Glock 9mm Parabellum Pistols

     Notes: These are modern, high-capacity pistols built from carbon-fiber plastics.  The weapon is difficult to detect on X-rays when disassembled (the barrel and part of the bolt are still made of metal).  The Glock 17A became the standard sidearm of the Austrian military, and various Glock models have become increasingly popular with police and military forces worldwide.  The weapon sparked controversy when introduced due to its supposed ability to go through X-Rays and metal detectors without being spotted.  (This is untrue, since there is easily enough metal in a Glock for that not to happen.)  The standard Glock 17A (or simply Glock 17) is a fairly ordinary type of pistol, other than its construction (which has also, with time, become more common); it is equipped with a 4.49-inch barrel.  The Glock 17C is a Glock 17A with compensator ports at the muzzle (which unfortunately have no effect in game terms).  The Glock 17L is a longer-barreled version of the Glock 17A.  The Glock 19 is a version of the Glock 17 with a shorter barrel and handgrip; the Glock 19C has compensator ports.  The Glock 26 is subcompact version of the Glock 17, with an even shorter barrel than the Glock 19 and also a shorter handgrip.  The Glock 34 is designed for competition shooting; it has an adjustable rear sight and compensator ports, as well as a full 5.32-inch barrel.  An odd fact about the 9mm Glocks (and Glocks of other calibers) is that they are often able to use the magazines of other 9mm Glocks, though with many Glocks, the magazine may stick out a LONG way from the bottom of the magazine well!

     The Glock 18, though based on the Glock 17A, is a bit different from that pistol, as it is a selective-fire machine pistol.  The Glock 18 was designed after a request from Austria’s Cobra antiterrorist unit for a small, concealable CQB weapon, one that was smaller than any such weapon found on the market at the time.  At the request of Cobra Unit, the Glock 18 was deliberately designed without any burst setting, and the automatic setting’s cyclic rate is very high at 1200 rpm, as the Glock 18’s purpose was to be able to saturate an area with rounds.  On semiautomatic, you basically have a Glock 17A by a different name.  The selector lever is found on the left rear of the slide, apart from the manual safety.  The Glock 18 requires extensive training to use properly, as automatic fire results in rapid, extreme barrel climb unless a proper firing position is used, and it’s quite difficult to fire even short burst due to the high cyclic rate of fire.  That said, the basic design of the Glock 18 does a lot to hold down heating of the barrel, and the strength of the polymer frame used in the Glock as well as the design of the frame means the Glock 18’s frame is easily able to withstand the stresses of automatic fire (and the fact that the Glock 18 is a limited-use weapon in most units that use it help).  A variant of the Glock 18, the Glock 18C, is similar to the Glock 17C in that the Glock 18C has a muzzle equipped with compensator ports.  A special 33-round extended magazine was designed for use with the Glock 18, though this magazine extends well below the grip when inserted.  A newer addition for the Glock 18 is the IGP Tactical GL shoulder stock, which includes an adapter to add to the lower grip of the Glock 18.  The Glock 18 and 18C are rather rare weapons; they are sold only to military, police, of certain government agencies, and it is a pistol with very limited applications.  The extended magazine and the shoulder stock are also not sold to those who “don’t need it.”

     The Glock 17A, 17L, and 17C have gotten the latest “Gen 4” modifications.  These modifications include a stippled-texture finish for the grip to improve the shooter’s hold on the weapon, two sizes of add-on backstraps to accommodate larger or smaller hands, an enlarged, reversible magazine catch, the Gen 4 magazine, which allows the magazine to be used in a large number of existing pistol designs of approximately the magazine’s dimensions, and a dual recoil spring assembly to improve reliability.  For game purposes, the Gen 4, is, however, identical to the standard Glock 17.

     Several companies, such as KPOS, CAA, HERA, MechTech, and others manufacture a kit to convert the Glock 9mm pistol into a short-barreled carbine.  Though these do add a small amount of barrel length to the base Glock, the main thing they add is a flash suppressor of some sort, a folding stock, a forward grip for control, and with most of them, MIL-STD-1913 rails above the slide and on the sides of the fore-end, making them advanced short-barreled carbines.  For game purposes, they are identical.  They can use any sort of Glock 9mm Pistol as a base, though most are meant to be used with the larger Glock pistols.  It should be noted that the effects of Glocks with compensator ports are negated when using the carbine kit.  These Carbine Kits have the following effects on the base firearms being used: add 1 to damage, add 35% to range (rounding down), increase bulk to 2/3, reduce recoil by one (five for a Glock 18-based carbine on automatic fire).

     One US company, CCF Raceframes, manufactures an ergonomically-improved frame for the Glock 17 which is made from light alloy instead of polymer. Though there have been some complaints about the polymer Glock frames cracking and prematurely wearing, these complaints are mostly exaggerated; however, some shooters just prefer a metal gun over a polymer gun.  CCF also took the opportunity to improve on the basic Glock frame.  The tang of the pistol is swept back into a sort of beavertail, which offers not only more natural proper hand placement, but protects big hands from hammer bite.  The front of the trigger guard is undercut to allow the gun to ride higher in the shooting hand, again improving hand placement on the pistol.  The trigger guard is, unlike the standard Glock, rounded in front instead of being squared and hooked, The area around the magazine release is slightly relieved into the frame, allowing a standard magazine release to take on most of the functions of an extended magazine release.  The frontstrap is checkered, and the sides of the grip are textured. The backstrap can be worn bare, and it is checkered; however, two soft polymer inserts of various sizes are available to better suit the shooter’s hand. The magazine well is beveled to aid in reloading, and the magazine well is slightly wider inside to allow magazines to fall free while reloading.  The trigger pack is tuned, eliminating the spongy overtravel feeling that so many Glock owners have reported.  Integral with the dust cover, machined in, is a MIL-STD-1913 rail for the attachments of lights, lasers, and other accessories.  The CCF version is equipped with the better-placed and quick-to-actuate Cominolly Thumb Safety, which was to be included on the original Glock 17, but cut in a cost-saving measure.  As an option, CCF will build their Glock 17 variant with a stainless steel frame, which adds only a little to the weight of the weapon.  With this frame, and the third insert for the backstrap, the CCF Glock 17 feels almost like a 1911.

     The CCF Glock 17 is not able to take tactical stocks or be used in Carbine Kits.

     Lone Wolf in the US makes a license-produced variant of the Glock 34, called the Timberwolf G34.  It is designed for competition use, particularly the Steel Challenge.  The parts of the Timberworlf are nearly 100% compatible with a standard Glock 34.  Under the dust cover is a MIL-STD-1913 rail, molded into the polymer frame (which may be almost any color the buyer requests, even weird colors like Hot Pink and Flare Orange).  The polymer is an advanced carbon fiber blend. The Timberwolf has an interchangeable backstrap set which allows for four grip sizes.  The stainless steel slide has a large slot cut out of the top front of it, which partially reduces weight and partially hats as a sort of porting effect.  The nose is slightly beveled in the same manner as Glock 26. The barrel is a bull barrel 5.32 inches long. The feed ramp is polished and the barrel is match-grade; the Timberwolf can fire virtually all types of 9mm Parabellum ammunition repeatedly, including bare lead hot-loaded slugs.  The grip is molded with ergonomics in mind, as are the controls.  The rear sight is a Warren Tactical Target micrometer adjustable sight, while the front sight has a fiberoptic inlay but is not adjustable. The beavertail is greatly extended, more for balance in the hand than anything else as there is no grip safety.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: Manufacture of this weapon stopped as the ability to make its polymer parts became difficult later in the war. The Gen 4 is not available in the Twilight 2000 timeline, nor is the CCF Glock 17 or the Timberwolf.

Glock .380 ACP Pistols

     Notes: These versions of the Glock series equivalent to the Glock 19 (in the case of the Glock 25) and the Glock 26 (in the case of the Glock 28), except for their chambering.  They were designed primarily for sales in countries where the use of “military/police” ammunition (such as 9mm Parabellum) is prohibited by civilians.  The Glock 25 is not sold in the US; the Glock 28 is sold in the US only to police, government, or military concerns. 

     Twilight 2000 Notes: The Glock 28 is an extremely rare pistol in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

Glock 10mm Colt Pistols

     Notes: These are the equivalent of the Glock 17 (in the case of the Glock 20) or the Glock 26 (in the case of the Glock 29); however, the barrels of both weapons are made longer to properly utilize the power of the 10mm Colt cartridge.  They were designed simply to fulfill market demand for pistols firing the 10mm Colt cartridge.  The Glock 20C version, like other models with the “C” suffix, has compensator ports near the muzzle.

     The Glock 20, 20C, and 29 share a problem with all of the higher-caliber members of the Glock series (those firing 10mm Colt, .40 Smith & Wesson, .45 ACP, and .45 GAP) – they all tend to have rather wide grips (with the exception of the Glock 21SF).  This tends to give those with small hands problems getting a good, solid grip on the pistol.  So far, there isn’t any aftermarket solution for this problem, as a Glock’s grips are almost entirely one-piece moldings that are integral to the frame, and there aren’t any grip plates that bulge out or could be removed and replaced with thinner grip plates.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: The Glock 29 is an extremely rare weapon in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

Glock .357 SiG Pistols

     Notes: The Glock 31 is the equivalent of the Glock 17A (in the case of the Glock 31), Glock 19 (in the case of the Glock 32) or Glock 26 (in the case of the Glock 33); virtually the only differences are those required for the different chambering.  They are popular with US police forces and are also used by some other police agencies worldwide; in addition; civilian sales have been good.  Both the Glock 31 and 32 have versions with compensator ports, the Glock 31C and Glock 32C.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: These pistols do not exist in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

Glock .40 Smith & Wesson Pistols

     Notes: These are basically the equivalent of the Glock 17A, 19, 17L, 26, and 34, except that they are chambered for the .40 Smith & Wesson cartridge.  They are virtually the same as those 9mm-firing pistols, except for the changes necessary to accommodate the different cartridge.  This chambering is probably the most popular of the Glock pistols after the 9mm versions; in fact, the Glock 22 is the standard issue pistol of the FBI as well as many police departments in the US.  The Glock 23 and 24 also come in compensated versions.  The Glock 35 is the competition version in this caliber, but is also being increasingly used as a duty weapon by US police officers.  The Glock 24 was not produced after 2001; it was essentially replaced by the Glock 35 in the competition role.

     The same sort of Carbine Kits are produced for Glock .40 Smith & Wesson pistols as for 9mm Glocks, and they have the same effects as those for a 9mm Glock.  They have the same weight and same cost.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: The Glock 35 is a very rare weapon in Western Europe, and virtually nonexistent anywhere else, in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

Glock .45 ACP Pistols

     Notes: These versions of the Glock are equivalent to the Glock 17, Glock 26, and Glock 33, but chambered in .45 ACP.  The barrels of these weapons are somewhat longer than their 9mm counterparts, however, to accommodate the more powerful cartridge.  The Glock 21 also comes in a version with compensator ports near the muzzle, known as the Glock 21C.  The Glock 21 and 21C were, when they were first introduced, sold in the US with magazines holding only 10 rounds due to the Assault Weapons Ban, but after the sunset of those laws, 13-round magazines were again available in the US within a few months.  Very light for the cartridge they fire, these Glocks can be quite the handful, though the increased weight does help mitigate this.

     With the US military (and a few other countries) looking hard at going back to the .45 ACP as a standard pistol cartridge, the problem arises with those troops with smaller hands (not necessarily women, by the way!) and the tendency for most modern .45 ACP pistols to be double-stack, high-capacity weapons.  The US military, in particular, is looking at possible designs, and one of those is reportedly a new version of the Glock 21, called the Glock 21SF (for “Slim Frame”).  This version not only has a narrower grip frame, but trimmed grip plates to that smaller hands can hold them properly to achieve stable shooting.  The Glock 21 13-round double-stack magazine is replaced by a 10-round magazine which is still double-stack, but not nearly as wide as the 13-round magazine.  (The Glock 21SF cannot use the 13-round magazine, incidentally, though it can use the 10-round magazine of the Glock 30. However, the Glock 21 and 21C can use the Glock 21SF’s 10-round magazine.)  Other improvements were made as well, including the grip angle, all-ambidextrous controls, a magazine which drops free when the magazine release is depressed instead of simply popping out enough to be grasped, a true MIL-STD-1913 rail under the dust cover, and low-profile combat sights.  Note that for game purposes, the Glock21SF shoots identically to the standard Glock 21. The Glock 21SF was introduced to the public at the 2007 SHOT show, though reportedly various countries have had examples for evaluation purposes for at least 4 months before that.  In 2008, a similar version of the Glock 30, the Glock 30SF, was introduced.  It shoots identically to the standard Glock 30 for game purposes.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: The Glock 36 is not available in the Twilight 2000 timeline, nor is the Glock 21SF.  The Glock 30 is a rather rare commodity.

Glock .45 GAP Pistols

     Notes: These are new Glock pistols, chambered for a proprietary round (.45 GAP, or Glock Automatic Pistol).  Glock was looking for a cartridge that would fit in between the 9mm Parabellum and .40 Smith & Wesson cartridges in terms of performance.  They did this by taking a .45 ACP cartridge and shortening the case (and reducing the propellant a little; it has long been thought that the .45 ACP cartridge was longer than necessary considering the amount of propellant in it).  The Glock 37 is the full-sized version; the Glock 38 and 39 are the compact and subcompact models, respectively. Barrels, while somewhat longer than their 9mm counterparts, are somewhat shorter than their .45 ACP equivalents.  No compensated versions have as yet been offered, though rumors say Glock may offer them in the future.  The pistols and the cartridge have proven to be increasingly popular since their introduction.  When the Glock 37 was first introduced, the US Assault Weapons ban was still in effect, and the Glock 37 was sold in the US only with 10-round magazines.  Since those laws’ sunset, 15-round magazines have been available for the Glock 37.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: These pistols are not available in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

ISSC-Austria M-22

     Notes: In the late 2000s, Wolfram Kriegleder, former Walther designer and the designer of the Walther P-22, struck out on his own to form his own company, the International Shooting and Security Consultants (ISSC).  They make a variety of defense and police-related items, but are perhaps best known for their .22 pistols and rifles.  The M-22 is a rimfire pistol about the size and shape of the Glock 19; the dimensions are moderate, but it includes a number of modern features, such as a polymer frame, an ergonomic polymer grip with stippled sides and frontstrap and grooved backstrap. The M-22 thus has a hand-filling size and is relatively heavy for a rimfire pistol, and has natural pointing qualities.  The M-22 has a 4-inch Lothar Walther barrel which has a bull profile and is of match quality.  Under the dust cover is a length of Weaver rail, and the front of the trigger guard is slightly concave and grooved.  The front sight is a squared white-colored post, which is dovetailed in to allow drift adjustments or replacement with sight posts of various heights; the rear sight has a notch outlined in white and is adjustable for windage.  The sight picture is said to be uncluttered, and the front sight squares up neatly in the rear sight.  Operation is by straight blowback (the most reliable operation for rimfire pistols; the M-22 is hammer fired, though the hammer is not visible when it is forward.  The trigger pull of initial versions was a bit heavy at 6 pounds, but it was a short take-up with no creep.  New production versions have a trigger pull weight of 2 pounds, with the same take-up and lack of creep. The M-22 has more safeties than even an M-1911, including a loaded chamber indicator, an ambidextrous safety/decocker, a trigger safety, an automatic firing pin safety, and a magazine safety.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: the M-22 does not exist in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

Kolibri

     Notes: The Kolibri (Hummingbird) was designed for ladies' self-defense near the turn of the century.  It is believed to be the smallest handgun ever built, designed for the tiny purses that women were carrying at the time. They remain the smallest semiautomatic handguns ever made.  The Kolibri requires tiny rounds, which are unfortunately underpowered and cause little more than annoying damage.  Today, Kolibris are the province of those who collect exotic antique weapons; a real Kolibri will sell for hundreds of times the game price listed here. 

     Merc 2000 Notes: In Merc 2000, a good adventure could revolve around recovering one of these rare antiques.

Mannlicher M-1900/M-1905

     Notes:  Now virtually a collector’s item, the only place the M-1900 or the 1905 might now show up being used as a weapon is some out-of-the-way places in South America, where the ammunition and spare parts are still being made.  The craftsmanship and quality were so good that most surviving examples of this pistol still work quite well.  It is unusual for a pistol in that the operation is by delayed blowback, something normally found in heavier battle rifles or automatic rifles.  The magazine is in the grip, but it is not removable; the slide is pulled back instead, and a charger of cartridges inserted from the top.  The differences between the M-1900 and the M-1905 are in the magazine, which is larger in the M-1905, and the rear sight, which is above the chamber in the M-1900 and rear of the slide on the 1905 to give a longer sight radius.

Mannlicher M-1903

     Notes:  This pistol was originally designed in 1896, but not produced until 1903.  It is regarded as an attractive weapon, with an expensive, high-quality finish, but it was up against too much competition from other pistols of the period and thus did not get much acceptance.  In addition, the M-1903 was not designed strongly enough for the power of the ammunition it used, and could be unreliable.  They passed out of service and into civilian hands quickly; a few survive to this day.  Many hunters have added scopes and stocks and used them as hunting weapons.

Roth-Steyr M-1907

     Notes:  The Roth-Steyr was the first automatic pistol to be adopted by any major world army, having been adopted by Austria-Hungary in 1908.  In World War 1, it served alongside the Rast & Gasser revolver, and was preferred to that weapon; the Rast & Gasser was replaced by the Roth-Steyr after World War 1, and continued in service for a short while after World War 2. It continued to be used as late as the 1940s by Italian troops, and some can still be found in use in obscure parts of the Balkans.  The actual designer was a Czech named Karel Krnka, who was working for an Austrian company, and built by Sauer in Germany, with additional Roth-Steyr pistols being manufactured in Hungary by FEG.  The Roth-Steyr was never offered to civilians or the police; all production was for the Austro-Hungarian military.  The Roth-Steyr was during World War 1 issued only to cavalry troops, and never issued to the infantry.

     The short recoil system used by the Roth-Steyr is very complicated, involving, among other things, a rotating barrel and a telescoping bolt.  (I’ve seen it described in one book as “screwy.”)  Despite the strange operation, over 90,000 were produced, and it is a reliable and robust weapon that still functions well. The Roth-Steyr is one of the few pistols to be fed by a stripper clip, though the ammunition is still contained within the grip, though the Roth-Steyr is loaded from the top through an open bolt when the bolt is pulled back.c The Roth-Steyr is a big pistol, with a 5.2-inch barrel and a total length of 9.2 inches (23.4 centimeters).

Steyr GB

     Notes:  The roots of the GB go all the way back to the late 1960s, when a Steyr came up with an idea for a high-capacity handgun for use by Austrian armed forces.  This design took nearly ten years for Steyr to get right, and by then, the Austrian military wasn’t looking for a new service pistol and Steyr could not interest any other military or police forces in the P-18.

     Steyr also had a parallel development at the time – the Pi-18.  The Pi-18 was selective-fire machine pistol version, with the operation reworked into a delayed blowback mechanism using gas delay, and the barrel and slide fit together to form a sort of piston.  The hammer was an external loop-type, with a selector lever mounted on the slide that allowed safe, semiautomatic, and automatic fire modes.  The heel of the grip was slotted to accepted a skeletonized metal stock to help stabilize the Pi-18 in automatic (or semiautomatic, for that matter) fire.  Extended magazines were also developed for use with the Pi-18, and the end of the muzzle had a multi-baffle muzzle brake.  The Pi-18 was also capable of automatic fire without the stock, though with dubious accuracy at best. Again, unfortunately for Steyr, they failed to attract any buyers for the Pi-18, and the Pi-18 died an early death before any series production could happen.  Of course, I’ve put “what-if” stats below.  (Did you really think I wouldn’t?) Steyr then very briefly tried to sell the Pi-18 as a semiautomatic pistol, still able to use the muzzle brake (which was reworked to be removable), the stock, and the extended magazine.  That idea also died on the vine.  (It should be noted that the muzzle brake and the stock will not fit onto the Rogak P-18 or the GB, though they can be used with the original Steyr P-18.  I haven’t been able to find out whether the same is true of the extended magazines.)

     The Pi-18 was then modified back into a semiautomatic-only version and a production and sales license was sold to the US company LES in 1974.  The Rogak P-18 (as they were then called, after the owner of LES) were of such bad quality that they gave even Steyr somewhat of a bad name, and they revoked LES’s license after only 2300 were built for US sales (and much less were actually sold). For game stats, the P-18 is identical to the GB, but you wouldn’t want even player characters in a game to be saddled with it – or maybe you would…c

     However, Steyr still would not throw in the towel on what was in fact an excellent design, and after further modification and improvement, they relaunched the pistol as the GB (also called the GB-80, or rarely, the GB-18) in 1980.  The timing might have been fortuitous – the US XM-9 pistol competition began in 1984, and a year before that, the Austrian military restarted its competition for its new service pistol.  The GB actually finished second in both of those competitions, losing to the Glock 17 in Austria and the Beretta M-92FS-B in the US competition.  Coming in second in both those competitions might have made it a hot item on the police and civilian market, and one would think it may even have resulted in sales to other countries’ military forces.  Steyr began marketing the GB heavily in 1986 for that purpose, but sales were quite disappointing – the actual sales were small enough that production of the GB was finally halted in late 1988, after less than 20,000 were built.  (Most people who do own GBs swear by them, however – but they do find replacement parts expensive and difficult to find these days.)

     The GB retains most of the operation of the Pi-18, which has always been quite effective (when properly manufactured – quality control is essential) – an operation that is more akin to an assault rifle than a pistol.  The 5.3-inch barrel uses a chromed bore as well as the then-novel polygonal rifling.  Construction is almost entirely steel, with stamped steel being used for the frame and many of the parts, and investment-castings used for the rest.  The contours of the GB are almost entirely dehorned.  As is typical of most Steyr products, quality is excellent – and is also typical of most Steyr products, the production methods are so intensive and quality control so great that real-world prices are quite high.  Despite the GB’s sheer size, it is very well-balanced and not awkward to shoot, and this also contributes to a reduction in felt recoil.  The GB has a slide mounted manual safety/decocker on the left side (though the 40 pistols entered in the US XM-9 competition used ambidextrous safety/decockers).  Like most double-action pistols, the trigger pull on the first shot after loading is heavy, but the typical gunsmith will find that the trigger pull is easily adjustable (though it is not generally user-adjustable).  The GB was one of the first pistols on the market to use the now-familiar 3-dot-type sights, and these sights are also designed with a wide rear sight notch to allow for quick target acquisition.

     A very minor variant of the GB is chambered for 9x21mm cartridges.  It is considered a minor variant only due to very small numbers in which it was produced; originally, Steyr intended to build larger numbers, had the GB taken off more on the world market.  In general, the Steyr P-18, Rogak P-18, and GB are otherwise identical for game purposes.

Steyr-Mannlicher M-1894

     An early automatic pistol, the M-1894 was produced in Switzerland by Steyr and produced in Switzerland by the firm of Mannlicher.  During it’s entire tenure over the next ten years, the design was refined and perfected, and by 1894 was a top-notch pistol.  It was used in World War 1.  The M-1894 uses the strange blow-forward operation; the gas is redirected behind the bolt to blow the bolt forward into firing position. The barrel slides forward on each shot, which is done partially using the recoil spring, which is around the 6.5-inch barrel.  Powered by the recoil spring, the extractor kicks the empty cartridge out. The sum of these actions strip a fresh round from the clip. The M-1894’s hammer much be cocked before reloading. This action was designed specifically for small-caliber round, and is not suitable higher-power cartridges, even if one were to replace the bolt face and/or barrel.  The rear sight is a peep sight with a V-notch, but it is buried in the slide and does not work so well; with its position, it is difficult to use. The barrel is heavy, and the gun is loaded through the action using a clip.  Trigger pull is so heavy that users were taught to pull the trigger with the middle finger.

     The M-1894 was described by the companies as a “half-automatic” pistol.

     In 1897, several improvements The barrel catch does not operate during movement of the action; this makes the 1897 a true automatic pistol.

Steyr M-1912

     Notes:  This is perhaps one of the most reliable and robust service pistols ever made; most of them are still perfectly serviceable and useable today.  It was originally produced to serve alongside the Roth-Steyr, and continued in service use until after World War 2.  Originally chambered in 9mm Steyr, many were rechambered for 9mm Parabellum after Austria was absorbed into the Third Reich by the Nazis in 1938.  The operation is derivative of the Roth-Steyr, but greatly simplified.  Other users included Romania and Chile, where they still serve today.  They can also be found all over Europe in civilian hands. 

Steyr M/S Series

     Notes: The Steyr M and S are modern polymer-frame-pistols that feature a key-activated interlock to make the pistols safe for storage (even when loaded).  The sights are accurate and easy to use, even by beginners.  The weapons have chamber loaded indicators and a tactical rail for lights or other aiming devices.  (This rail is, unfortunately, not compatible with very many devices.)  The M is a full-sized weapon, while the S is a compact model. Both are internally very similar to Glock pistols; this is probably no accident, as Willie Bubbits, who designed the Steyr M and Steyr S, worked at Glock before he worked at Steyr.  The Steyr M and S are noted for their several safeties, from a double-action operation to two manual safeties (a switch and a slide lock), and two passive internal safeties.  The sight picture presented to the shooter is unusual; the rear is a V-notch, while the front looks like a pyramid-shaped sight to the shooter (though it is a ramped post) with a white triangle tapering to a point.

     In 2003, Steyr redesigned the M-series of pistols.  (The compact S-series was not redesigned, and Steyr has no plans to do so.)  The safety is improved so that it is easier to operate, the grip is redesigned to make it more comfortable and ergonomic, and the proprietary tactical rail has been replaced with a MIL-STD-1913 rail.  It is otherwise identical to the standard Model M for game purposes.

     2006 brought a further-improved version of the M-series, called the M-A1.  This version features a more comfortable grip (Steyr received a lot of complaints from owners about the feel of the grip, especially by shooters with smaller hands or shorter fingers), the magazine release button was enlarged and relocated to allow smaller hands to reach it better, and the light rail under the dust cover was redesigned to allow a wider variety of accessories to be used (it is in fact a Weaver-type rail).  The sights were given three white dots, turning them into 3-dot-type sights.  The trigger guard is still squared, but not as sharply as the rest of the M-series.  Takedown is also slightly easier.  Unfortunately, the magazine well is still a tight fit, requiring much attention to fit the magazine into the well.  The M-A1 is slightly lighter than the standard M-series, and the barrel is inconsequentially longer at 4.01 inches (as opposed to the 4-inch barrel of the M-series), but the M-A1 shoots the same for game purposes and is not given a separate line on the firing tables below (use the M-series’ firing lines).

     In 2012, another, more compact version of the M-9 was introduced; this was the C9-A1, with a barrel length of 3.67 inches, but a grip the same size and with the same magazine capacity.  The slide is unusual in that it is thicker at the top; this was done so the bore axis could be lowered to align it more with the grip angle.  Under the dust cover is a proprietary rail, primarily for tactical lights or lasers.

     At the same time, a “plain vanilla” version was introduced, the M9-A1. This version is also a bit larger than the C9-A1, with a 4.01-inch barrel.  It is therefore a “commander-sized” pistol.  Ergonomically, it is better designed, so it feels smaller in your hand than the C9-A1.  Much of this ergonomic improvement lies in the grip angle and the width of the grip; the M9-A1 does not have as sharp a grip angle, with smoothed faces and angles.  The grip size is a bit smaller as a base, with add-on grips to widen it if necessary.  A proprietary magazine called the Plus Magazine further increases the grip integrity and feel.  The M9-A1 is a bit nose-heavy, helping to fight barrel flip. The M9-A1 is striker-fired, and has DAO operation – and the trigger pull weight is heavy. The M9-A1 has two chamber loaded indicators, one of which is both visual and tactile. One thing about the M9-A1 is the controls, which many firearms experts consider too small.  The M9-A1 can be locked by a keyhole on the frame and a special key. To lock the M9-A1, the weapon must be completely cycled once; this resets internal components and ensures that a round is not locked inside the pistol.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: The improved Model M is not available in the Twilight 2000 timeline, nor is the MA-1, C9-A1, or M9-A1.