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.
“My mother hung me on a closet door once...once.”
“Any objections? “
Best for what?
“Well, it’s hard to notice with that big thing next to it. :)”
Gravy stain?
Smith and Wesson model 10?
:)
Stop bragging about the size of your wallet.
Ahhhh ok. Thanks for the clarification. Yep. My 19 is my EDC. Best all around handgun in the world imho.
Everyone seems to smack talk the Beretta 92.
I’ve been carrying mine for years.
Just heard an interview with Massad Ayoob, and HE carries a 92 as a primary.
Made me feel a bit better.
Easy, big fella.
Yeah, the author apparently doesn't like revolvers.
I'm guessing you mean your cigar holder?
I agree...pre 1982 S & W revolvers are the Swiss Watches of handguns.
...nope...
...got the first 3...
...would add a runner up...
...Colt Delta Elite 10mm...
My wife likes her .380, and it's what she carries. To be fair, I never really liked any of the S&W semi-automatic pistols being more of a Sig, 1911 and Beretta fan. But it is a good shooting little pistol, with a pretty good trigger.
Stopped reading when they put the M1911 on the list. It’s a decent weapon, even given its age. But one of the five best out there? That’s a joke. Moving on.
I had all 5, but lost them in a boating accident.
I really like the HK45, which is a standard for most Police departments around the country. Like all 45’s, throw a 230 grain bullet at an attacker vs the 90-150 grains you get with 9mm. Also a double pull/single pull action, but can be cocked to single pull on the first pull. Decocker switch functions as a safety, so it can be carried with one in the chamber, then just cock with your thumb. Picatinny under the barrel to attach lights, lasers, etc. Has a 16-1 left hand threaded barrel for silencer/suppressor. High sites for use with silencer/suppressor. Nicely balanced. Comes with 2 - 10 round mags. Simple to open up and clean.
That’s just a 1911 in 9mm heh.
The only thing a 1911 has going against it is the weight. It’s little brother, the Combat Commander, is a little better carry gun.
Not a bad list of guns for cops. I’d reject all of them as optimum for CCW. And I prefer revolvers for the joy of shooting.
My J-frame works well for what I do, as does my Ruger EC9s. Both would suck as a military gun, or a cop’s primary weapon.
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