science of weapons and war

n 1985 the United States Army replaced the Colt 1911 service pistol with the Italian designed M9 Beretta. The first question that came to mind is why? Why not simply order up a few hundred thousand of the then new Series 80 Colts? There are various reasons but several sources in the Army claim Congress, always well informed, pushed the 9mm pistol on the Army to place the United States in line with NATO. Others say it was a leveraged deal, involving contracts for military bases in Italy. A look back at the problems encountered with the M 16 rifle program shows that Congress found that the upper echelon in the Army acted with ‘near criminal negligence’ in nearly ruining the performance of what was once an ideal jungle weapon. Could this be true of the 9mm pistol program? The Beretta seems to be reliable enough and seems to have been tested adequately, but in terms of wound potential the pistol has fallen short. If a weapon is only a projectile launcher the M9's projectile badly needs upgrading.