The M9 has taken its fair share of knocks since it replaced the 1911, but it still reigns as our service pistol after two decades.

I find it fascinating that Beretta, the world's oldest firearms manufacture, has created one of the most prolific yet controversial handguns, the Beretta M9. Never in the firm's 482-year history has another of its products been praised and denounced with equal fervor.

In 1985 it was announced that the 9mm Beretta M9--the military version of the current civilian Model 92FS--was going to replace the venerable Colt Government Model 1911A1 in .45 ACP as the official sidearm of the United States armed forces. As a die-hard fan of the old slab-sided warhorse, I joined in the collective groans from both civilian and military ranks over the demise of a pistol that had served our country with honor through two world wars, the Korean conflict, Vietnam and a host of other battlefield engagements.

But even I had to agree that the Beretta M9 was a more realistic choice for modern warfare. Instead of the 1911's seven-round capacity, the M9 holds 15 cartridges, more than doubling the previous service pistol's firepower. And rather than being single-action only, the Beretta is capable of both single- and double-action operation.

It also has a more sophisticated safety system; aside from the standard "safe" and "fire" controls, the hammer can be lowered to safe with a mere flick of the thumb via a side lever on either side of the slide, rather than requiring a two-handed operation. In addition to ambidextrous decocking, the magazine release can easily be switched from left side to right to accommodate southpaws.

In fact, the pistol is safety personified. The M9 sports a two-piece inertia firing pin and a half-cock hammer catch that prevents an accidental discharge should the hammer slip while being cocked. It also has a loaded chamber indicator on the slide that can be seen or, in the dark, felt.

Another point in the M9's favor is that it is unbelievably easy to field strip. For someone who still has dreams about my Army indoctrination disassembling the 1911 while blindfolded, I found the Beretta's system to be a revelation. While visiting the Army's National Training Center at Ft. Irwin, California, I spoke with a second lieutenant who did me one better by stating that in the Rangers they were taught to field strip the M9 while blindfolded and hanging upside down.

And, finally, the Beretta is inherently rugged, having been tested by firing an astounding 17,500 rounds, as witnessed by government inspectors, without a single malfunction. Given the fact that the government contract called for each M9 to withstand up to 5,000 rounds of firing, that's a commendable example of over-engineering.

But in spite of all these features, initially there were problems with the government's new sidearm, both physically and philosophically. For one thing, there was the stigma of the M9 having an aluminum frame. Of course, this was necessary to ensure the gun's relatively light fully loaded weight of only 21⁄2 pounds.

Then, of course, we had the caliber controversy, a debate that rages to this day. The 230-grain full metal jacket .45 ACP service round was legendary for tales of its one-shot knockdown power, while the 124-grain FMJ 9mm was hardly deemed fit for combat by American standards, in spite of the fact that it was in use by the majority of NATO armies--which was the main reason the United States Armed forces decided to adopt the round.

But lack of stopping power and over-penetration tales were rampant due to the 9mm's 1,200 fps muzzle velocity combined with its full metal jacket configuration, which impeded expansion.