A friend of mine was involved in the selection of the new 9mm in the 80s at a very....intimate level. He was a firearms instructorduring the testing, and had to train "recruits" on the various pistols in the competition, and then all the results were evaluated.
According to him, the 9mm was scrapped because too many of the "crack troops" could not even rack the slides on the .45, and were afraid to fire it, it was flinch city for the ladies. In the "new Army", ladies have to be gate guards etc, so the .45 had to go. That's from the horse's mouth, from one who was in on the deal.
He also said that the SIG won every test, the Beretta was ulitmately picked out of NATO political considerations.
I was telling someone on another thread that I've cycled every cartridge imaginable- the gamut of premium hollow points, FMJ, re-mfrs, aluminum blazers- and never had a malfunction, and I'm talking many, many thousands of rounds.
Sig rules!