had to carry a 1911 for three years. I acquired a Sig 220 several years ago and IMHO, it is lighter, easier to shoot, less complicated to breakdown and clean. .45 ACP is a manstopper, which is why it was introduced to service over a hundred years ago and was around so long.
Following on my previous post (#23), compact 1911s have some of the highest number of malfunctions. Many self defense trainers have gone to the extent of not recommending compact 1911s at all for serious self defense as the smaller pistol simply compounds the problems that even larger 1911-style pistols have. Take the issues raised in the links in #23, and now add the following issues for a compact 1911: slide speed issues for the shorter slide, spring weights and the need for adjusting them for the compact 1911, extractor tuning, and hammer spring/firing pin stop geometry. Issues significant enough that even 1911 forums speak on some of the main changes that need to be done to make a compact 1911 a 100% reliable self defense weapon, changes that do not make sense for a large organization like the military to do when there are many modern firearms available that don't need that.
Exactly! Couldn’t have said it better. I think the writing was splattered all over the wall when the Marines allowed MARSOC to use Glocks.
I am 100% OPPOSED to allowing our military to select another sidearm while we have this slime of an administration in charge.
If anyone thinks this will not be rife with politics, corruption and cronyism is fooling themselves.
MARSOC recently approved GLOCK 19 for use by its members. My concerns are lack of external safety on the GLOCK. However, apparently USMC isn’t. Certainly hope they can avoid “GLOCK leg...”. As many PD’s have discovered.
Sig Sauer all the way!
Here’s an idea. Choose a round then choose the platform to optimize it.
Yep - mine was manufactured in the Springfield Armory in 1914 and is still a straight and sweet shooter.
If you think of how many company or battallion level armorers there are, the need to keep inventory and parts to a reasonable level dictates standardization.
But on the other hand, there is no magic pistol that fills all roles superbly - there’s always a trade-off.
Most any modern pistol platform can be found in both 9mm and .45acp, so whatever caliber they decide on should be easily handled by the winner. So now all they have to do is come up with the out-of-the-box-no-tinkering-required reliability (on average) of a modern, polymer-frame, striker fired pistol, with the silky-smooth trigger of the average S&W revolver, the redundant safeties of the 1911 (to try and make it somewhat more idiot-safe and please the generals), and the low parts count and ease of maintenance of a Glock, then they might have a wonder-gun.
But that frankenpistol does not exist.
The 45ACP was specifically designed to put down moslem juramentados when it was found the .38 Colt merely made them mad.
Upon the failure of the Colt .38, the army immediately rushed a load of old 45 Colt Peacemakers to the Philippines.
The only thing better would be the old Puckle Gun which fired square bullets, said to be better for killing moslems.;-D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puckle_gun
Not so. I was a civilian armourer in the early 1980s when the military Joint Services Small Arms Acquisition Program was ongoing, and in addition to performing initial acceptance of new production military small arms, we overhauled the old ones, which were then expected to become war reserve stocks or foreign military aid for our [hopefully!] allies.
Yep, the M1911 .45 auto pistol was very much in use, then undergoing trials to find a 9mm replacement, which in time proved to be the Italian M92 Beretta which entered US service as the M9 pistol in 1984-85.
But even then, many base security forces and guard detachments were equipped with a variety of leftover .38 revolvers, and military police investigators, military intelligence agents and couriers were using short-barreled .38 sixguns [and fiveguns!] The replacement for them was the Ruger Security-Six a fairly robust and reliable handgun that at least standardized holsters and support equipment. But the pressure of the military production contract meant that Ruger had to hire new employees, some with no experience at all [equal opportunity/ affirmative action clauses in the government hiring policies in the contracts] and about one new gun out of three failed to meet initial acceptance standards. Some had to have their cylinders opened with a shop mallet.
Next step: the spooks, general officers and special cops, got the SIG228 semiauto pistol, designated M11 by the Army, since the M9 was deemed too bulky for undercover use and wear, and resulted in some lowered range scores for small-handed female and Hispanic users. There have been other *special buys,* the most recent of which I'm aware is the Marine MEUSOC and Raider units getting their new M45 handguns, essentially a M1911A1 made of stainless steel.
What goes around, sometimes comes back around again. Especially when it works, and its replacement doesn't, or *sort of works.*
I have one, S&W 629, as well. Love that thing!
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