Posted on 04/23/2004 4:21:45 PM PDT by Cannoneer No. 4
April 23, 2004: The U.S. Marine Corps is looking for a new .45 caliber (11.4mm) pistol. While the American military retired the M1911 .45 caliber in 1985, some commando units still prefer it. This is because the 11.4mm (.45 caliber) bullet weighs twice as much as the 9mm one that replaced it and still has an edge in "stopping" someone hit with it. But the 9mm M9 pistol magazine carries 15 rounds, versus seven in the M1911. The commandos (Special Forces, SEALs, Marine Force Recon) counter that their operations are the type where every round counts, and the fewer you have to fire the better. For the regular troops, the M9 has been popular, and successful. The 9mm weapon is lighter, has less recoil and has the extra ammo for users who are not sharpshooters.
The Marines want to buy 1,100 new .45 caliber pistols and are having a competition to determine which of several models available will get the $1.9 million contract. The Marines have been using M1911s rebuilt from the many old ones turned in when everyone switched to the M9. But even this supply is running out, and it is known that there are newer .45 caliber designs out there that are more reliable, lighter, easier to repair and more accurate. Some Marines (and other troops) buy these newer .45 caliber weapons with their own money. Most American combat units tolerate troops bringing in some additional weapons, especially pistols. Some troops have been buying 10mm pistols, seeing this as a nice cross between the lighter weight of the M9 (2.55 pounds versus three for the .45) and the greater stopping power of the 11.4mm M1911 bullet. But there are new .45 models that weigh as much as the M9, carry more bullets (10) and are easier to repair than the M1911.
Afghanistan also raised the issue of stopping power once more, when individual troops went into caves or other tight places, where only a pistol could be used. In these cases, every shot counted, and the guy firing larger (like 11.4mm instead of 9mm) bullets was more likely to win. But most troops agree that any arguments over pistols is minor compared to issues involving all the other more frequently used weapons and bits of equipment. Nevertheless, there's something about pistols…
The $400 Billion per year has been for the most part wisely and responsibly spent and thanks to that effort by professionals in your Government, things are going fairly well (nobody's invaded your little burg lately, have they?)
If you sincerely think you've greater smarts and ability than the rest of us, go for it: take your resume out and knock the dust off and get a job with the Government acquisition system and make a difference.
If you'd rather carp and impugn our integrity from the comfort of your home - well, heck that's your right too. It's just a lot easier than actually doing something.
They don't weigh any less in the mountains, either. But one is a comfort there.
I'll just need a few friends to shoot flaming arrows at my corpse as it floats out to sea.
If my family can't find any friends to do it, I'm sure plenty of my enemies will volunteer for the duty!
How hard do you think it would be to get a permit for that?
L
I have shot one person 4 times in the head with my 9mm, with two certain hits, [I saw scalp fly] one additional probable [head snapped back] and one maybe [or maybe not] with the result that he fired at me with his M1 carbine and hit me twice, then dropped the weapon and left to nurse his Super-Vel headache. I was not certain if he had accompanying friends so I refrained from emptying the magazine into him or pursuing, and I had some damage control of my own to attend to, so that pretty much concluded the matter, somewhat less than satisfactorily so, I thought.
On a later occasion three holdup rookies tried an early morning armed robbery of the bar where I was a manager, at a time when the money in the cash register would have gotten them just a bit less than twenty dollars apiece, which I was quite happy to let them leave with. They were unaware of my presence taking care of a plumbing problem, unusual for me since I usually worked nights. There were three customers and two employees covered by one at a single table bu one while the other, with a shotgun, began clearing out the register. When the first one told the two females present to *get up you bitches are coming with us* I thought it was a good time to introduce myself, which I did my shooting him in the back as soon as he began to turn to face me and his gun was no longer pointed toward the others. I then did the same for the other one, about 25 feet away, and he dropped down behind the bar with the shotgun still next to the register. So I shot the first one again, stepped behind the bar and found the guy curled up with his hand in his pocket, so fired another at him with the sights right on his nose and my gunhand resting on the bar, from about 4 feet.
I hadn't noticed the third at the front door making sure noone would enter and interfere, but when the dance began, he decided the best thing to do was to make use of that convenient front door and did, leaving with their driver. I phoned the cops, who were there in about six minutes, was arrested for manslaughter but not booked- it was a Friday- and *detained for questioning* until the Grand Jury met Monday and no-billed me. It turned out the two I'd nailed had lengthy armed robbery records as muggers, and were wanted for another previous bar robbery in which they'd cracked the head of the bartender with the shotgun after getting less than a hundred dollars on a saturday night. The other two were never caught.
The ammunition in the first instance was simply the best 9mm jacketed hollowpoint available, which I've used on whitetail deer and feral pig with excellent effect; neither was anything wrong with the placement. In the second I used a .45 Colt Commander with hardball and might have placed my second shot a little better than I did, but other than that the results worked out okay. I had three shots remaining, enough to have continued the discussion with the one at the door had he chosen to stay and play, with what two of those who say him closest described as a probable Ruger Standard .22 autopistol.
In the first instance, I had a Remington 870 12 gauge also available to me, but it was in the hands of a companion covering the inside of the residence we were housesitting with the directions that I would NOT be coming inside, and anyone who tried to do so was not a friendly. I was also wearing a Second Chance Z9 protective vest, which very likely saved my life and precluded a pesky hospital stay. I should have been wearing it during the second event, and had the night previously, but was *only* taking care of some drippy pipes and wasn't looking for trouble. It found me anyway.
I'm still very fond of my 9mm Browning GP, and its superior penetration, accuracy and magazine capacity are still desirable features. But the results with .45 ball were much happier, and even when I carry the Browning nowadays, I often carry a .45 as well if there's no more serious long gun handy.
-archy-/-
I'll just need a few friends to shoot flaming arrows at my corpse as it floats out to sea.
If my family can't find any friends to do it, I'm sure plenty of my enemies will volunteer for the duty!
How hard do you think it would be to get a permit for that?
L
A permit shouldn't be needed if you're outside territorial waters, and firing your pyre at night should preclude your being any hazard to navigation- any inattentive seaman who'd overlook your finale would be deserving of joining in with it and becoming your last viuctim, if a slightly post-mortem one.
But there's no reason for you not to enjoy your sendoff while you still can. I'd be glad to shoot blazing arrows at you even before you expire, if that's really your desire....
(guess they'll just make more down at the bazaar, complete with broad arrow proof marks . . . :-p )
Nothing scarey in our woods . . . although a friend of mine was once attacked by a wild turkey while he was deer hunting. I don't know if it was insane or what, but it flew at him and pecked him and beat him with its wings. He had to kick it several times to make it go away.
I think you're right that some of the self-ordained "experts" have been watching too many movies.
Not a nice neighborhood? :-D
You aware that they've shoehorned that same 105mm *Light Gun* into the 8-wheeled Stryker armored car chassis? That could be the addition to the Stryker chassis to give it some real value instead of just being an overpriced 3 million dollar tripod for a .50 machinegun.
Not a nice neighborhood? :-D
The first instance was a fine neighborhood, about halfway divided between summerhomes and retired folks who preferred rural woods to cities. Breakins were a local problem, so two pals on their honeymoon asked me and my fiancee to housesit for them and care for their animals for three weeks.
The second was a coal mining town with a mix of junior college students, farmers, construction workers and railroaders, so it could get rough, with occasional fights over disputed pool games. But our lunchtime offerings were much quieter, with a retired Pullman chef handling the grill sometimes, and in spring and fall, most of the local construction projects would give us a call if the day's work was cancelled; we'd note the day off on our blackboard, and those driving a long distance to a job site would usually pop in for breakfast or a lunch and to check the jobs down board. It could be busy early afternoons, but rarely hostile. I only had one other armed/dangerous difficulty in the 6 months or so I ran the place, with one other possible forestalled when the solo holdup scout may have correcty figured that all eight of those inside were armed and ready to get nasty. We came out 82 cents ahead on that one.
I'm living in a much more hostile and dangerous locale now, number two inthe country for armed confrontations, per the FBI uniform crime report, in both numbers of incidents and the percentage increase of such goings-on.
Every time I've "almost got in trouble" it was in a bad neighborhood. Except the time the neighbor who got off death row when the Supreme Court overturned the death penalty in Furman v. Georgia threatened me at my own front door. Managed to finesse my way out on every occasion though. I think Mr. Death Penalty had an inkling that I was armed when I didn't back down and didn't whinge that I would call the cops, just told him to get off my property NOW. He went.
Turned out he had threatened several of the neighbors (it was over a zoning fight). The local police were not amused, I guess they gave him the "Jaws" talk, because he sold his house and left town shortly afterwards.
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