Columbus police plan to drop .45-caliber pistol for smaller 9 mm

After using the .45-caliber service pistol for more than 25 years, the Columbus Police Department plans to switch to the 9 mm pistol later this year.

“The 9 mm is by far the most common handgun around now, so I guess this caliber is a win, win for us,” said Police Maj. Stan Swiney of the Bureau of Support Services. “We will get a handgun that will be more accurate for our officers and of course will be able to have fresh guns that haven’t been shot 2,000, 3,000 or 4,000 times.”

The department may have the new Smith & Wesson Military & Police 9 mm pistols by this fall if production is completed. It will be the first change in gun caliber since 1991 when the department switched from the six-shot, .357-caliber revolver to the .45-caliber semi-automatic Smith & Wesson pistol. The .45-caliber service pistol was upgraded to a lighter M&P model in 2008.

“We are going to stay with the M&P military police,” Swiney said. “It’s the same pistol, only in a different caliber.”

Swiney said the change is made possible through Smith & Wesson. The manufacturer will allow the department to trade up to the new weapons and the old guns will be sold.

Using the smaller caliber weapon will improve accuracy for some of department’s smaller framed officers. The size of officers have changed over the last 40 years compared to bigger males of the past.

“Some of our best females are good shots despite the fact that they are using a .45-caliber,” Swiney said. “They just had to learn to control those guns. If you watch a slow-motion video of shooting, they struggle to control it.”

Police Lt. Tim Wynn, director of training, said the department is not dominated by bigger guys.

“It’s not that way anymore,” he said. “There is room and the need for women and smaller officers in this department now. It’s not all brawn and all that anymore.”

Small framed officers, male or female, have to contend with more recoil from the .45-caliber, which will affect accuracy. There is less recoil from the 9 mm, allowing officers to have better control and accuracy with the weapon.

“The accuracy should get better,” Wynn said. “ It should work better and the platform will assist them in doing that. The 9 mm platform is a very good platform.”

With the new pistol, Swiney said officers would carry more rounds with 18 in a fully loaded 9 mm compared with 11 rounds in the .45-caliber pistol. Equipped with two 17-round clips, officers would have up to 52 rounds while they now have only 31 with the .45-caliber.

“It’s a smaller round, so obviously you are going to carry more ammo,” Wynn said. “ It’s not a big round as the .45-caliber and it will give us more ammunition. That part is not what we were looking at. We are looking at ergonomics more than anything.”

Columbus is not the only law enforcement agency moving to the 9 mm. The weapon also is used by the FBI.

“There are a lot of agencies going to 9 mm,” Wynn said.

This story was originally published February 17, 2017 at 4:49 PM with the headline "Columbus police plan to drop .45-caliber pistol for smaller 9 mm."