I remember when the first tests were conducted back around 1980 by the Air Force. All the pistols went through the regular series of torture, reliability, mud, dirt etc. and the Beretta won easily.
The Army refused to accept the Air Force results and did their own. The Beretta won again tho the SIG P226 was just about as good.
Smith & Wesson persuaded some politicians to have the tests done again and the Beretta again came out on top tho both the S&W and SIG did well, some say just as well.
Whatever one thinks, the Beretta is reliable and performs well under stress tests.
I think the open slide has a lot to do with it. Yes, maybe it does let more dirt in, but is also more forgiving if the weapon gets dropped in the mud or something.
As I recall, the Glock was not allowed in those tests. I think it was because it lacked a manual safety. I always thought that was a political decision.
There were eight entrants, only three of whom had enough developmental time behind them to be serious contenders—Beretta, SIG/Sauer and the S&W 469. The others, the Steyr GB, FN High Power DA, Colt, H&K, and Walther, never had a realistic chance. Bill Ruger recognized early on (probably from his WWII experience) that his gun—what became the P85, designed principally by Roy Melcher— was not yet ready, and decided not to waste the money or suffer the adverse publicity that would ensue from a poor showing, and did not enter. Ruger concentrated instead on preparing his gun for commercial introduction without distraction, which proved a very wise decision. Gaston Glock was still struggling to get started in Austria, and his innovative design probably could not have satisfied the specs anyway. Star, which had been stung by its treatment in the earlier Eglin trials, kept its distance but unofficially, to an extent still unclear, had some arrangement with Colt; indeed, the Colt entry bore a remarkable resemblance to the Star M28, which in turn borrowed heavily from the Czech CZ75.
In the end, only Beretta, which had a proven gun and its own on-shore U.S. manufacturing facility up and running, was able to fully satisfy the Army. SIG came close, and indeed thought they had it in the bag through a strategic alliance with Maremont, who already supplied M2 and M60 machine guns to DoD. But last minute lobbying by the Italian government, which called in many diplomatic chits to apply pressure, coupled with an episode at the Pentagon of insufferable arrogance on the part of the Swiss who owned J.P. Sauer, produced a victory for Beretta.
http://www.waltherforums.com/forum/p88/6308-p88-failure-pass-drop-test.html
I have a old 92fs and it is a great shooter. Loaded with Hydra-shocks and it should bring down anyone.
The military cannot issue hollowpoints or high power 9 MM rounds.
I also have a Colt Commander that is a sweet pistol, but I like the 15 rounds for the 92.
Glocks may be good{I wasnt really impressed with the one I fired}but it didnt feel right.
SIG is good but a little pricey. But the one thing the Germans know about is making firearms.