M9



The Beretta M9 is the primary 9x19mm pistol of the US military, adopted in 1990. It is based on the Beretta 92FS. The M9 replaced the M1911 outside of SOCOM -- a weapon that had been in service in the US military for 70 years, alongside 25 other different pistols and revolvers. The Beretta contract with the military underwent many hardships at its beginning, including several cases where the pistol fractured at the junction where the locking block mates to the slide and pieces of the slide flew back at the user's face -- causing lacerations and minor injuries. This was due to inadequate metal toughness from the slides, which were being made in Italy. The Beretta Corporation opened a plant inside of the United States and had the M9 entirely manufactured in America in order to keep their contract. After this defect was addressed, however, the M9 has proven to be a sound and reliable sidearm for the past 20 years. It should be noted that because of the original defects many rumours originated about pieces of the slides being shot back and killing the user, which is completely untrue. It is these rumors, combined with the general skepticism on the stopping power of the 9x19mm Parabellum round, that has made many people question the effectiveness of this pistol as a sidearm.

Single Player
In Single Player, the M9 is the standard pistol. It is the starting pistol in most of the USMC missions, most enemies use the M9 as their side arm, the exception being the Desert Eagle wielding soldier in Crew Expendable. It is very common in the majority of levels. The levels in which it cannot be obtained in are FNG, The Coup or Death From Above. It is statistically the best pistol in single player, because of its virtually nonexistent recoil, high capacity, and decent power, but it really does not matter due to the abundance of enemy weapons available to pick up. It is actually the only pistol unable to achieve a one shot kill.

It is unusual that Russian Ultranationalists are using the M9, because neither the M9 nor the M92F/FS have ever appeared to be in use by the Russian military. Strangely, if you kill an enemy who is using the M9 it will often have up to a few hundred rounds of spare ammo, unlike most weapons in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Multiplayer
The M9 has the highest capacity of all the pistols, and has the lowest recoil. However, it has the shortest range, which effectively makes it the weakest. Despite this, at close range, the M9 is just as powerful as the USP .45 and M1911. This, coupled with its larger capacity, better hip fire accuracy while moving (compared to the USP .45), and lower recoil makes it the best pistol for point-blank encounters. In addition, this pistol has one large bonus none of the other pistols possess; it can share ammo with the MP5 and Mini-Uzi. This means that whenever one of those two weapons is chosen, using the M9 will grant the player with an extra ammo magazine. With Bandolier, this effect is even greater; giving the player 270 rounds (with the MP5) or 282 (with the Mini-Uzi).

This is the standard pistol players will use when they go into Last Stand. This means if the player does not have a different pistol in reserve, they will go down with an M9 with full ammo.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Nintendo DS)
In the Nintendo DS version of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the M9 appears as the only sidearm in the game. It is almost identical to its console and PC counterpart in appearance, but is much weaker than on the consoles, taking five or more shots (depending on the range) to the chest to kill, and two to three necks shots to kill, though head shots are still a one shot kill. The M9 is recommended to be used in close range, but headshots are a must. The M9 is in every non-vehicle mission except for First to Fight.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
The M9 returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 as a standard sidearm for the Rangers. It now has higher damage, penetration, and fire rate, but is now unlocked at Level 46. Whether or not you have unlocked or equipped it, in multiplayer, it is the pistol you use for Last Stand when no other pistol is equipped.

Even while using ADS, the M9 recoils slightly side-to-side and drastically upwards. Because of this, it is nearly impossible to fire accurately at range, unless it is fired slowly, letting the recoil settle. However, at close range it can be fired as quickly as the user can push the fire button as long as the user counters the upward recoil somewhat. The weapon is most powerful when fired Akimbo at close range, alternating left and right fire buttons. When fired in this manner the user need not worry about recoil. An M9 Akimbo can be found in The Gulag in the weapon chamber; where you are told to equip the Riot Shield.

An M9 equipped with a Silencer makes firing quickly via ADS a little bit tricky, as with each shot the long silencer kicks up and obscures view of your target.

The M9 no longer retains its advantage over the USP .45 with higher hip fire accuracy, as both are the same, nor is it relatively accurate to the other handguns. The USP has a slightly longer 2 hit kill range, with the disadvantage of a 3 round smaller magazine.

The M9's appearance seems to have been slightly touched-up from Call of Duty 4, as it seems to be slightly shiny and a deeper black.

The M9's extended mags gives you an extra 10 rounds per clip, depending on how good you are with the M9, this can either be a waste of an attachment, or can be a life saver. All sides considered, the extended mags can get at least 2-3 more kills before needing to reload.

Weapon Attachments:

 * FMJ
 * Silencer
 * Akimbo
 * Tactical Knife
 * Extended Mags

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized
The M9 reappears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized as the main side arm for the SAS and the Insurgents. It seems to have more damage per-bullet and recoil compared to the console versions, and is nickel-plated, just like Griggs' M1911 in Game Over.

Trivia

 * The M9 used in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2 is actually a Beretta 92SB, not an M9. The Beretta 92FS, which has a squared trigger guard, is the actual M9.
 * The automatic (burst-fire) variant, the M93 Raffica, appears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
 * The M9's recoil while using the Tactical Knife attachment is different as it kicks the gun upward like if you were to be using the USP .45.
 * The M9 has greater muzzle rise in Multiplayer than in the campaigns and the Museum.
 * Compared to the other semi-automatic handguns, the M9 has the highest magazine capacity.
 * When running with Akimbo M9's the camera twitches slightly side to side. The same quirk applies with the G18.
 * The M9 portrayed in both Modern Warfare games has the 3-dot sight set up. This is inaccurate, since the real military M9 uses a half-aperture sight.
 * The in-game M9 always fires from decocked hammer. In reality it would fire only once this way, and after the first shot the hammer would be cocked by the slide movement.
 * The M9 Expert challenge isn't unlocked until level 62, the same time you get the Desert Eagle, which is 16 levels later. This is most likely a programming error made by Infinity Ward.
 * There is a reload glitch with the M9 with a Tactical Knife. When the player reloads, the character makes the motion of putting a new magazine into the M9, but it is invisible so you only see the movement.
 * The M9 is favored by modded controller users because of its low recoil, good accuracy and larger magazine capacity.
 * M9 Silenced can still be seen on radar.

Video
thumb|300px|left|M9 gameplay on Hardcore