Long ago, in a place far away... (pistol ID)

General Firearms Handguns - Semi Auto
1

it would have been the spring of '01… I was walking west down Wold toward toward Olsen Hall, and there was a young MP standing on the corner, probably about a block east of the hall… for whatever reason, we talked for about 2 minutes- i don’t remember if i started the conversation or what (i didn’t usually make a habit out of talking to the Fuzz), but the question of what sidearm he was carrying came up. it wasn’t an M9. he told me what it was- nothing that registered with me- and indicated it was a .380. i remember it looking like a compact striker poly gun, in his holster. i didn’t really know shit at that point (funny, though- i sure thought i did) so i just scratched my head and continued on my merry way.

almost a decade later, i still haven’t been able to figure out what the hell he was carrying, and why it wasn’t an M9, which, it’s my understanding, has been the MP sidearm since the conversion from the M1911… and why the hell it would be a gay .380

who can solve this mystery? did we briefly field some T/E sigmas or something?

2

NG or reg Army?

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i’d assume he was regular Army, but i suppose he could have been there for training…? would he be wandering around benning under-arms if he was there for training?

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Funny thing met a Air NG MP back in 95’ and he told me he carried a personal .380 on training. Kinda blew it off but a year latter I was in the Army NG and heard that some units allow for it but never saw it in my unit.

5

hmm… well it wouldn’t be the least bit interesting anymore if it was just a personally owned weapon…

6

I got a friend, actually just got back from Iraq, before that he just got out of Ranger School and assigned to his unit (He’s an Infantry Officer, so, mandatory Ranger School), about a year before that graduated from West Point.

His facebook status was that he picked up some .380 ACP, and I thought… must have been a pocket pistol, I asked what gun, Kel-Tec P3AT? Ruger LCP? Thinking maybe he got a pocket pistol… Nope… Bersa Thunder. It gets better, an Ex-Marine that we both went to high school with chimes in and says “Great Pistol”, I didn’t say anything.

Good lord, what a POS, funny thing is, I had a friend again… in the National Guard, he just got back from Iraq about a year ago, first handgun? Bersa in .380 ACP.

I mean… C’mon. If I was suggesting a gun to a non-gun person, I’d suggest a Glock for a pistol, and I’d never suggest .380 ACP for anything but a BUG.

Just can’t wrap my mind around why someone would buy a .380, or a Bersa.

But I’m not ranger qualified or in the Army, so I’m not going to say anything, but it just struck me as funny that they’d get Bersa’s… I could understand the guy in National Guard, he was 19, the other guy’s 24…

It just proves to me that just because people carry a gun for a living, doesn’t always mean they know firearms.

As a side note, I googled it, and both of my friends that were in the Army Branch had the same model pistol.

Maybe it’s the similarities to the Beretta that attract them? Someone try to explain this phenomena to me, I’m in the dark.

ETA: I googled it… I think I’ve got it, they’ve got cheap going for them, but hell for a little over $100 more, Glock or an M&P in stock configuration.

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MP’s are NOT authorized to carry personally owned weapons on duty. Period. Patrol units carry the M9, and plain clothed investigators are issued the Sig P228 (M11). Some units did carry / use Glock 19’s when training IP’s, however.

I’m not doubting you, OP. This may have been a Johnny Rambo doing his own thing (it happens). Heck, we had a guy get caught with a .22 caliber Ruger pistol and was relieved of duty and UCMJed :rolleyes:

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well it didn’t strike me as a POW… he was standing at the corner like he was on perimeter for something, sidearm in some kind of duty rig, all official looking. i think i simply noticed it wasn’t an M9 and asked WTF- that’s probably how the conversation started. it wasn’t a long one… he said “it’s a blablubleeblowtuf.” i said, “nine emem?” he said “no, it’s actually a .380.” to which i think i replied with “hmph… OK,” and continued on.

guess i’ll never know

9

I saw some MP’s at Ft Lewis with M1911’s, and that was 2007/2008/2009.

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Out of curiosity, I’m gonna email my buddy at Lewis and ask him about this. If true, it would be pretty bad ass :smiley:

I lamented the fact that I had to carry the M9 for many years before getting a P228…

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Actually, the Bersa Thunder 380 is the best sub-$300 compact sized .380ACP on the market. It’s a well made Walther PPK/S clone.
Many people prefer it over the actually Walther PPK/S, because it’s just as reliable and accurate but at half the cost.