![]() ![]() military service since the venerable government-model 1911A1,” the official operator’s manual states.Īs of 2012, the SEALs still had their MK-23s, according to a SOCOM briefing. The guns became “the first caliber .45 … pistol to enter U.S. Most of the new weapons, finally dubbed the MK-23, went to the SEALs. Knights Armament Company supplied a more traditionally shaped device with fixed baffles like the Qual-A-Tech silencer. Most notably, designers replaced the original boxy suppressor. After the selection, the designers tweaked the pistol-initially called the EX-23-in a number of ways. Only Heckler & Koch and Colt responded to the request. SOCOM asked private companies to come up with what it called an “Offensive Handgun Weapon System” The weapon would shoot ammo that was “hotter”-loaded with extra or more powerful gunpowder-than traditional military rounds.Ĭompanies also had to supply suppressors and lasers with their test guns. The SEALs and the fledgling Special Operations Command were both less than thrilled with the resulting nine-millemeter Beretta handgun. A company called Qual-A-Tech made the suppressors, which collected the propellant gasses in fixed chambers, according to a separate Air Force test report.Īt the same time, the Pentagon was searching for a new pistol to replace the decades-old M1911. But the teams were clearly tiring of the expendable wipe suppressors.īy the 1980s, the Navy had purchased a number of Heckler & Koch Model P9S pistols along with new silencers to replace the older combination. The naval commandos kept their quiet pistols after the fighting Southeast Asia came to an end. “Very seldom did I used the hush puppy against a person-dogs and ducks raising an alarm were a much more common target,” Dockery quotes an unnamed SEAL as saying in his book. SEALs dubbed the weapons “hush puppies” … for obvious reasons. In Vietnam, commandos fired the guns to take down lone guards or, more often, kill animals that could give them away. The pistol quickly became a popular and iconic addition to the SEALs’ arsenal. To top this off, the elite sailors got unique subsonic ammunition that wouldn’t make the cracking sound that results from breaking the sound barrier. This feature would make the gun a single-shot affair, but also eliminate the noise from the shifting parts. The weapons themselves-called the MK-22-also had a bar to prevent the slide from moving back and forth. “The suppressor insert refurbishes the suppressor.” The MK-3 “becomes less effective after firing 24 rounds,” an official naval manual notes. Individual commandos could unscrew the whole arrangement and install a fresh insert back at base. A large spring and O-ring held a separate insert firmly in place inside a main tube.Īs the wipes were blasted away, the gasses could still expand inside this outer shell. The MK-3 was still a wipe design, but essentially had a suppressor inside a suppressor. In 1967, the naval commandos got the first of new MK-3 “noise suppressors.” The silencers were fitted to specially modified nine-millimeter Smith & Wesson Model 39 pistols. So the Navy set to work developing a replacement. The SEALs needed a weapon that could handle day-to-day use out in the field. “The intent was for the operator to use the weapon for a mission and then get rid of the suppressor.” This kind of suppressor includes a soft rubber or plastic disc to help seal in the gasses after the bullets pass through.īut these “wipes wore away quickly under the stress of firing,” Dockery explains. But the firearms were aging … and never intended for regular combat use.įor instance, the CIA had become particularly fond of a “wipe” type silencer. With the close connection between special operations units and the CIA early on, the SEALs managed to get their hands on some of these guns. And these weapons lingered on in both military and CIA arsenals well after the conflict ended. The OSS and their British counterparts ordered a variety of suppressed pistols, submachine guns and rifles during the war, according to a contemporary U.S. ![]()
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