From Colt:
The U.S. Marine Corps has contracted Colt Defense LLC for as many as 12,000 M45 Close Quarter Battle Pistols.
The M45 CQBP is the descendant of the Colt M1911, used by U.S. forces in every major conflict of the 20th century. The U.S. Army and other services replaced it with 9mm pistols from an Italian company.
"An Italian company". Heh. Love the MSM's reporting on all things firearms. That company is the
oldest firearms company in the world. I'm not a big fan of the 92, but you have to give them their due.
"Colt Defense looks forward to another great partnership with the Marine Corps as we renew industry production of the military 1911." The indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity award is for five years and carries a value of as much as $22.5 million.
Colt said the initial delivery order is for 4,036 pistols plus spares and logistical support and deliveries will begin this year.
Semper fi.
10 comments:
I saw R. Lee Ermey on one of his shows (probably Lock & Load) comparing the M9 to the 1911. It was obvious which one he preferred.
At one point he was at (I think) a Marine Corps shooting range talking to an armorer, just before he shot both pistols. He turned to the armorer and said, "You and I both know the 9mm is great for what it's meant for - shooting at targets." He was right though. He shot more accurately with the M9.
The only thing I can think about when I read that is "Why 4036?"
Me first, Colt. I've been waiting. Send me mine and THEN make 'em for the Marines.
:-) Excellent.
Our military needs a side arm that will knock down a Zulu.
12,000 doesn't strike me as a very large number when you're talking about Marines and their sidearms...
Then again, if you believe Tom Clancy, the Corps never stopped using the M1911. They just changed the designation and used old ones out of the armories, after working each one over to make it a suitable weapon for a Leatherneck.
Back when dinosaurs waled the earth and I had a full head of (very short) hair and a flat belly every grunt in my platoon wanted a handgun. The rules were we couldn't. It was a constant struggle, we'd beg, borrow, steal and buy a wide variety of them. Then the REMFs would try to find and steal er, confiscate them.
My first privately owned handgun came during that little scrap over in SE Asia. My pop, veteran of that little walk through the Lagoon at Tarawa, sent me a Colt Cobra and a box of ammo wrapped in wax paper, buried in a ham. It was good ham, too. Didn't hardly last ten minutes. Even my Platoon Leader loved the "filling".
In my tours I never shot anyone with a handgun although I was damned glad to own it. I loved the feel of that lightweight little shooter in one hand and my TP in the other as I squatted over a catpit.
The .45 was king, though. You could dive into a muddy hole, pick it up, shake the worst of the mud off and it would go "BANG! BANG, BANG! I have seen them scooped out of the sand after diving from mortars and just shoot as well as if they were freshly cleaned. And THAT is why they aren't particularly accurate, right out of the box. There are a lot of tricks to make them tack drivers, each of those make them less resistant to mud, sand, blood and plain ol' dirt. Everyone going into the fight should have one, not just officers and mortar men, clerks, jerks and truck drivers.
The first handgun I ever fired was my Dad's 1911 that he carried with him through his tour of the South Pacific during WWII.
It rattled and it was less-than-pristine, but it went BANG every single time you pulled the trigger.
I shot my first 1911 in Marine boot camp in 73. Been in love with them ever since. My current carry gun is a Llama X1A 45. Spain's answer to the 1911. People sometimes laugh until we get to the range. The only time it ever failed to fire was ammo issues.
The Marines I shoot universally refer to the 92 as the Italian Tomahawk. Pull the trigger till it's empty or malfunctions, then turn it around and use it beat the guy to death.
Lets see.....$22.5 million divided by 4036 equals $5575. Folks, that's 5575 dollars per pistol. If each and every pistol comes with another complete working pistol for "parts and spares" that's still some $2300 per gun.
Who the hell is the purchasing agent and why does he still have a job. They should have been able to get those guns at half that price or better.
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