Purhaps its better to just issue M4s, which is mainly the practice anyway.
The original replacement for the 1911A1 was the M1 Carbine. As the purpose of both weapons was to arm soldiers with a primary task other than being a rifleman (artillery, engineers, truck drivers, radio operator, mortar teams, etc.), who would still be in harms way, but couldn't be weighed down by a battle rifle.
After the M1 Carbine was fielded, it didn't totally replace the 1911A1 as intended.
I would say that a carbine is superior to a pistol in all but a very few cases.
My thoughts exactly. The 45 caliber pistol became standard issue during the Phillipine insurrection. The Moros would wrap themselves with leather thongs as armor and charge the line with thei machetes. The 38 caliber pistol was totally ineffective in stopping the enemy before they reached the front lines.
The problem is the Hague Convention of 1899, Declaration III, which prohibits the use in international warfare of bullets which easily expand or flatten when making contact with the target. There are many excellent 9mm hollow point loads that perform as well as a .45 in most situations.
“The problem is women. They are too small on average to effectively yield anything larger or more powerful than a 9mm service pistol.”
The MOLLE and MOLLE II gear is impressive in that it can fit either an Anglo male soldier or an Anglo female/Latino male; very versatile. I prefer the older ALICE stuff myself (don’t like Velcro), but the whole modular concept that was improved with MOLLE is exceptional.
how in the world are you comparing a rifle as a replacement to a pistol??
The .45 was created because the .38 was not powerful to knock down Moros in the PI
The Springfield A3.03 was the weapon of choice from WWI to WWII, being used effectively by the Marines in the first 2 years of the war
Claiming that a carbine was a replacement for a pistol??
Then why did tankers carry pistols and why did officers carry pistols??
I find the average woman can handle a .40 easily. There is not that much difference in recoil over a 9mm. A .45 would be fine for the average woman with some practice, although personally I prefer the slighly smaller caliber. They all get the job done when used with accuracy....
Maybe the metrosexual men need a 9 MM mouse gun but hillbillies aren't recoil sensitive.