Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Partial list of U.S. Military sidearms

I was skimming the Internet out of boredom and found a few links with lists of U.S. Military weapons of all shapes and forms. As usual, Wikipedia has the easiest to view and best laid out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_individual_weapons_of_the_U.S._Armed_Forces

In active service (all branches)
M9 (Beretta 92F/FS; Pistol ('Personal Defense Weapon'), 9x19mm Parabellum)
M11 (SIG Sauer P228; Pistol, 9x19mm NATO)
In active service (some branches, secondary or limited roles)
Kimber ICQB (M1911A1 variant developed for MCSOCOM Det-1)
MEU(SOC) Pistol (.45ACP) (M1911A1 modified by USMC armorers for MEU(SOC). Replacement will be made by Kimber.)
Sig P229R DAK (.40 S&W) (USCG)
Mk 23 Mod 0 (Heckler & Koch Mark 23; Pistol, .45 ACP) (special forces)
Heckler & Koch USP Tactical (special forces; often preferred over the Mark 23 pistol)
Glock 19 (Official Sidearm to Air Force Pilots)
Mk 24 Mod 0 (SIG/Sauer P226; Pistol, 9x19mm Parabellum) (Navy SEALs and other special forces)
M9A1 (Beretta 92FS w/ accessory rail; Pistol, 9x19mm Parabellum) (Limited purchase by USMC)
M1911A1 (Colt Model 1911A1; Pistol, .45 ACP) (some special forces groups and USMC Force Recon)
High Standard HDM (Suppressed Pistol, .22 LR) (Navy SEALs and USMC Force Recon)
Heckler & Koch P9S (HK; Suppressed Pistol, 9x19mm Parabellum) (only used by Navy SEALs)
Heckler & Koch P11 ZUB (Underwater weapon) (Navy SEALs)

Some of these surprised me. I was not aware that the Glock 19 was standard pilot issue. I was also surprised by the variety of Sig's in service. Seems like Sig may have lost the big contract back in 1984, but they are making up for it. I was also a bit amused by the numbers of 1911's and other 45 auto's found in this list and who uses them. If all these Spec Ops guys are being issues 45 acp's over 9mm, this should be a serious sign to the people in charge that the 9mm just wasn't/isn't the way to go.