Army Plans to Start Replacing M9 Pistol in 2018

[Gunreference1]

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2...2887570&rank=2

Steve

[Schuetzenman]

Ok I'm holding my breath until this happens. Gasp ... choke, choke ... OK that's not going to work.

[AK-J]

Waste of taxpayer money, IMHO

[Schuetzenman]

I think it needs to happen, but I don't expect it to. Primarily for 2 reason; 1 Military procurement has always been dragged kicking and screaming to new weapons. Usually some World War makes them finally move. 2. Cost, though it is probably much less than the 46 million people cost to give them food stamps.

[ltorlo64]

One of the major goals of the MHS effort is to adopt a pistol chambered for a more potent round than the current 9mm, weapons officials said. The U.S. military replaced the .45 caliber 1911 pistol with the M9 in 1985 and began using the 9mm NATO round at that time.

Soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan have complained that the 9mm round is not powerful enough to be effective in combat, Army officials maintain.

But experts from the law-enforcement and competitive shooting worlds have argued that tactical pistol ammunition -- no matter the caliber -- depends on proper shot placement to be effective at stopping a determined adversary.

I agree with the last paragraph, but the "experts" need to remember we are not talking tactical ammo we are talking ball ammo, ammo that drills a one sized hole as it passes through the target. The ammo does not expand. For this reason the larger the projectile the larger the wound channel which results in a more effective round. If we were talking tactical ammo then I would agree with them. Of course I do agree that shot placement is always important, but the smaller the round the more importance shot placement is.

[imanaknut]

What we need to do is fight the way our current enemy fights and to hell with that full metal round nose crap. They don't fight by treaty, why should we? Start arming our troops with real hurt them ammo.

And with the M16/M4 how about going back to a 1:12 or 1:14 twist? We are not shooting through jungle cover in the current theater of operation. The first M16 delivered devastating wounds because the round was so unstable in flight. The twist rate was tightened to provide a more stable flight through jungle undergrowth. Anyone find a jungle in the sandbox yet?