(CNN)After a long and much-criticized search, the US Army has chosen Sig Sauer to produce its next generation of handgun, eventually replacing the current standard issue sidearm, the Beretta M9 pistol."Following a thorough operational test, fielding of the modular handgun is expected to begin in 2017," the Army said in a statement announcing the decision Thursday. The M9's three decades of service since 1985 has occasionally made it the subject of derision among members of the armed forces.
"The joke that we had in the military was that sometimes the most effective use of an M9 is to simply throw it at your adversary," Sen. Joni Ernst, a former officer in the Iowa Army National Guard, said last week during the confirmation hearings for Ret. Marine Gen. James Mattis to be secretary of defense.
I hope that I didn’t just post another verboten site. I am sorry if I am creating more work for you.
Oh well. Nice gun. I have P320 full size and subcompact, both 9mm.
Obama strikes again. /s
What is wrong with the 1911?? It’s made in America.. From a good old Reliable Company..
5.5 lb trigger and DAO with no manual safety.
Hmmm. I’d rather have a P229 DA/SA with 9.5/4.5 lb trigger. Less room for shooting your foot IMO, but then, I don’t own any pistols with manual safties...
I want a P210. Or dual HK PM13s.
Colt and S&W sold their souls to the anti-gun left. Hardly a surprise a US company didn’t qualify since we have been so neutered in the Obamanation. Since we are forced to go elsewhere for sidearms I would have gone for CZ. A fantastic firearm with NATO designation.
How ironic anti-gun Europe provides our military sidearms. Reminds me of one of the final scenes of “Band of Brothers” where the German Colonel is allowed to keep his Luger sidearm even after surrender. Now, the Obamanation defense force is begging Germany (HK, Sig) Austria (Glock), Italy (Beretta) to provide the USA with sidearms.
AND Obamanation picks Sig. I guess Ruger, Para, and Kimber didn’t give enough to the Obamanation library. And heaven forbid we pick an Israeli firearm....
9 more hours.....
I sort of expected this candidate would be selected: the big selling point is the modular sub-reciever which is the serialized component, allowing the soldier to select one of several grip frame choices. The polymer grip is just a shell that enshrouds the metal reciever that contains the firing mechanism.
Its a novel idea and is probably “the way of the future” in handgun design. Unfortunately I held one of these new Sigs and it felt like a top heavy problem pistol. Notice how low the web of the hand sits when the pistol is gripped. Every other sidearm designer has been engineering their pistols to reduce the bore axis to grip orientation as much as possible but the Sig 320 feels like a throwback to the old 1980s-era Smith and Wesson automatics where the slide and sight picture is oriented three inches higher than the web of your hand. This diminishes the natural pointability of the pistol and also enhances it’s perceived recoil on firing.
I don’t know if it will make for a particularly accurate sidearm. The DAO striker with a 6 pound break intended for safety’s sake due to no mechanical safety isn’t going to really help accuracy either.
Thank God the M9 is gone.
As far as USA manufacturers, all the American companies could not pass the modular demands.
I am a sig freak myself and used to have a number of them before that unfortunate boating accident that left them all on the bottom of the lake.
Had a bell ringer 228 German police pistol that was truly a perfect gun. After shooting all of my handguns, my wife said “I want this one!” Smart woman
Sig is a fine firearms manufacturer.
This is a good choice.
The U.S. Army on Thursday awarded Sig Sauer a contract worth $580 million to make the next service pistol based on the company’s P320 handgun. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Do not bet on it. Trump is going to have something to say about that.
It will be Smith and Wesson, Colt or Remington.
I own a P320 and P229 Legion...both have never jammed and that is with like 7 different mfgs of ammo.
January 13, 2017
Ernst blasted the Modular Handgun Program’s many requirements. “Take a look at their 350-page micromanaging requirements document if you want to know why it’s taking so long to get this accomplished,” she said...
Tillis went even further by showing up to the hearing with the pistol program’s full several hundred pages of requirements documents wrapped in red ribbon. “This is a great testament to what’s wrong with defense acquisition,” he said, slapping the three-inch-tall stack of paperwork...
Unless program managers can rapidly come up with a winner, it should be among the first military projects killed by the incoming, and the Army should simply adopt a COTs solution..
Go back to the .45 acp for God’s sake. How many times do we have to read in the paper about shooting several 9 mm rounds into some big determined assailant before they stop the guy? A .45 is a proven manstopper and the military should buy American.
If you can’t handle a .45,meet another job!
I have two Sigs, a P226 in .357SIG we bought used that my wife loves and my baby, a P229R in .40 S&W.
Sig offers a military group purchase plan, 50 soldiers from my second deployment (after we debated model and caliber) picked and purchased new P229Rs for less than $800/ea customized with our unit insignia. When I got mine to the range, it shot like a dream.
By far my favorite pistol to shoot. Beats the hell of the old wobbly M1911A1s I shot back in the 80s and the M9.
Every chambering can be converted by the user with a caliber exchange kit. The 9×19mm Parabellum, .40 S&W, and .357 SIG chamberings share their polymer grip frame modules and this offers the possibility to interchange these three chamberings by swapping the top end — consisting of the slide, recoil spring assembly, barrel and the box magazine. Due to the significantly larger external dimensions of the .45 ACP cartridge compared to the other P320 chambering options, the .45 ACP chambering uses slightly wider .45 ACP specific polymer grip modules with an enlarged magazine well.
The article states the Sig in 9mm was chosen.
What’s the point?
I thought the whole idea of looking for different sidearm was a new caliber.
If they are sticking with 9mm, a mistake IMO, stick with the M9.
I’ve never fired a Beretta though I’ve heard they are nice. My complaint with them is their size v caliber.
Get a caliber that starts with 4.
Or 357 Sig?
While the number of pistols I've had over the years can be counted on two hands, so far the two American-made Sig Sauer are my favorites. I conceal carry the subcompact, perfect size, and use the full size P320 for IDPA and USPSA matches.