[SirFishalot]

I regularly compete in IPSC matches with a 1911 chambered for 38 super. It is basically a 9MM on steroids. Light kick provides great recovery time.

As for the lube problem,
I don't understand why the Military hasn't taken advantage of some of the excellent metal finishes out now. A few are so slick that you can dryfire the weapon for 1000s of rounds without problem. My 38 super gun above, and all 10 mags for it, is finished in NP3 by Robar. It cost me about $400 to do but it has about 2500 rounds through it since and I can detect no wear. The slide moves like it's on ball bearings.

[RogueIsland]

I regularly compete in IPSC matches with a 1911 chambered for 38 super.

Yeah, I really should have said IDPA rather than IPSC. My bad. The various exotic .38s are definitely big in IPSC for the reason you mentioned. My real point was just that you can shoot a .45 ACP accurately and fast. I've seen plenty of people do it. And I've seen plenty of people miss slowly with 9mm. It's all just training, after all.

[El Laton Caliente]

They don’t even need anything as fancy as the metal finishes. Many of the combat companies bought the “dry lube” that is commercially available and used electronics cleaner to blow the sand out. The support units used what they were trained with and had predictable results.

The marine units were doing this during the first gulf war. It is old news but should have been corrected.