Posted on 09/24/2021 7:08:12 AM PDT by Onthebrink
What really gets lost in all of this talk is how much soldiers will miss the M9 Beretta handguns. Travis Pike, a former Marine machine gunner who served with 2nd Bn 2nd Marines for five years, recently wrote on Sandboxx that “I couldn’t help but feel a little tinge of nostalgic sadness. I’m not saying the Beretta was better than the Sig, but I loved the M9.”
(Excerpt) Read more at 19fortyfive.com ...
Humans always gravitate to the familiar.
Oddly, I have never pined for the ol’ jam-master M-16A1...the stuff of nightmares.
We should have stayed with the 1911.
When You absolutely must reach out and THUMP someone .45ACP Rules.
I was at a firearm training course in NV.
They were recommending everyone show up with a Glock or 1911.
One person showed up with a Beretta 9m.
We all saw very quickly why you don’t want one.
Clearing a jam while being shot at is a bad place to be with a Beretta.
Anyone who misses the M9 has never used it beyond a square clean range. The design is terrible for combat, particularly in a dirty dry environment. The open slide is a dirt magnet. The external hammer is a dirt magnet. Both quickly lead to dry gun and dry gun malfunctions. The single action/double action operation from a holster is slow compared to striker fired. The slide has edges and corners that can pinch or cut fingers/hands when dealing with stoppages.
I have one. I have trained with one. I would never carry one by choice. Would take any striker fired or 1911 over the Beretta any day.
Yep, the one shot solution.
Beretta Cougar 8045 in .45 is a must have.
Either your age is showing ( M16/M16A1 in Vietnam circa 1967), or you just read selectively.
The M16 platform is most reliable and useful. A youtube search will show you how they perform against a plethora of new AKs , Galils, M14s SKS etc in harsh conditions.
But, anyway.
When I see a M9 Beretta I see a Walter P-38 , LOL never fired the Beretta but I do have a P-38
I’m a lefty and have no problem with the AR platforms. Now, bullpups are another matter entirely. Don’t like brass in the face.
I maintained expert level on the 1911A1. I could barely qualify sharpshooter on the M9 as the grip was not suited to my hand and as such I never liked it.
Then my eyesight deteriorated to the point that it has to be a shotgun now.
>Beretta Cougar 8045 in .45 is a must have.
100%! (for civilian or LEO use) ... but I don’t think I’d like it in a military role. That locking cam loves the ‘Shooter’s Choice’ grease but add sand?
It was hard for me to qualify with the M-16 when I was avoiding the hot brass going down my neck. I shot right handed and qualified but prefer left handed as I am left eye dominant.
The M16 platform is most reliable and useful. A youtube search will show you how they perform against a plethora of new AKs , Galils, M14s SKS etc in harsh conditions.
But, anyway
Funny, I was issued a new M16A4 (first Marine that weapon was ever issued to) - LTI’d before we left for the sandbox. Always cleaned and properly maintained. In a heavy firefight, in Iraq, on different mags, I had two jams requiring remedial action because the gas tube kept fouling.
In Afghanistan, my buddy shredded his gas tube and wound up with a bolt action rifle. That’s not some nonsense on youtube or elsewhere on the Internet…..that’s personal experience in close contact with the enemy, surrounded 360 and taking danger close friendly fire with real members of my platoon getting shot. We were picking up and using AKs and PSLs.
Shoot a half dozen mags at the range it does great. Burn a couple dozen mags in the sand and mud, and many of those rifles will jam.
We (grunts) have been complaining of jams with every variant of M16 since the A1 in Vietnam…….but, the Internet, and the people who’ve never been under heavy fire and had to rely on it for real all know better. That aside - the M9 is junk too.
Yeh, raise your hand if you’d call the cops after you realized somebody stole your Beretta and left a new Sig P320 in its place. 😆
My Glocks never had a single malfunction in 20 years.
I rented quite a few pistols at my gun range before I bought the one I wanted. I don’t think any of them were cleaned after be rented. Every Beretta I rented either tended to jam or was not operating smoothly. The IWF pistols I rented operated very smoothly. On my last job consulting concerning the development of IED jammers I asked the senior military officer I worked with how they liked the Beretta and his response was really negative,
It was easy to shoot, lightweight (to me anyway), had little recoil and stayed on target. The scuttlebutt had always been the Army needed a pistol more female friendly so they pushed the M-9 on the military claiming it brought us to NATO standards. There were some really good female marksman, especially the reservists who were cops. But, a lot of the female shooters hated the M-9, claiming it was too bulky, to heavy and they could not grip it correctly and complained about the recoil. Obviously they never shot an M1911. I suspect a lot of Reserve female Master at Arms qualified by Bic that day. The article says the SIG fits smaller hands better. Does that mean it was selected to better fit female hands? Does it have alternate grips? What about men with larger hands?
Mid-80’s, and the A1 with no feed cuts was problematic - the main cause of issues were the old used mags with their worn catch holes and tilt-o-matic followers. Nothing says quality like ‘Adventureland’.
When you’re carrying needle-nosed pliers to deal with firmly jammed stovepipes on a regular basis, that isn’t what I call ‘reliable’. When they ran, they were lovely tho.
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