Replies

Sure, lets go back to an accurized M1 Garand! Eight shots is enough for a real rifleman, right?

Come on! Marines don’t have tiny paws, they can wrap their hands around 14 rounds of .45, not only 7.

A polymer frame double-stack .45 with 14 rounds, LOADED, weighs as much as a steel 1911, EMPTY.

You don’t think any of that matters?

Come on! Marines don’t have tiny paws, they can wrap their hands around 14 rounds of .45, not only 7.

Female and Hispanic Marines have tinier hands than some; the USMC has already noted pronblems in training with the double-action trigger of the M9 and M9A1 Beretta. They likely do not wish to extend those problems, even if there are not- yet- any female personnel in the MEU-SOC units.

A polymer frame double-stack .45 with 14 rounds, LOADED, weighs as much as a steel 1911, EMPTY.

Correct. What is the service life of the plastic-framed pistol, in decades? For the steel-framed M1911 and M1911A1, it's at least ten decades, maybe more. Neither is there as much certainty about the life of the Glock/XD/XDM pistols after 50,000 rounds of service logged; the Indiana State Police Glock 22s in service circa 2006 failed after circa 1500 rounds, and were replaced with Glock 17s in 9mm, [same holsters and mag pouches could be used] then Gen 4 Glock 22s.

You don’t think any of that matters?

I think a lot more than that matters. So, it seems, do the Marines.

Sure, lets go back to an accurized M1 Garand! Eight shots is enough for a real rifleman, right?

I'd be quite content in some corners of Afghanistan with an M1D Garand, save I'd want an ACOG or ELCAN telescopic sight instead of the issue 7/8-inch scopes of the wartime sniper Garands that weren't even state-of-the-art in 1943. It's certainly the equal of an SVD, and right close to what can be done with a good FAL, L110 or accurized M1A... but with a cartridge that offers about 150 meters better performance.

Not quite a .300 Win Mag, nor a .338 Lapua. But not a boltgun, either.

Nighttime, of course, offers a very different set of problems.

For the heresy I am about to commit, O Lord forgive me ...

Marines don’t have tiny paws, they can wrap their hands around 14 rounds of .45

I'm not a Marine.

I have medium sized hands.

The M1911A1 is among my least favourite handguns. The frame is too thin relative to its length ... it feels like crap. To me, at least. Some outfit (Para-Ord?) makes what amounts to a double-stack 1911. Frame is thicker ... and it feels 'right' to me.

If I can wrap my hands around the beast and control it, surely the Marines can ...

This has nothing to do with 'spray and pray', just that there's no such thing as 'too much ammunition'.