Last Of The Breed: Marine Corps M45A1

[JSGlock34]

@JSGlock34

How is the Cerakote finish holding up on the commercial guns? Regardless of Colt switching over production to the Decobond finish, was the cerakote "fixed" after the initial batch that got returned to Colt?

I guess I should ask...if I pick up one of these and it happens to be a cerakoted commercial model, should it be okay to shoot occasionally as a range toy? Or should I really go for the decobond if I plan on shooting it at all, even minimally?

I haven't purchased a M45A1, so I'll defer to others to share their experiences. I went down the M45 rabbit hole once, but that's a parkerized gun.

[JSGlock34]

Well.... The Sig M18s have started to arrive at both the Recon units and the EOTG armories. Going forward the Special Tactics Branches are planning on running with whatever variant pistol shows up with a team as the transition is conducted. Force Platoons going out this year still have M45A1. Next year will probably be a mix. 2022 will likely be all Sig....

Honestly the biggest problem is the ammo allocation. A CQB class and certification consumes 500 k pistol. We have a allocation of 3.5 mil .45 ACP just for 2nd EOTG, our current 9mm allocation is nowhere near that and they are trying to figure out where to get the extra 9mm from going forward... 2020 shenanigans are not helping things much either...

Spotted this on the Force Recon instagram feed and it reminded me of this thread...guess those M18s are finding their way into holsters. How's the transition progressing?

[Forte Smitten Wesson]

I can't help but wonder what became of the USMC's H&K MK23s and MK24s in all of this. Granted that the MK23 was a behemoth, but the MK24 (aka USP45 Compact) seems like a logical replacement for the 1911, yet you never hear anything about it anymore so presumably it has been phased out of service entirely.

[HCM]

I can't help but wonder what became of the USMC's H&K MK23s and MK24s in all of this. Granted that the MK23 was a behemoth, but the MK24 (aka USP45 Compact) seems like a logical replacement for the 1911, yet you never hear anything about it anymore so presumably it has been phased out of service entirely.

The USMC never really fielded either.

The MK 23 was a SOCOM program and despite the HK fan boy cult, it was a flop not used by anyone who could avoid it.

The MK 24 was a Naval Special Warfare (SEAL) program and was the Navy’s official replacement for the mk23.

@rcbusmc24

[TGS]

I can't help but wonder what became of the USMC's H&K MK23s and MK24s in all of this. Granted that the MK23 was a behemoth, but the MK24 (aka USP45 Compact) seems like a logical replacement for the 1911, yet you never hear anything about it anymore so presumably it has been phased out of service entirely.

In addition to what HCM already wrote about the USMC never fielding either system, the Mk24 is the HK45 Compact, not the USP45 Compact.

[HCM]

In addition to what HCM already wrote about the USMC never fielding either system, the Mk24 is the HK45 Compact, not the USP45 Compact.

Yes. Though I suspect if the USP45 Compact had been selected as the Mk23 back in the 90s it would have been much more successful.

[Joe in PNG]

If you think about it, the design of the 1911 is as distant from the 2021 serviceman as a single shot flintlock pistol would be to the 1921 serviceman.

That the current Sig isn't really all that mechanically distant from a 1911, or that it is chambered in a cartridge older than the .45acp is kind of interesting as well.

[TC215]

In addition to what HCM already wrote about the USMC never fielding either system, the Mk24 is the HK45 Compact, not the USP45 Compact.

Yep, the USP 45 CT was the Mk23 MOD 1, adopted in the early 2000's.

[A-Train]

My buddy (a former Marine) bought one a couple years ago when they had the civilian copies come out and I finally got to shoot it a couple weeks ago during a range trip together.

He said it wasn’t as accurate as he thought it would be, so I took a few shots at 15 yards and showed him maybe it was his inadequate Marine marksmanship training (I was an Army officer, LOL!)



It’s a good looking 1911 with an interesting history. Sadly it’s likely to be one of the last officially issue 1911’s in service.

[UNK]

The issue 1911s were crap worn out and one I qualified with I placed a black sticky several inches outside the bull at 4:00 to hit the X. The Quantico guns however both 1911s and M14s were the bomb.