From what I gathered, it wasn't a single weapon test. It was an analysis of where and tear on both types of weapon, and the HP came in second. I believe this took place in the 80s. Exactly what unit my source served in he never said, but if eating snakes was part of their repertoire, I wouldn't be all that surprised.

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Release the Kraken

I can't deal with those blocky grips on any gun. They're bad enough on the Hi Power, and I really detest them on the Beretta 92.

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Release the Kraken

Lots of good candidates (in alphabetically order)...

Beretta 92 series
Browning HP
CZ-75 series
Sig P22X series
S&W 39/59/69 series

The only polystriker is would potentially include is the Walther P99AS. Glock and other similar safetyless designs with partially or fully energized firing systems need not apply.

The Ruger P-series, while good and perfectly serviceable, I don't think are a top shelf contender in 9mm.

Personally, I think that the best 9mm Pistol ever made is the Beretta 92 Series, with my preference being towards the Taurus PT92 due to the frame-mounted safety.



Beretta was really onto something when they designed this pistol. Granted that it draws a fair bit of inspiration from the Walther P-38, but in my opinion Beretta took the design a step further and just made a fantastic pistol.

Some will argue that the 92 Series pistols are too big and too heavy for 9mm, but personally I think that the size/weight are more of a pro than a con because it makes the gun easy for practically anybody to shoot.
Frankly, I feel that the US Army's decision to adopt the SIG P320 as their new sidearm over upgrading to the Beretta M9A3 was a mistake. Not only would they have saved money, but they wouldn't have had to deal with the teething issues of the SIG.

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Shooting Comfort is bilateral.

Yup- The P320/M17/M18 is a pathetic joke. The M9A3/A4, P226 or even a tweaked SP2022 would have been great choices.

What the heck I’ll throw my choices out here …..

CZ-75
Glock 19x
Ruger SR1911 Lightweight Commander
Ruger Speed Six

Maybe a single stack but it still holds more than the revolvers we all like.

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Sceva
OGCA SWCA NRA

This has been fun reading, especially as I am a BHP fan and somehow have accumulated far too many 9mm's - it's all kinda blurry - not sure how it happened.... But - they all have a place.......
Small to large.....

Kahr PM9 (bought in the 90's when it was about the ONLY 'tiny 9')
S&W M&P Compact 9mm
Glock G19 (a refurbed-at-Glock LE trade-in)
H&K PSP/P7 (most accurate 9mm I've ever encountered)
S&W M39
FEG HP clone
Browning HP, c.1988
Taurus PT92, satin nickle with frame mounted safety
RIA M1911 GI .38 Super - can drop in my 9mm barrel and mag and voila! - it's a 9mm. Great shooter and range gun.

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Ret'd LEO
SWCA #2275

Another vote for the P7M13

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I agree completely. I always tell people my m9a3 is a cheat code. It is more accurate than I ever will be, and as long as its lubed every now and again, itll eat anything that you can throw at it. In my experience with the 92s and 320s, it's amazing the military could make such an awful choice. The 320 is nice to shoot, but nowhere near as nice as the 92s, nor as accurate or fast.

That all said, I've never even seen one in person, let alone shot one, but the ppc 9mm have got to be even nicer to shoot. If a gun makes for a good competition gun, the same qualities usually make it a good combat gun(durable after 10s of thousands of rounds, quick, reliable, good ergonomics, etc.). Obviously that does not take into account the common lack of backup sights, nor possible ammo pickyness, but I would be difficult to convince that a ppc9 is all that ammo picky or lacks good iron sights.

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Please no more EZs...

I've got quite a few 9s. The Beretta is my least favorite of all of them. Just don't like the size, or feel of it. Plus, I'm not a fan of the decocker. If I'm going to carry a DA, it will be my CZ85 or my Jericho 941, cocked and locked. I love the BHP, and carried one in my vehicle for years, until vandals relieved me of it. My favorites are the Browning and 1911s, but then I carry a Glock 48, that's just a tool, but an excellent one.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

It is a handsome pistol, but I'd rather have a P-38 Walther.

Grips make or break a handgun when it comes to fine tuning the fit.

Uncle Mikes used to sell a set of Spegel designed rubber grips that are superb on the Hi Power:



They also sold a pair for the CZ-75, also exceptional.



Ultra thin grips, a short trigger and short reset trigger bar were all required to make the Beretta 92 Compact effective for me.



Glock grip adjustment? You can make that 2x4 feeling grip bigger but you can’t make it less bulky.

I have a P35 that I bought new in 1972 for $114.00. It still sleeps in it's original zippered case with Manual.. Don't shoot 9mm much anymore prefering calibers that start with 4......Still have it......Also have a 228-3906 and a Shield. Back when I squirrel hunted a lot that P35 rode on my hip. A big ol bo coon might turn up his nose at a 22LR. But a hard cast bullet from that 9mm would bring him to the ground.

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S&W Accumulator

How about the 3913nl or ls.

One of my favs

Go loo0k in any parking lot.......You'll see...Big cars-little cars-big trucks-little trucks......In every color of the rainbow........Thankfully we still have choices as to what suits us best.

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S&W Accumulator

The "best" gun in any situation is the one you can draw the fastest with the best accuracy on the target. If there was only one best gun, they would not make any other.

Funny you should mention those grips. I scored a set at fire sale price and put them on a FEG Hi Power clone. It improved it greatly over the standard square wood grips. Even so, while the gun shoots OK, but it doesn't stand out in any particular way over my other 9mm pistols.

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Release the Kraken

This one.



The Welrod MkI was used to assassinate Axis officers by British SOE, US OSS, and varied Resistance forces in Occupied Europe.

Yeah, High Powers..

..and CZ 75's

..and Sig 210's

..and Lugers

I forgot to mention my really favorite 9mm. The Springfield Armory 9mm Range Officer Compact. Plus, everyone I let shoot it, wants it.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

I thought the Welrod was a .32?

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Because of the metric system?

I'd love to find a set of those UM Spegels. Everytime I scour the interwebs, I get the dreaded "Out of Stock!"

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Because of the metric system?

That is the MkII. It was more common than the MkI.

Why would you want to know where the tear happened?

Considering that the SAS was using the HP until well into the 21st century and you said that the guy was "VIP protection," I'd posit that he was with an armed police unit.

Back in the 90s, I knew some former SAS troopers who were working diplomatic security. They could buy any gun they wanted and all bought the High Power.

All common changes that makes today's 92FS a lot better gun than the 1985 M9-F. I see that's an Italian gun so no radiused backstrap. Too bad another great upgrade that for many eliminates the need for the short trigger.

Did you get the new Mec-gar 15rd mags for the Compact?

Thanks. I never knew that.
You'd think they would've went the opposite order.
.32 first, then 9 when they decided it didn't work well enough.

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Because of the metric system?

I would have agreed with you on the Hi Power until I found this Sig P210 Carry (American).

Cons:

Single stack - doesn’t matter
Single action only - fine with me
No provision for red dot or flashlight - no problem
No ambi safety - good
Not Swiss - see below

Pros:
All metal
Great sights
Great trigger
Ridiculously accurate
100 percent reliable so far after 1000 rounds of mixed ball and hollowpoint.
Cooler than everything else.
Made in America - hell yeah.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

Well OP did say finest fighting 9mm. I don’t own a single Glock. But you can’t argue with their effectiveness and performance history. I’d compare the Glock to an AR. A .223 Browning A Bolt II looks a lot nicer but if I’m in a fight I’ll take the ugly AR.

I actually handled one in the Balkans - it was a WWII gift from the sky for Tito's partisans. Not a letter nor a stamp on it anywhere.

If it saved your life it will be.

In retelling the story the gun would become an engraved High Power.

[quote=tops;141948326]Me thinks you have never seen a gunfight, Sarge.

Wow, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, indeed... I personally find most patterns of AR to be attractive, unless we're talking about the ultra-modern variations with a free-floating M-LOK handguard and so many gadgets hooked up that in no longer resembles an AR, in which case I agree.

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Shooting Comfort is bilateral.

Or this guy ...

The original M16 and M16A1 patterns have been much maligned. But, kept properly clean they are reliable, accurate, light, well balanced, have good ergonomics, andare very good at what they were designed to do. With 20” barrels and M193 the terminal effects are also good out to about 200m.

Unfortunately, the A2 changes took it in a direction it was really never intended to go and tried to make it into something it was not. The inevitable reaction to that was the short and less effective M4, which equally unfortunately way too many shooters tart up with tactical rails and attached tacti-cool gadgets, turning an otherwise lightweight, handy carbine into an over weight and slow moving rifle that can’t seem to decide what it is supposed to be.



I don’t mind the AR-15 carbines, they just need to be configured for a specific purpose and not weighed down with unnecessary tactical do dads.

That would be better executed with a single wrap of wet latigo leather tied with a snug fisherman’s knot and allowed to dry. Neater, and lower profile.

Not being a 9 m/m owner and not a big fan of semi autos (although I own a few), I have no dog in this fight. However my shootin’ irons have to have a soul and as far as Glocks go, I’d rather have a good grub hoe. I understand the reliability reputation but man are those things just plain ugly.

Of all the double stack nines, the Hi-Power feels the best in my hand. The CZ-75 feels as good and, for me, shoots and handles better.

I recall one of the arguments given for the Army going to the 9mm was to accommodate females and their smaller hands. So they pick the biggest fattest thing in the trials and we got the M9?

I am so glad I was a tanker and the infantry and MPs got their pistols first. I still had an M1911A1 issued until I retired.

I've never had a gun with a soul and have never had one speak to me. I wonder if those soul filled talking guns are the ones that talk the crazy mass shooters to go out and do their horrible deeds.

Sometimes I wonder if there are more gun fondlers than gun shooters on gun forums, though I find nothing wrong with that.

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Live long and prosper

And what happens to their soul when they get sold at the gun buy-backs?

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Because of the metric system?

I like the HP and it shoots great, but gives me hammer bite every time. For that reason, I like the CZ 75 variants better.

After looking at all the images on this thread - in my opinion, the OP was right …

Same thing that happened to the millions of 1911's, Garands, and carbines that went to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in WWII . . . they rust and rot into oblivion.

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Live long and prosper

Well, to answer your “wonder”, I AM a gun fondler because at 75 that’s about all I can remember how or what to fondle!
And yes, old age sucks!

I have two Browning BDMs plus their 15 round mags. One set for SA the other for DA only. Simply turn a key slot to change. Very easy to use and conceal. These were to be the HP's successor but they ran into the Clinton 10 round mandate. They go nicely with my Inglis Mk II, two 75's (full size and compact) and an assortment of M9 varieties. Which do I choose? The BDMs. Dave_n

No contest..............Sig 228

Greatest 9mm ever made?
the Sig P365 WITH amphibious safety and the Ruger PPC in 9mm. (nobody said it had to be a handgun)

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Forum consigliere

That’s a fair point.

Technically this started out as a handgun before I was forced to either remove the brace or register it as any SBR, by an ATF that doesn’t see any need to follow the requirements of administrative procedures act, routinely misuses and misapplies the Chevron doctrine, and fails to understand or heed the Rule of Lenity.



Just for fun it has a Franklin Binary trigger, and there’s a suppressor for it sitting on a shelf waiting for the Form 4 to be processed. The suppressor will make it even more home defense friendly.

My vote:

Beretta/Wilson Combat 92G Brigadier Tactical

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Smith & Wesson Novice