Wars are not won with pistols.

[American123]

Wars are won by men. Men use tools. Any tool that a man uses to help defeat the enemy is helpful. There was likely never a soldier that said, "gee I am glad I don't have a pistol with me in addition to my rifle." There are a lot of ways to fight war. Combat is only one of them, we've been in a culture war for a long time, education, immigration and indoctrination has been the means in which this has been fought, no guns needed. If we talk about conventional warfare, individual soldiers have prevailed and survived because of their pistols, that contributed positively to the overall war effort.

 

[Quirt Evans]

In action in Vietnam, a helicopter crewman using a 1911 managed to save himself and others until rescue forces could arrive.
Notice that he was successfully engaging the enemy out to ~150 yds.

Petty Officer R.J. Thomas

Combat experience with the M1911 Pistol in Vietnam - Petty Officer R.J. Thomas

sightm1911.com

 

[elsie]

Or you could shoot down an enemy aircraft with a 1911, in air-to-air combat.

https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/this-pilot-shot-down-an-enemy-fighter-with-his-1911


elsie

 

[Legs]

A buddy of mine was a timber faller and did a tour in the Nam. Being slight of stature and vertically challenged, but tough as nails and fearless, he was designated tunnel rat in his squad. 1911a1 and a flashlight. Staked his life on both and used them a bunch. Mostly to grab intel before engineers were bought in to introduce the VC to C-4. He had quite a few close quarter, face to face confrontations under the earth. His long gun was a Winchester riot gun. Best weapon for Whack-A-Mole.... according to him.

 

[ma96782]

No REAL comment.
But, a pistol in "action".


BUT......if you remember the movie. Well, call it inaction.

Aloha, Mark

 

[Certaindeaf]

Wars could definitely be won with pistols..... if all that the other side had were rocks and clubs.

With a can't do attitude like that you'd be lucky to win a bid on Ebay.


lool

 

[The Heretic]

Or you could shoot down an enemy aircraft with a 1911, in air-to-air combat.

This pilot shot down an enemy fighter with his 1911


elsie

Or a tank:

 

[The Heretic]

A little off topic.

I am not fighting a war.

Never did - any carrying of a pistol on duty in the military was for LE purposes (USCG), not war fighting.

Today, I am just an out of shape overweight civilian with a heart condition and no war fighting experience or training.

So take my opinion for what it is worth.

To me, a pistol is at time my primary defensive weapon, when a long gun is not immediately available. If a long gun is in my hands and a handgun is on my person, the long gun will usually be the primary weapon, the handgun would be a backup.

So yeah, the handgun would be something to fight my way to a long gun, or as a backup when the long gun runs out of ammo or malfunctions. I would not want to go into a fight without a handgun, whether I had a long gun or not. Stuff happens, great to have backups.

 

[tac]

Me, I'll take ANY handgun rather than a p8ss-pot if some goblin comes into MY house unasked.

 

[nk02442]

How many soldiers have been killed by green on blue in the last 50 years? The truth is every person overseas should have a pistol in their hip at all times. Pistols are used as backup weapons for crew serve, tip of the spear and armor/air.

They are also used in self defense more often than offensive operations against the enemy. No one ever said here I wish I didn't have this pistol, even if it was to make it easier to be armed while going to the chow hall or taking a bubblegum.

 

[Wombat of Doom]

Eh????

There are snake handlers, among protestants, Catholics , and pagans in my distant relatives in the hills of Western North Carolina. I am not sure if the Catholic one was lapsed. Some are quite literally the leaders in some snake handling cult thingy I am not even going to classify. Me, I kill snakes whenever I am around them and I will not be handling any thank you. I grew up with water moccasins, copperheads, rattlers, sidewinders and Mojave Greens around. Worst kill was when my brother stepped on the head of a 3-4ft diamondback's head while hiking. A swiss army knife was the only thing we had to dispatch him.. I can still feel those rough scales if I think about it thrashing against my arm and it gives me the creeps.