Why did the 9mm become the default language of modern handguns? The answer to this question is that the answer to this is the recognition that the most significant part of this is the recognition that the fact that there are a few pistols that were best-sellers and were widely used, but also that they brought shortcuts in the manufacturing process, magazine design, trigger mechanisms, and ergonomics that other pistol designers simply could not resist imitating. It is this that has led to the current state of the sidearm industry, where capacity, recoil, and modularity are the norm.
1. Glock 19
The true legacy of the Glock 19 is in its packaging: a small footprint that still offers a service-sized ammunition loadout. In its most popular form, it comes with a 15-round magazine, and this has become the norm for “do everything” pistols that can ride in a duty holster or be carried in a cover garment.
Its striker-fired platform and lack of external controls also made mainstream the idea that a fighting pistol could be minimalist in its design and still offer a consistent trigger pull from shot to shot. Its ability to support accessories kept it relevant as lighted, optics-ready, and suppressor-ready pistols became more mainstream than niche.
2. Glock 17
Whereas the Glock was a small pistol that proved the concept, the full-size Glock 17 proved the production paradigm. The combination of a polymer frame and a striker-fired system set a new standard for law enforcement pistols to be lighter and have fewer small parts to concern oneself with, and cemented “polymer duty gun” as a fait accompli rather than a test case. The acceptance by law enforcement agencies around the world put the nail in the coffin, establishing the standard for capacity, reliability, and controllable recoil that the rest of the industry had to live up to. Even if other manufacturers were contracted by the agencies, the Glock 17 established the standard for what a modern service 9mm pistol should be.
3. Browning Hi-Power
The Browning Hi-Power was legendary in making high capacity seem normal. The most typical aspect was the true staggered-column magazine, and it came in a package that naturally points for many shooters. The history of the design is also significant, as the Browning name is not on the final product, which is essentially the creation of Dieudonné Saive, who completed the project after the death of John Browning. The Hi-Power solidified the notion that a serious 9mm pistol had to have more than single-stack capacity without being a brick in the hand.
4. Beretta 92 (M9)
The Beretta 92 series was a shorthand term for service pistols of the late 20th century, and its design choices were no less recognizable. The open slide design was meant to ensure that the pistol would operate well in a dirty environment, and the locking block design helped to provide smooth operation and durability with proper care. The DA/SA design philosophy also reflected a training culture that preferred a heavier first trigger pull and lighter single-action shots, which in turn impacted handgun training courses for generations to come. Even as the industry progressed to striker-fired triggers, the Beretta 92 was the standard by which shootability was measured in a full-size 9mm metal-frame pistol.
5. SIG Sauer P226
The P226 is occasionally mentioned in the same breath as top-of-the-line metal-framed duty pistols, but the most important thing to realize in this regard is the way in which the series continued to move forward without losing sight of its heritage. In this regard, the series added more standardized accessory mounting points, such as a Picatinny rail, and more contemporary sighting systems, all while maintaining the DA/SA trigger system that many professionals favored. This mix of old and new would come to define the standard for other legacy pistols attempting to stay current in a world of optics and lights. The P226’s long lifespan also proved that “modernization” was sometimes simply a matter of refinement.
6. Luger P08
The impact of the Luger, however, is not limited to the collector’s circle, as it helped to set the standard for what was possible in a compact and accurate autoloading pistol. While the toggle lock mechanism is certainly a unique fix from a design perspective, the real impact is the role that it played in popularizing the 9mm cartridge in and of itself and setting the standard for an ergonomic grip angle that designers would return to time and time again. That is, the Luger pistol did not merely chamber a successful cartridge but helped to make that cartridge synonymous with the idea of a controllable service pistol. Even in a day and age where few pistols have borrowed from its design, the requirements of the Luger pistol sound like a wish list from the modern era: balance, pointability, and accuracy.
7. CZ 75
The success of the CZ 75 is the direct result of its ability to combine the strength of a pistol with a shooting experience that is optimal for rapid and accurate fire. The internal slide rail design helps to facilitate the reduction of the slide within the frame, which in turn helps to facilitate the creation of a tight and stable action with a natural grip angle. The DA/SA trigger system helped to establish its credibility within the institutional market while still being desirable within the sport shooting market, and its impact can be seen in the many pistols that borrowed from its design. The “clone ecosystem” became an engineering compliment: the design was good enough to be copied and improved upon for generations.
8. Heckler & Koch VP70
The VP70 is the odd man out that proved that the materials of tomorrow could be used today. It is well known for being the first polymer-framed pistol, and it did this long before it became the norm. It also had an 18-round magazine capacity, which was comically high for a military pistol at the time. It also sported a striker-fired mechanism and a double-action-only trigger, and the military variant of the pistol could even be switched to a three-round burst fire mode if a stock assembly was installed. Even if it did not exactly become a huge commercial success, the VP70 did prove that polymer was definitely a path worth pursuing.
In all these models, the trend remains the same: the capacity increased, the controls were simplified, the frames were made lighter, and the interfaces for accessories became the standard. The 9mm pistols of today are what they are because these pistols proved what concepts were worth repeating and what could be improved upon to create the standard sidearm template.
