Army gun compatibility
I’ve accepted it as inevitable that I will end up with a SIG Sauer P320-M17. Or just a Sig P320 in general. Because the military is going to start using them. Similar to the AR, this should mean a lot of after market support. And I like the notion of having a gun that the military issues for parts and ammo availability.
And Sig has just released an airgun version of it.
Oddly, I never felt this way about the Beretta 92.
November 12th, 2018 at 8:18 pm
Have you forgotten so quickly? When ammo was most scarce, just a few years ago, the most common calibers were the most scarce by far. I don’t think our LGS ever did run out of 45 Colt at any time, for example, but went weeks at a time with no 9mm or 5.56. They usually had 10mm ammo too, but the 10mm bullets were always grabbed up by the 40 reloaders.
So I made the joke at that time. Something like; be sure to have guns in common calibers, so when ammo is scarce your caliber will be the most “widely unavailable”. It is a fact; the common calibers were the Most Widely Unavailable, so unless you have reason to believe that the recent past shortage will have been an aberration, and that something will have changed in some extreme way come the next shortage, the “common caliber” meme should be abandoned altogether.
Your one exception will be the most extreme example of all– You’re in the thick of the heat of civil war, dodging from ruined building to ruined building, and you’re somehow able to loot an abandoned military FOB and filch some ammo, or get some off a dead soldier somewhere. In the latter case you could just as likely get the dead soldier’s gun along with the ammo, and so it still wouldn’t matter– Toss your recently emptied 44 AutoMag and take the dead guy’s gun and ammo.
Where the “common caliber” idea totally has merit is when ammo is NOT in shortage, AND you’re traveling AND you’ve not brought enough with you and want instead to be able to buy ammo at any place along the way that sells any ammo at all, because in that case, for pistols, they’ll have 9mm, 40 S&W and 45 ACP, maybe some 38 Spec. and very little else. Otherwise, the fact that “you can buy it anywhere” hardly matters at all.
And of course you are correct about the aftermarket, except during shortages. AR parts dried up as fast as the ammo that fed them, as I recall, but I bet you could still get parts for a Winchester 95 and the 405 Win. ammo to feed it.
And if we’re really going there; who’s ammo will be the most generally attractive to looters, thieves, and highwaymen? The guy with the 5.56 and the 9mm or the guy with the 41 AE and the 7-30 Waters?
November 13th, 2018 at 1:02 am
Lyle, I think Tam made that observation about her .357SIG pistol.
As for the P320, I like mine quite a bit but on mine, SIG found a way to remind me of their QC issues. Rear sight fell out of its dovetail out of the box.
November 13th, 2018 at 7:30 am
That’s because Beretta and their Italian masters, Were/are a shotgun company that happens to make pistols, at least in the United States. They really only started marketing the M9 with the introduction of the Wilson Comat model, right as it was being phased out of service.
November 13th, 2018 at 11:02 am
I never cared one twit for the M9. Just to huge for such a small round.
November 13th, 2018 at 1:57 pm
Lyle,
It’s probably a good idea to own something in 270WIN. No shortage of 270 during “The Banic”. In fact, I think production must have ramped up.
Jack O’Connor would have been pleased.
November 13th, 2018 at 2:59 pm
The 92 was always far too big for my hand; I had a Taurus copy ages ago and traded it for a Tanfoglio CZ-75, which fits me better.
November 13th, 2018 at 10:16 pm
I bought a Beretta for the same reason…never liked it, and finally got rid of it.
As far as ammo availability, I buy it in lots of 1000 or more…