Finally we come to effectiveness. No, the 9mm in FMJ bullet profile is not as effective as the FMJ .45 as it relates to raw potential for stopping a determined assailant. However, there are many more 9mm rounds available to you, 15 per mag rather than seven or eight in a single-stack .45. Get proper hits with all those 9mm bullets and you will be effective. If I am anticipating the need for close-range protection from large amounts of people, I want to put as much ammo downrange as possible, and the high capacity of a 9mm will allow me to do just that. Taking all that into consideration, the Beretta 92FS is simply an excellent delivery system.
Okay, before everyone starts firing up the hate mail, I’ll go ahead and list several others that will meet the parameters and serve as effective sidearms in time of civil collapse. While the Beretta 92 once held the military market as well as a sizeable chunk of the civilian and law enforcement side, with the LAPD once being renowned for carrying this gun, it has been overshadowed and replaced by newer, more modern, striker-fired pistols. And I will say that having a copy of the very same gun used by the law enforcement officers in your area is a wise idea, unless the gun is in a less than commonly available caliber, such as .357 SIG (I wish this round had come out before the .40 Smith & Wesson, rather than formed from it and introduced after). Same with the nearly non-existent .45 GAP (Glock Auto Pistol), which, while adopted by a couple moderate-sized agencies, was doomed to failure from the start.
While the original concept was to fit the .45 GAP into a pistol exactly the same size as the Glock 17 and 23, things just didn’t work out that way. The .45 GAP is simply a short .45 ACP (at least on the surface), which initially allowed bullets up to 200 grains in weight. As its development progressed, technicians found a way to make 230-grain bullets work in it. While the round fit the frame, it didn’t fit the slide, so nothing of existing dimensions worked. The barrel and slide assembly had to be enlarged to fit the new cartridge and its operating pressures. The full-size .45 ACP frame and slide were unnecessarily and undesirably large, and the Glock 17 frame and slide were too small. In the end, the .45 GAP failed to become the .45-caliber Glock pistol that would fit any existing holster for a Glock 17, its original intent, and, well, nobody bought it.
With that being said, there are a still a lot of Glocks to choose from in 9mm, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP. With anywhere from 67 to 70 percent of all law enforcement officers in the United States using some variation of the Glock, it becomes an easily supportable weapon. Since we are sticking with duty-size pistols, the mini-Glocks, the ultimate concealment versions, are out. That leaves you with the choice of mid-range pistols such as the Model 19 in 9mm, Model 23 in .40, the Model 30 in .45 ACP, and the full-size pistols in the same respective chambering’s, the Models 17, 22, and 21. Glock is currently producing its Generation 4 variants, which have improvements, the most important being the ability to adjust the size of the grip for small, medium, and large hands. However, you don’t need a Gen 4 pistol to do the job if you find a good used older version.
That being said, there are two Glock variations you should avoid. The first are the short-lived Generation 3s. They feature an overly aggressive checkering design molded into the frame. The idea was to provide a better grip surface for officers who wear tactical gloves in the line of duty. What was discovered in very short order, though, was that the checkering was so intense it hurt to shoot the gun for very long with un-gloved hands. Officer uniforms were also getting torn to shreds from contact with the grips. The Gen 3s had the checkering dialed down when they became the Generation 4s.
The other used Glock pistols you want to avoid are the first-generation .40-caliber versions with the non-upgraded frame. The very first Glock, the Model 17, was designed for the 9mm caliber. When the .40 S&W round hit the scene, Glock saw a good thing and found that it could, unlike the .45 GAP, fit the .40 right into that 9mm envelope. A problem that arose shortly thereafter, and one that was easily solved, had to do with the higher pressure levels of the .40 over the 9mm.
In this case, the pistol’s locking block, which is what basically holds the slide to the frame during discharge, started shearing off after a fair amount of shooting. The fix was to add a locking block pin to the locking block right above the trigger pin on the frame. Soon thereafter, all Glocks, including all the 9mms, added the locking block pin to the frame as standard equipment, thus making manufacture consistent and reducing liability.
I have a Glock 17 I’ve fired for many thousands of rounds with the original frame and no locking block pin, as well as a number of Glock 19s also with the original frame and that have been in service for much higher round counts, and have never had a problem with them. Just don’t get a used one in .40 without the extra pin, unless Glock will upgrade the frame for you at no charge.
One final thing about the Glock series of pistols. Any of the mid-size pistols will fit in leather for the full-size versions, but not necessarily vice-versa, and any of the mid-size guns (and for that manner the minis), will accept any magazine from the larger models of the same caliber.
Another popular choice for a police duty pistol, maybe the second most popular, at least in my region, are the Smith & Wesson M&P (Military and Police) high-capacity pistols available in 9mm, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP. When Smith & Wesson introduced its DA/SA Model 39, it was on the way to dominating, at least for awhile, the semi-automatic police duty pistol market through its own three generations of pistols that followed that original Model 39. If you are unsure what generation a used Smith & Wesson DA/SA autoloader is, just check the number of digits in the model name. For instance two numbers (the 39 and, later, the high-cap 59) indicate the first generation pistols, which didn’t work well with many 9mm hollowpoint designs then on the market. The Model 39 is the best feeling pistol in my hand I ever owned or shot, but I wouldn’t pick up a used one at this point in time for any reason. For one, it uses eight-shot magazines, and those magazines are no longer readily available. Nor are some of the parts. Likewise, for survival purposes, I’d decline the Model 59. This was a 15-shot version of the 39 and the first high-capacity 9mm to hit the market. However, it suffered some of the reliability shortcomings the 39 did, maybe more.
Three digits in the S&W model number, such as will be the 559 or 659 9mms, are the much improved second generation pistols. This generation also included the Model 645, an eight-shot, all-stainless, double-action .45 ACP that was big, reliable, and did away with the cocked-and-locked carry concerns of police administrators when officers wanted to carry, but were denied, single-action 1911 Colt .45s. The 645 took the police world by storm. It was the first duty autoloader reliable enough to be adopted by the Reynoldsburg PD while I worked there full time, and the second autoloader approved for the Union County Sheriff’s Office, where I worked for 20 years as a reserve. It was also the first duty autoloader adopted by the city of Columbus’ 1,400-man force. Indeed, Smith & Wesson began pushing the 9mm Beretta out of the police market with this gun. Smith then introduced some refinements to its second generation pistols and brought out the third generation, which used four digits in its model designations. The 645 became the 4506 and gathered even more acceptance in police holsters. Both .45-caliber pistol generations are often found on the used gun market.