The Road To Wonder Nine Discovery

The germ of this obsession begins with my noticing that there isn't another double stack 9mm for around 35 years after the FN/Browning Grand Puissance sticks the landing.

The H&K VP.70 almost doesn't even count, but low production and unpopular doesn't knock it off the list.

But we brainstormed the contenders (and forgot the VP.70) and came up with HP-35, S&W 59 then Beretta 92 then a gap until Glock and then suddenly EVERYONE.  Paging Gary Oldman, paging Gary Oldman.

That got me looking at what makes a wonder-9 and thinking about going hands on with the historical analysis.

The road to getting the Model 59 leads through the Navy SEALs.

Specifically me doing the GURPS: SEALs in Vietnam playtest.

But it doesn't even start there!

Where this really starts is when I tried to find the missing M numbers. 

There are a lot of M numbers which have been assigned, but not recorded because they are XM designations.

This missing M search led me to find the several attempts to replace the M1911A1 with a 9x19mm NATO pistol.  I think the S&W X100 would have been the M4 pistol had DoD proceeded with the program... but don't quote me on that.

The X100 is refined into the S&W 39, they'd spent the money developing it, why not see if it would sell on the commercial market?

Although the Army didn't replace the M1911A1 with the Model 39, the SEALs bought a few.  They also modified some into the 9mm Pistol and Suppressor Kit Mk23 Mod0 (Mk22 Mod0 pistol plus Mk3 Mod0 suppressor) or "Hush Puppy".

Someone with the SEALs said, "wouldn't this be 20% cooler if it could take High Power magazines?"

Custom made guns were made by... someone... and S&W was asked if they could make more.

S&W reckoned that they could (with a proprietary magazine), but didn't get finished developing their version until the war in Vietnam was all but over and the SEALs were no longer receiving lavish funding that could drive weapons development.

S&W asks, again, "we spent all that money developing it, why not see if the commercial market wants it?"

And they made over 200,000 of the things in just under 10 years.