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As discussed with ex-soldier I am a fan of a external hammer gun vs the internal striker for a combat handgun exposed to dirt and sand etc .....

Thus I elimanate the glock for that reason. I carried a Glock 18 select fire rig in the first Desert Storm and kept it very clean , carried in a sholder rig under my BDU's over my t-shirt yet it had a number of misfires , jams etc albeit kept very clean. We fired it a lot on the range and I cleaned it on a regular daily basis yet it was a jamamatic in the deserts fine dry concrete like dust we lived in. I dumped it to our supply troop and grabbed two 1911A1's w/ a dozen mags and never looked back, never had a jam and it worked very well in that same enviornment.

Something to be said for a less that EDM like fit for a combat weapon exposed to the elements......

One thing I did do on my personal 1911A1's was to add what I call sand cuts in the exterior of the barrel and dust cover per the suggestion of a competition shooter that fired hundreds, aka 900, without cleaning. The cuts vs no cuts allowed for the abnormal number of rounds to be fired without cleaning the weapon in a clean competition environment.

Now configure a dirty natural environment with a musch less number of spare rounds carried and one may see the validity of such a "tweek"....... My personal 1911A1 as ya know is a meltdown goobermint model from clark on a springfield frame and slide w/o sights.

I like the 1911 design best and I also carry the glocks and sigs as stated.......Yet the 1911A1 is a natural point shooter for me proven in my IDPA and shoothouse practice.

Each person has a choice as a civilian to obtain what works best for them due their size, financial concerns and needs due the threat they may encounter in their environment. The average grunt has no such choice so a common ground must be found by a bean counter and a field testing hammer monkey.

Personally I'd demand a common caliber and issue a standard sidearm yet allow the troop to carry what they want to purchase with a given "chit". If said purchase chit allowed 800 dollars and they wanted the 2000 dollar custom flavor then they pony up the spare 1200 themselves. Mandate a minimum of 12 spare mags along with the handgun and if it breaks then they are SOL and down to the primary issue longgun only unless they pack a spares pack for field repair.

For what it's worth as I type this a G21 with a streamlight M3 rail light is sitting on the desk next to me......:o)

It's my "housegun" !

Stay safe GR !

For what it's worth as I type this a G21 with a streamlight M3 rail light is sitting on the desk next to me......:o)

Has anyone done any kind of study on just how well tactical lights mounted on handguns work? Most discussions I see about them quickly degenerate into flame wars, with one side talking about how you can see your target in the darkness, and the other side saying that all the light does is give the bad guy a target to shoot at.

My personal feeling (and I have no experience to back this up, it is purely opinion) is that the light is preferable if it's so bright that it dazzles and blinds the person you're pointing it at, renering him basically helpless for even a few seconds. Something like the flashlight I carry on my evening walks, an iNova T4, which is a rechargeable LED rated at 100 lumens. It is a blinding blue-white light - if I hit you in the face with the beam at typical indoor range at night, you will not be seeing anything for a few seconds. Of course, the light is eight inches long - a bit big for mounting on a pistol. But I could practice holding it and using the gun one-handed.

I'm looking to set my defense weapon (a SIG P239) up for night duty and am looking into the best options. I'm leaning toward flashlight carry with tritium sights (the SIG doesn't have rails, so mounting a light is out), but might be persuaded into checking out laser systems.