US Secret Service switching to 9mm Glock pistols

abcnews.go.com ^ | Aug. 1, 2019 | CHRIS FRANCESCANI

[Magnum44]

I’ll take your word for it. I was not aware of cops carrying single action revolvers...at least not after the early 80s when glocks came out.

[CodeToad]

“My guess the lady agents delicate wrists can’t handle it so now they are stepping down to 9mm.”

I was thinking the same thing. “Must have a bunch of chick agents.”

[Stentor]

Now, that would be a big, wet, squooshy bubble of ballistic protection.

A good reason to have kept Chris Christie on as COS.

[Who is John Galt?]

Probably from an 8” barrel, as well. I wouldn’t wanna be on either end of that pistol.

I think that accelerating a 500 grain projectile to 5000 feet per second in an 8" barrel would probably require a cartridge case with considerably greater capacity than the .50AE. But as you say, I wouldn't want to be on either end of that contraption, either!

;^)

[PapaBear3625]

Muzzle energy of 9mm goes from about 500 Joules to a bit over 600 joules.

Muzzle energy of .357 Sig goes from about 700 Joules to close to a thousand joules. Significantly more energy hitting the target (and more recoil)

[central_va]

IMO no pistol is fun. The are all inherently nasty things. OTOH rifles can be fun and ‘beautiful’ to shoot.

[central_va]

OK, you are challenged to a dual with custom made single shot pistols. One is .45 and the other is 9MM and you won the coin toss! You get to choose either weapon. Which do you choose?

[circlecity]

I’ll take the 9. I’ve been shooting them for a long, long time and that’s what I feel confident with.

[central_va]

I’ll take the 9. I’ve been shooting them for a long, long time and that’s what I feel confident with.

Remember this is a one shot duel.

[circlecity]

So? All the more reason to hit with the first shot.

[central_va]

The .45 and th 9mm have the same accuracy. I'll take the .45 and put you on the floor and OTH might not even know I've been shot unless you make a head shot.

I viewed an accurate reenactment on ID of two neighbors( a man and a women ) rushing a guy with a 9mm. There were many eye witnesses. The woman was hit 6 times in the legs and torso and kept running at the pistol shooter. The neighbors thought he was missing or shooting blanks at her. In the witnesses own words the bullets had no visible effect on her. The man was the same. He was hit 7 times, mostly in the torso, and they had NO immediate effect on him what so ever.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Too bad for you. I take it you don’t go target shooting, or go to the range.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Why of course. However, I don’t enjoy shooting small guns either. I fire a few at the range just to check that they work. On my larger weapons I run through hundreds and hundreds of rounds for repetitive practice.

[central_va]

I target shoot often. To me pistols are like tools and are not fun, rifles are fun as well as useful.

[archy]

USSS: ***We can probably handle safely pulling the trigger as a part of the gun’s takedown sequence BANG! Oh, sorry, Mr. President...***

[Who is John Galt?]

One of the great blunders in history is the 4,000 different caliber rounds. And people complain about women and their shoes.
.22, .30-.30 .38/.357 .45 and .30-06 is about all anyone needs.

I figure guns (& cartridges ;^) are kind of like golf clubs. Some guys buy a set of clubs that works for them, and use that same set for years (maybe decades). Other guys feel they need the "latest & greatest" every time there's a change/improvement, and get a new set every year...

;^)

[circlecity]

There are several documented cases of LEO shootouts were a bad guy was shot in the heart with a 45 and continued to shoot back for over 40 seconds until they bleed out. The only way to “take someone out” with one shot is to hit the spinal cord, brain stem or brain. And a 9 or 45 are equally effective in that regard.

[central_va]

I have never read a story about someone getting hit with .45 and not reacting. Just the opposite.

"General Leonard Wood stated what he thought was obvious to anyone paying attention, ‘It is thought that the .45 caliber revolver [meaning Constabulary Model 1902] is the one that should be issued to troops throughout the Army . . . Instances have repeatedly been reported during the past year where natives have been shot through and through several times with a .38 caliber revolver, and have come on, cutting up the unfortunate individual armed with it . . . The .45 caliber revolver stops a man on his tracks, usually knocking him down . . . “"

[archy]

I hear ya. We quit going to one range because it turned into a cop shop. Although its pretty amusing to see the cops gathering around Mr. GG2 after he shoots trying to guess what agency he's with. They all think he's an operator.

I hit a retired officers course at a nearby sheriff's department for annual requalification, required to keep my across-state-lines carry card. 60 rounds, farthest target was at 15 feet. So wanting a little bit of a challenge, I shot it left handed, with a 2" barrelled revolver.

First six, plus a reload of six more, at three feet: I threw my handcuffs into the face of the silhouette target with my right hand, drew and fired six into the target's face [just above the mouth; just below the nose] reloaded, put 3 into the left eyesocket and the last three into the right, then waited for all the folks with 14 vand 17-shot 9mms to catch up.

After they started scoring the targets, I retrieved my cuffs, and a range officer came over to ask me if my gun *had gone full-automatic.*

I told him I'd check and see on the 7-yard target. I got the first six off in a little over a second, the reload just a bit faster. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't comprehend it.

We shot the last stage at 15 with similar results, the last one wasa a return to three feet, full magazine dump, which I translated as 6 shots, plus two speedloaders worth of reloads. Pretty much the same result, except that instead of pitching my cuffs into Mr. Target's face, I pulled my knife and made a two-hand collarbone chop about a foot deep.

And what was your job in the Bureau? I was asked while we changed out the targets. Told 'em I was responsible for retrieving the overdue law books from the Federal Court Library....