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I've always been fascinated with the idea of "what if?"
The 3-generation comparison of the Smiths made me think...
What if the 1954 pistol trial had resulted in the X100 being adopted as the Pistol, 9mm, Semiautomatic M4?
That would make Smith and Wesson an insider come the next competition. The Model 459 could be the Pistol M9!
As a long time defense contractor, the M17 competition could have gone to the M&P 9.
What if?
In truth, the last military contract that S&W really tried for was the one where the Beretta 92FS was adopted as the M9.
They tested the waters as request for proposals came in from time to time, but never really made changes to a commercial model to conform to the specifications of the RFP.
I lost count of the number of times after the M9 competition where the military acted like they were going to be replacing it only to cancel the competition just after the competitors had done the requisite changes to meet the RFP, and this isn't just changes to the gun. There were requirements for production capacity, workforce compliance issues... etc.
I wish I could find Reed Knight's rant about it. He wanted to submit his and Stoner's LMG design, but Knight's was disqualified for lack of production space.
I noticed that the domestic gun makers flat stopped submitting designs to the things. You can't hardly blame them, the US civilian market dwarfs the US military one.
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