The premise of the question is flawed. What is the best combat handgun?
I will ask a few questions before I answer the question at hand. How many of you have been deployed to a Real Combat Zone and USED a pistol? Cops don't count because they are generally not combat veterans and cops don't use their weapons very often. What percentage of actually combat troops actually carry a pistol? How many rounds do you think the average combat soldier carries into combat?
Now I will answer my own questions so you know the REAL answers. Few people who have deployed to a combat zone and of those the guys who actually leave the wire are even fewer. In Iraq as of a month and a half ago, when I was there, there were around 25000 troops on my base and about 900 left the wire, of those 900 about one eighth of them had a pistol. Most of them did not Really know how to use them. The round count for pistol was about 30 tops.
So now lets reevaluate the question. The best combat pistol with proven track history is as follows; 1911, High Power, Sig 228, Sig 226, CZ 75, M9, and various other soviet pistols. I carried a M9 in Iraq and did not use it. However, I used my M4 and 240B. Those of you how have not been in combat should know that a pistol is to get you to your rifle.
Now a few things in my experience. Those of you who think you don't have to clean your weapons are morons. The sand and debris of the sand box get into everything and I mean everything. So not cleaning your weapon means you are lazy and think lowly of your men's life and your own. If any of you have left your plastic framed whatever in your truck on a hot day and tried to handle it you know its too fricken hot. Even our M4s got too hot to hold sometimes. So when selecting a Combat Pistol you get what is issued in most cases. However, if you do have the choice get what you want. Just remember its one more item for accountability and its more weight on your load.
If I had my choice to carry anything in Iraq I would have carried my 1911 or my Sig 226.
