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posted by janrinok on Monday January 23 2017, @09:24PM   Printer-friendly
from the next-time-it-will-be-a-light-sabre dept.

The U.S. Army will likely replace its standard-issue sidearm with a Sig Sauer P320 pistol (with undisclosed modifications):

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. [...] "The Army's effort to buy a new handgun has already taken 10 years and produced nothing but a more than 350-page requirements document micromanaging extremely small unimportant details," Senate Armed Services committee chairman John McCain wrote in a 2015 report on the program's problems.

The Army awarded Sig Sauer Inc. with a $580,217,000 contract. Also at Washington Post, Popular Mechanics, and RT.

More about the Modular Handgun System.


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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 24 2017, @05:57AM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 24 2017, @05:57AM (#457965) Journal

    Great observations - and I hope you note that I have not badmouthed the .357. I've never owned one, but I have been impressed with them.

    I will add, that doubling the mass of any given bullet, while maintaining velocity, squares the kinetic energy. While doubling the speed of the same mass only doubles the kinetic energy. I could search for the formulas, but I'm at work now. I'm willing to stand by the statement that mass counts more than velocity, unless someone can demonstrate differently.

    And, BTW - never apologize for disagreeing with me. Polite argument is valuable. That's how we all learn. I'd have to be an idjit to take offense at your post. (waiting for one of the hoplophobes to come by and express his offense, LMAO!)

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 24 2017, @06:53AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 24 2017, @06:53AM (#457981)

    I think you need to recheck your physics.

    Energy quadruples with doubled velocity, but doubles with doubled mass.

    e=mv^2

    Momentum rises linearly with both mass and velocity.

    M=mv

    If you double a bullet's mass, you only need to drop its velocity by about 70% to get the same energy kick. However, a very fast bullet sheds velocity faster as it more rapidly loses energy, resulting in an ugly, shallow wound.

    Other things being equal, the faster bullet does more damage.

    Other things being equal, the heavier bullet does more damage.

    However, there are other constraints. Another way to look at recoil is the length of time during which the gases apply bolt thrust, and the severity of the bolt thrust, in pressure. A .357 Magnum has roughly 66% the bolt area of the .45ACP, but its chamber pressure is more than double (depending on details), which means that it can kick harder than (though not necessarily as long as) the bigger round. In principle this means that the longer barrel gives you more recoil energy, since your bolt thrust continues for longer. The counterpoint is that a longer barrel contains more metal, and reduces rotation (muzzle flip) by increasing angular momentum. If you want to run a .357 that doesn't hurt much, try something like a Ruger GP100 with a six inch barrel. Very manageable gun.

    In fact, here's one of the weirder things you can look at: a .357 Magnum, loaded to capacity, fired from a carbine, is more than an energy match for a 5.56 NATO, out to 100 yards (by which time the aerodynamic efficiency of the NATO round gives it an advantage). A 158 grain .357 round has, from a carbine, a muzzle velocity of around 2100fps (assuming a capacity load of a suitable powder such as Winchester 296 or Hodgdon H110), while a 55 grain 5.56 round is more like 3000fps. At even bullet mass, this would give the NATO round about double the energy of the .357, but the .357 actually masses over three times the NATO round - hence 150% the kinetic energy, and double the momentum. Even from a handgun, a well-loaded .357 is a serious, serious punch.

    If you want the best pick for an unarmoured target, you want a broad, soft bullet that will open like a flower and tear a hole an inch wide all the way through. A lot of people think that you want the bullet to stop in the target, but it turns out, medically speaking, that total penetration is a better result. I would consider a +P .45 in well-designed hollowpoint, or a soft point, a viable choice in this area.

    If you plan on hitting tough targets, the rock-hard FMJ is likelier to penetrate, and a narrow, deep hole is much better than a shallow splash. Something like a 10mm, or a 5.7, or a .357 with a hard cast bullet is likelier to be effective. You could even use a .400 Corbon, which (since it has comparable bolt thrust to the .45ACP, its parent cartridge) has very manageable recoil and still delivers a hell of a punch.

    But in the end, you can't miss fast or hard enough to win. Use the firearm with which you're comfortable shooting rapidly, accurately and reliably under stress. If you can pick out a fly's left nut with your .17HMR pistol at fifty feet while sirens blast? Maybe that's the right gun for you.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 24 2017, @08:10AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 24 2017, @08:10AM (#458003)

      I think you need to recheck your physics

      Funny, at first glance I read this as "you need to check your redneck physics. . . "

      And by the way, hollow-points are in violation of the St. Petersburg Conventions, the Hague Conventions, and several other pertinent international treaties and conventions.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 24 2017, @08:17AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 24 2017, @08:17AM (#458004)

        The conventions are largely irrelevant if they're hoping their bullets will penetrate light body armour. Hollowpoint actually is a bad idea, then.

  • (Score: 2) by q.kontinuum on Wednesday January 25 2017, @08:54AM

    by q.kontinuum (532) on Wednesday January 25 2017, @08:54AM (#458429) Journal

    I will add, that doubling the mass of any given bullet, while maintaining velocity, squares the kinetic energy.[...] could search for the formulas, but I'm at work now.

    A thought experiment would suffice. Imagine a second bullets travelling in parallel to the first, same weight, same velocity. Should have the same energy, so together they have double energy, yes? Now imagine them travelling in parallel really close. Still double energy, yes? Now imagine a tiny drop of glue, connecting them. Shouldn't change the overall energy, right? Although you practically have now one bullet double the weight of the initial one.

    For the square-energy in case of double velocity I don't have a good, simple thought experiment. But that should be common knowledge to anyone operating any kind of motorized vehicle, because it is vitally important to understand that doubling the speed quadruples the distance to stop the vehicle as well as the potential damage in case of an accident.

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