<XMP><BODY></xmp> Pistols and ammo for Rangers.





        Mike Sparks makes a very good case for all ranks in Ranger units being equipped with handguns.
        Whenever you suggest giving infantry handguns you always seem to hear someone pointing out that handguns are not as powerful or accurate as rifles, etc. To which the answer is "exactly". Pistols are intended as a supplemental weapon for special circumstances, not as a replacement.
        In fact there are several precedents for giving riflemen pistols. During the trench warfare of World War One there were plans to issue handguns universally to US Servicemen, and during World War Two all US paratroopers carried M1911A1s.

        This article examines the suitability of the Beretta M9 and the 9x19mm round for Ranger use.

        The first reason for using the M9 is, to quote Sandra Bullock's character in Demolition Man, "It's what we've got". It would be foolish to buy new handguns when numerous paid for weapons are sitting in armouries.
        This point must be balanced by whether the M9 is suitable for the intended job. As I've detailed elsewhere, medium calibres such as the 9mm are not as effective combat rounds as larger calibres. However this may not be such an important consideration for Ranger applications, which may differ somewhat from Police or Self Defence use.
        In a military situation many of the combatants are likely to be wearing body armour, so pistol fire is most likely to be directed at the throat or area between the helmet rim and chinstrap. In such a case it is unlikely that the lesser stopping power of a 9mm round is going to be a problem.
        Another advantage of using the M9 is the magazine capacity. Even though .45 pistols are now made with capacities in the double figures a 9mm gun still holds more rounds. The standard M9 has a 15 round magazine, and 20 round magazines can be found. A few extra shots before reloading may be quite a comfort to a Ranger dangling from a rappelling line and using his pistol to lay down suppressive fire.

        Obviously it would be useful to have a round that has some capability against body armour.
        The usual way to improve a pistol round's penetration has been to lighten the bullet to increase its velocity. Very impressive performances have been see with rounds like the THV. Lightening bullets comes with a penalty, however. The bullets are aerodynamically poorer and often a range increase of just a few metres can show a big decrease in performance.
        Although pistols are close range weapons shots out to 25m are not uncommon and suppressive fire may be made at even greater ranges. It is probably wise that any armour piercing pistol round still have a good performance at 40-50m.
        Armour piercing discarding sabot rounds have been created in pistol calibres. I'm not certain if the sabot will have separated at ranges of less than 2 metres, or even whether that matters. What is a more relevant feature is will the sabot cause problems if fired from a suppressed pistol. The sub-calibre projectile will cause a very small wound channel if fired against an unarmoured target, giving poor incapacitation.
        The idea I'd like to see explored further for pistol ammo is the Armour Piercing Composite Rigid (APCR) bullet and best understood as an Armour piercing Non-discarding saboted round. The round has a small dense core, shaped for penetration and this is surrounded by a “sleeve” that engages the rifling and provides the aerodynamic shape. For a pistol round this part might be a low-friction plastic.
        A round of this type appears to be in use in Russia and is known as the SJ-ESC or Semi-jacketed Exposed steel core. The French SFM PPI round used/uses a steel core in a brass sabot with three bourrelets, giving a lighter weight and reduced bore friction. The French Senix “High-Perf” had a steel core and tip surrounded by a thick plastic jacket. A .32 ACP High-Perf fired from a PPK could penetrate 24 layers of Kevlar! I believe there was also a round called the High-Perf intended for civilian use which had a lead outer; essentially a steel tipped hollow-point. The Saab-Bofors CBJ PDW uses a 9mm case necked down to 6.5mm and fires a round described as plastic surrounding a tungsten alloy core.
        It is also possible that APCR pistol rounds would be cheaper to mass-produce than conventional AP rounds.
        The weight of the APCR pistol round will be optimized to give adequate performance out to 50 metres. The APCR's tendency to loose energy more rapidly at longer ranges is not really a problem at normal pistol and SMG ranges.
        APDS rounds could be produced for pistols but are more likely be harder and more expensive to produce and the sabot may cause problems when if suppressors are used. The APCR has another advantage over the APDS. Against an unarmoured target the round will still create a full calibre wound channel –it may be found that the sabot has mushrooming or fragmentation effects too.

        Another technolgy that may be worth looking at is Abraham Flatau's Ring Airfoil bullets, marketed as "Ultramag" or "Cyclone"

Training.
        It's not just what you shoot, it's what you hit.
        The old US Army manual on Handgun use was FM 23-35. While this has lots of useful information, particularly on reloading drills, some of the other passages may have you scratching your head. The current US Army manual is FM 3-23.35, which may still have the same passages (I've yet to check)
        At one point you are told that you will naturally point at what you are looking at. A little later you are told of ways to adjust your natural pointing so that your gun points at what you are looking at. Then you are told that you must always use the sights rather than natural pointing unless the target is with a few feet.
        FM 23-35 is definately worth studying, but it may also be prudent to be familar with other methods. Follow this link to see a quick summary of the Fairbairn-Applegate shooting system and the "Quick-Kill" methods, amoung others. At the bottom of the page is a link to the online version of Applegate's book.

UPDATE
        An interesting article by Stan Crist on updating the 9mm pistol.
A more effective PDW (PDF)

        Stan's idea of a 7-7.5mm bullet in a 9x19mm case makes far better sense than the 4.6-5.7mm rounds proposed by HK and FN. The Beretta MR93R is close to what Stan proposed (and shares parts with the M9), but Stan has found that it jumps too much on burst fire due to the poorly configured stock. Stan feels the stock "is of a minimalist configuration, which does not enable the shooter to control muzzle climb. Also, a proper cheek weld is flat out impossible, which reduces accuracy of aiming". Kept on semi-automatic, or fitted with a more modern muzzle brake it might be what he wants.
        So too might the Parker Hale IDW.
        The design philosophy behind the Swedish CBJ-MS PDW round is very similar to what Stan proposed.

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