The classic Browning Hi-Power is my vote, though I have certainly not fired all the 9mm pistols out there. Glocks don't fit my hand very well, so my objection to them is more personal rather than a general criticism of the design.

HK P-7M13. Squeeze ing gives a nice light trigger every time. Thing is beautifully balanced, Has a fixed barrel so it shoots better than most of us can shoot it. But I can't deny the Browning Hi Power. Mine troops on with over 25 years

I cant speak for Hi Power but from what Ive read it measures up. I wont knock Glock except I dont like them personnally but Sig 22 models are my choice. The lack of a saftey besides the deing lever I believe is its only drawback for those less expierienced shooters. I believe an inspected chamber and a good finger are the best safties

All the opinions below are mine and mine alone, take them for what theyre worth grip; Toss up between the Hipower with wood grip panels (pachs or hogues ruin the feel) or a Sig P226 with factory grips. accuracy; Ive got to say the P226 just from my experiance. I know ... I havent forgot about the P-7. But Ive yet to find a range with a rental P-7 in all of north Texas! reloading; Any double stack 9mm relaods fairly easily compared to single stack pistols. I will say that in my opinion, the plastic on plastic feel while reloading a Glock at speed doesnt feel as smooth or positive to me. Something about not having that little metalic click or something. function; I don't know I'd rate any of the top five or ten brands any higher or lower than any of the others. Most 9mms are mature designs that have been debugged since their introduction. safety; The third generation Smith & Wessons (5906,5903,6906,3913, etc). DA/SA design. Passive firing pin safety, Slide mounted de c o c k ing safety. And a magazine safety redering it totally incapable of firing if the mag is removed. Thats a feature I would like to see on more pistols, as I like the aspect of it being a "kill button" in a retention situation. The Hi-power is about the only other one I can think of off hand that has it. So I'd rank it up there with the Smiths, deducting a little for SA only operation. recoil; I would say all standard 9mm type weapons would be comparable to others in its class (service vs service, compact vs compact). Informal poll For those that carry 9mms What is your preffered carry ammo in this caliber?

Why is it called the hi-power anyway?

My instinctual guess is that it would have to do with the fact the Europeans loaded the 9mm much hotter that the US did in the 30's and the Hi Power was designed to shoot hotter European loads (Fabrique Nationale). I'm a .45 man, so I'll leave the rest of this debate for the 9mm fans.

I dont really know either ........ my guess is that maybe they considered it the Hi-power compared to the .380s and .32s they were using around that time?

Browning M1935. Called Hi-Power 'cause 'Parabellum and Luger were already taken. 9mm was not a common round in the '30s... not in the US anyway. Closest thing to it was the .32 cal acp and the 9mm is far superior to that. As far as a modern favorite... I'd have to pick any of the Sig P22 series. I like the trigger pull way past the Glocks or S&W's... the way it fits the hand... all of it. Always wondered why Beretta's M-9 offering got the contract to replace the M1911-A1... and in 9mm Luger rather than .45 acp? The spec-ops guys prefer Sigs in either 9mm or .45 acp. Other than capacity... the Sig P220 would be my personal choice in close combat. That big old slow heavy round hits with around 1200 ppsi and whatever you hit is gonna be spun around or stopped for a second shot.

The US went with 9mm Parabellum when replacing the M1911A1 because of commonality issues with NATO -- whoever won the competition to build the new pistol was going to be building a 9mm. Supposedly the M9 beat out whoever else was in the running in testing and evaluation. I don't recall (or perhaps never knew) what other designs were in the running, but I seem to recall that Smith and Wesson and H&K both had entrants. I'm not sure what performance criteria the M9 outshined the others at. In regards to th M9, the ones I've fired in a military context have mostly been rather new and performed nicely enough at the range. The one time I fired a rather dogged out M9, however, I encountered the same sort of problems troops in Iraq seemed to have with them -- about 50% of rounds fired failed to fully cycle the action, among other problems. Never fun shooting for qualification with a single shot weapon . . .

I believe the shoot-off for the contract to replace the M-1911A1 came down to the Sig P-226 and the Beretta 92F, where both were deemed acceptable, but Berretta out bid sig for the contract per unit cost. I believe this is why the contract for the adoption of the M-11 was issued without another intensive round of testing.