Early this year, the U.S. Marine Corps allowed MARSOC operators to use the Glock 19 as their sidearm apart from the MARSOC M45 railed 1911 Pistols (designated as M45A1 Close Quarter Battle Pistol or CQBP) that they bought in 2012. This was allowed as the operators prefer the 9mm pistol over the official issue. In late September 2016, they finally made an official switch over from the 1911 pistol to the Glock 19, making the latter the official sidearm for the MARSOC.

In a report by the Marine Corps Times, the 9mm pistol will be the only pistol that Raiders can bring with them on their missions:

“We put our money behind the 9mm round fired by an extremely well-trained marksman carrying a Glock 19,” Mannweiler told Marine Corps Times.

Since last year, MARSOC has purchased and fielded 1,654 Glock 19s because Raiders needed a reliable secondary weapon “that could be used for both a concealed carry profile and a low-visibility profile,” and having one approved pistol for all special operators saves money, he said. 

Apart from being mentioned as a preferred pistol by the Raiders, the Glock 19 was chosen due to problems in handling of the custom 1911 railed pistol. In a Military.com report last February:

Young operators have had trouble with the 1911's beavertail grip safety, according to one former Marine weapons instructor who trained MARSOC members.

Many shooters wearing gloves tend to grip the 1911 too high and do not properly disengage the beavertail grip safety, so the pistol won't fire, he said. A lot of professional shooters who run custom 1911s will disable that beavertail grip safety to avoid this problem, he added.

The 1911 design is also known for feed-way stoppages, a malfunction caused when a round gets stuck feeding into the chamber, experts said. Horizontal and vertical stovepipes – types of malfunctions that occur when an empty shell casing gets caught in the ejection port – are also a problem with the 1911 design.

Photo: MARSOC Operator with M45A1 CQBP (Source: U.S. Marine Corps)

While the debate will continue on what is the more superior pistol or round for handguns, the MARSOC Raiders now can go into battle knowing that their preferred pistol to use, is now their official sidearm.

Top Photo: Marine with Glock Pistol (Source: Glock)