The Sig M18
Posted on 10/07/2023 9:37:37 PM PDT by DeathBeforeDishonor1
After 123 years, the immortal Colt-Browning 1911 pistol has finally left U.S. military service. This is after a long history without parallel in the annals of American arms, a history that began well before the Great War. Advertisement
Early in the 20th century, the U.S. Army was looking to upgrade its standard service sidearm. The Army at that time was issuing the Colt M1892 revolver in the rather anemic .38 Long Colt cartridge, and U.S. servicemen found that this piece gave poor results, particularly when employed against rawhide-armored Moro rebels who were hopped up on drugs. To deal with this, the Army began to re-issue the great old M1873 Colt single action revolvers in .45 Colt, and also purchased a number of big-framed Colt New Service double action revolvers in .45 Colt, dubbing that piece the M1909 Colt. The extra wallop of the .45 round proved much more satisfactory in preventing U.S. servicemen from being pierced by Moro spears, so the Army began to look for a modern, semi-auto sidearm for a .45 caliber cartridge.
Marine Corps Systems Command (MARCORSYSCOM) confirmed to The War Zone that the replacement of the M45A1s with new M18s began last year and was completed by October 2022.
(Excerpt) Read more at redstate.com ...
The Sig M18
I imagine it was too embarrassed to stick around.
Their little tranny wrists can’t take the recoil of a .45.
I qualified with it in the Marine Corps and have hated it ever since. It will never be found in my arsenal.
The M18 is issued in 9mm but is convertible through kits to .40 S&W, .357 SIG, .380 ACP, and yes, .45 ACP. The government is known to have bought kits for .45 ACP.
It was the winner of the *MODULAR* handgun system competition, after all. That means it was easily adaptable to other calibers as that was one of the requirements of the competition.
8-10 rounds is not enough in today’s environment. :P Also, attempts to convert the 1911 to allow modern Picatinny accessories to mount to it have been less than successful overall. The 1911 is also higher maintenance than a modern combat pistol and is more difficult to service when something breaks.
To be fair, the ones you had to qualify with were probably old rattletraps by then. New and properly tuned 1911’s can be a lot of fun.
CC
I wanted to send my son in law his .45 when he was doing a tuor of Iraq.
Twould be lost better than the knife they allowed him
I went to a new barber recently. (They’re somewhat hard to find as a side note).
He had a framed US Army service service summary on the wall in his shop with a pic of him as a young man in uniform, likely his basic training graduation picture, various unit emblems, achievement pins, etc. We talked about his service at length while he was cutting my hair. I never served, but am an Army brat, so am pretty familiar with the Army.
He had graduated from basic in the mid-1960s. He talked about qualifying with the .45. This was a guy who had grown up hunting and around guns, who easily qualified Expert with an M-14. He said the .45s were complete crap leftovers from WWII that you were lucky to be able to get on paper with to qualify. He said you simply couldn’t get a decent group with them, and I believe he would heartily agree with your assessment of “old rattletraps.” My dad had the same assessment of the .45s in the inventory of the MP company that was part of his responsibility in the mid-1970s, so those same sort of crap WWII leftovers I expect. They were around for a *long* time.
Military 1911s and well built civilian pieces are almost completely different animals, is my takeaway.
It’ll be back.
No Problemo:( USN service issue, WWII)
9mm, Pfttt! Well at least it matches their clothing. Spray and pray. /s
Yeah, that’s not practical either. :P
The M45A1s were actually recent production.
Yeah, that’s not practical either. :P>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
It was as a USN deck side arm. I would not want to be boarding a USN vessel with a dozen of these pointed at me from up range.
In how many languages can you say “wall of lead?”
Cold with ordinary mag comoes out of holster, extended mags hanging from web belt, drop standard mag, in goes the extended mag, rack one in and ready to go.
It was such ordnance and quick thinking that allowed the US MArines to win such battles as Guadalcanal, where the enemy dead were stacked like cordwood.Two weapons responsible. MA Deuce 50 cal the Colt 1911.
So much for the sweet sports device you call the Sig M 18. A little heat and the frame melts in its holster or in your hand from heavy fire.
1911, What glocks dream about becoming...
Try this:
How many Rounds does it hold ?
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