Posted on 06/23/2020 9:49:47 AM PDT by PROCON
All are excellent weapons for defense, and in some cases offense; they are equally at home in a homeowner’s gun safe or carried as an officer’s sidearm.
Here's What You Need To Remember: Locked away behind the Iron Curtain and unable to secure contracts with the Czechoslovakian government, the CZ 75 failed to gain adherents until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Today the pistol is available in an updated form, the CZ 75BD, featuring a firing pin safety, decocking lever and underbarrel accessory rail, and available in a variety of midsized handgun calibers.
The bustling global arms trade has resulted in many excellent handguns in the last hundred years. Some of the best handguns are more than a hundred years old, while others have been in production for less than a decade. All are excellent weapons for defense, and in some cases offense; they are equally at home in a homeowner’s gun safe or carried as an officer’s sidearm. Here are five of the best handguns currently in service worldwide.
The Colt M1911A1
Designed by prolific gun designer John Moses Browning, and first introduced in 1911, the Colt 1911 pistol was meant to replace weaker .38 caliber pistols used by the U.S. Army during the Philippine Insurrection. The 1911 was the U.S. military’s first semiautomatic handgun, marking a permanent turn away from military revolvers.
The original 1911 weighed 2.4 pounds and had a seven-round internal magazine. In 1924, the gun was updated, mostly for ergonomic reasons, to the 1911A1 standard. The 1911A1, while internally complex by modern handgun standards, is still a popular handgun. The end of handgun’s patent, coupled with the weapon’s enduring usefulness resulted in almost every major U.S. gun manufacturer releasing its own version of the handgun. In 2012, the U.S. Marine Corps Marine Special Operations Command adopted the Colt M45A1, an updated version of the 1911A1, as its standard handgun.
The Glock 17
The Glock 17 was built around three key ideas: simplicity, reliability and ease of use. The handgun is easy to take apart, with a single press of the button removing the slide for cleaning and access to the barrel. The Glock passed the Austrian Army’s reliability test with flying colors, jamming only once in ten thousand firings. And the weapon was expressly designed with an eye on “pointability”—the pistol’s natural ability to act as an extension of the shooter’s hand-and-eye coordination.
From the original Glock 17, capable of carrying seventeen rounds of nine-millimeter ammunition, the Glock line has expanded to cover nearly all semiautomatic calibers, including .45 ACP, and the gun has replaced the 1911A1 pistol in such organizations as Marine Special Operations Command and the U.S. Army’s Delta Force.
The Sig P226
Developed by the Swiss-German partnership Sig Sauer to replace the M1911A1 in the U.S. Armed Forces, the Sig P226 failed to win the contract but received a major boost when U.S. Navy SEALs rejected their Beretta M9 pistols in favor of the Sig.
The P226 was an evolution of the Sig P220, a postwar favorite of Western and Western-oriented (such as Japan) armies worldwide. The pistol is a so-called double-action design, meaning a single long pull of the trigger will both cock the pistol and release the firing pin, firing the pistol. Users can also operate the Sig in single action mode, in which the pistol is manually cocked and a shorter trigger pull releases the firing pin. The pistol is equipped with a side-mounted decocker for lowering the hammer without firing.
The Sig Sauer P226 served with the U.S. Navy SEALs for twenty-eight years, before eventually being replaced by the compact version of the Glock 17, the Glock 19.
The Smith & Wesson M&P
Smith and Wesson is one of the oldest names in American firearms. Although the company was mostly known for revolvers, it was inevitable that the company would come out with a Glock-style polymer handgun. The result, the M&P (Military and Police) became highly successful in its own right.
Introduced in 2005, the M&P features a steel-reinforced polymer frame and stainless-steel slide. The M&P was one of the first guns to feature three interchangeable palm swells, allowing the user to configure the pistol to better fit his or her hand. The M&P also features ambidextrous slide stop and magazine release. Unlike the Glock, the M&P can be disassembled without pulling the trigger.
The M&P is available in a number of midsize pistol calibers, including nine-millimeter, 357 Sig and .40 Smith & Wesson, as well as .45 ACP. The M&P mostly serves in police forces in the United States and abroad.
The CZ 75
One of the best handguns in the world wasn’t even available to recreational shooters for much of the Cold War. The CZ 75 handgun, introduced in 1975, borrowed a great deal from John Moses Browning’s late model pistol, the Browning Hi-Power, both externally and internally, but is not a copy, and features significant differences. The nine-millimeter pistol could carry up to sixteen rounds, making it one of the largest-capacity handguns of its day.
Locked away behind the Iron Curtain and unable to secure contracts with the Czechoslovakian government, the CZ 75 failed to gain adherents until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Today the pistol is available in an updated form, the CZ 75BD, featuring a firing pin safety, decocking lever and underbarrel accessory rail, and available in a variety of midsized handgun calibers.
Just heard an interview with Massad Ayoob, and HE carries a 92 as a primary.
Made me feel a bit better.
I've got its South American cousin, a Taurus PT-99. Great handgun, extremely accurate, and built like a tank. I made the mistake of hand loading some interesting bullets I had gotten surplus from IMI, and I didn't realize that the load was for +P SMG 9mm, NOT for a handgun! After about 30 rounds one of the locking lugs broke off, jamming the action shut.
Taurus replaced the slide, locking block and barrel under warranty (it was nearly 10 years after I had bought it,) all at no charge.
Mark
Well, technically, it IS a 1911... Don't forget Colt also makes (or made) 1911s in 9mm and .38Super, as well as the DE in 10mm.
Mark
Agreed, the mechanism is just so elegant. I was surprised that the article said it was complex.
I've never thought so, and I'm perfectly comfortable stripping one down to pins, while I've sworn I will never remove the side plate of a S&W revolver again, because the last time, I had to take it to someone who knew how to put it back together!
Mark
Also made them in .22LR with a special chamber.
You should get that sports hernia checked out! :)
I think that the .357 is the 627. A 629 is .44 magnum, and only 6 rounds.
Mark
I used to have 5 Model 10-5s alone. Still have a couple 10-5s, but also a cool 1960 no-dash model 10 4-screw, as well as a pre-10 that serves as a home defense gun.
FWIW, I never had a problem with the Chip McCormick 8 round mags. I used to compete in USPSA with them, so they used the thick base pads for protection, but they can be removed. Never a failure to feed in at least 10,000 rounds.
Mark
And Dan Coonan made 1911 chambered in .357 magnum and .41 magnum.
Never fired the .41, but the .357mag is a HOT mutha!
He could’ve named it a cannon.
Long slide action, longer grip as necessitated by the long magnum case, but just damn is it a cool pistol. Mine polished and jeweled,with the sharp edges rounded. It’s amazingly accurate. Loading the mag is tricky but worth it. You’ll need a pin to pull the follower down to drop in cartridges.
Mine was clocked at over 1900fps with very hot loads, 1300 fps is EASY!
Check the ballistics for yourself.
A FLAME THROWER...
https://www.defensivecarry.com/threads/125gr-357sig-vs-125gr-357-magnum.111628/page-2
Video...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6hykrh5yjAQ
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DVjRpQhmjnc
To the man, EVRYONE.I’ve allowed to shoot it gets the BIGGEST grin afterward and at the range it always draws attention
Yes, in the winter I CCW that iron.
Over penetration is the biggest liability
I was considering that the Combat Commander had a 3/4" shorter barrel, and would be easier to carry. And, I would certainly agree that if you have never shot a properly tuned Govt or Commander model, you don't know what a good semi-auto pistol trigger is.
I think it all depends upon what you expect out of that handgun. My wife and I are into 3-gun heavy irons class, so I shoot A LOT of 1911. But, my carry gun is a Glock 23. Different tools for different jobs.
I’ve got a S&W Model 57, and it’s a jem of a revolver. I rarely shoot it anymore, since I no longer reload, and the factory loads are pretty hot, while I enjoy plinking with lighter loads (I also used to use if for shooting bowling pins.)
.357 Mag is an extremely effective load.
Mark
Agree.
Great load
Shot pin competition with my coonan too.
Also have Performance Center compensated K frame. Excellent trigger, though I’ve had the trijicon sight replaced twice because it dimmed.
How’s the trigger on yours?
Do you practice hammer stops?
i made the same decision, but the even 19 does not conceal well enough (on my ugly body) for all day carry. i still like it, but consider the 17 to be a better shooter.
I own at least 1 variant of 3 out of the 5. The CZ and the Sig are on my short list.
I’ve only been using it a couple of years, but I’m liking my Sig Saur P238.
Nice crisp SA trigger, nice and smooth in DA.
Goes blam, emphatically, six times.
Saves all of one's empties so one can just drop them on the ground or in a box, depending on how one practices, and then take them home to be reloaded.
IOW, everything one needs, and nothing one doesn't need. What more can be said, except that it's a common, ubiquitous, everyman's defensive shooting revolver? Doesn't it deserve at least honorable mention?
BTW I'm jealous as heck over your 625. Nice going...
Glock 19 with spare 33 round mags is my Bedside gun.
Glock 43 is my EDC but I have gone to carrying the 19 because of the riots everywhere.
I recently bought a G-43 too, nice slim, single-stack, ideal for EDC, but like you, carry my G-19 mostly.
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