Post originally by David Sinclair at 2003-08-27 21:27:34
Converted from Phorums BB System

Well, next time you have to shoot some drug crazed criminal, you'll understand why the 9mm Parabellum is starting to be considered useless.

In Afghanistan, special ops troops who couldn't afford their own guns had to use the M9, but at least usually could afford to supply their own ammunition (nice way to circumvent the Hague Convention; government can only supply FMJ ammo, but there isn't anything restricting individual soldiers from obtaining whatever type of ammo they want through alternative sources). Even with 9mm HP ammo, they reported having to shoot drug-using taliban and al qaeda members as many as ten times in order to stop them. Meanwhile, all the smart troops who brought along their own personal .45 caliber pistols and choice of ammo were dropping the same sort of targets with 2 or 3 shots. Apparently, in Afghanistan, there is a plant called khat that acts much like PCP when you chew on a mouthful of the stuff.