Guns of SWAT teams

[melensdad]

Not sure who listens to Michael Bane or watches Shooting Gallery but they had a very recent episode on the International SWAT championships.

Based on the teams in attendance here is what was reported:

HANDGUNS

#1 choice of SWAT teams was Glock in 40s&w
#2 choice, and a close second place, was 1911 in 45acp
#3 were various Sig's in various calibers

RIFLES (Semi-Auto and/or Full-Auto)

#1 choice was Rock River Arms for AR pattern guns by a very large margin but guns from virtually every manufacturer were present. RRA was simply the most popular choice.
DPMS was probably the #2 choice, Bushmaster also very popular.
Stag Arms were popular.
Wilson was popular.
Virtually every brand known was represented at the championships.
Only one team did not use ARs, but instead used the Sig 556 piston gun

Interesting side note, many teams had 1 AR that was configured with a 20 to 24 heavy barrel while the rest of the team carried 16" carbines, it was considered an intermediate sniper gun and had a low magnification optic (up to 4x)

RIFLES (bolt action)

#1 choice was the Remington 700 in various tactical configurations as a team 'sniper' rifle. This was favored by so many teams that #2 choice was so far behind as to be insignificant, but #2 would have been FN.

SHOTGUNS

#1 choice for the large urban based teams was Benelli
#2 choice was a mixture of Remington shotguns, 11-87s and 870s

Interesting side note to me is that the majority of the tactical guns used by the SWAT teams were semi-auto guns. Not more than a few years ago the pump guns, typically from Remington and Mossberg, would have been the dominant choices. Also reported was the fact that the larger and the more urban teams the more likely they were to use semi-auto guns made by Benelli.

LASER SIGHTS

An almost universal accessory on teams handguns were laser grips, ditto on the shotguns and carbines.

FIBER OPTIC SIGHTS
While not universally accepted, the competition inspired fiber optic sights were used instead of tritium night sights. The logic may be that fiber optics are easier to see in daylight and the laser grips handled the night/low light aiming?

[medicman]

Let's see how my team stacks up:

Handguns: Glock 22

Long Guns: Bushmaster AR-15s and HK MP5s

Sniper Rifles: Remington 700s

Shotguns: Benelli semi-autos

No lasers, standard Glock sights

[Glock Lover]

My team:

Glock 21
Bushmaster M-16 Viper
Remington 700
Remington 870 tactical

[melensdad]

Just curious, but as you guys indicate 'your teams' guns, do you know if the handguns have opened up magazine wells? I didn't think to post it in my original post, but of the Glocks in the competition, most had modified mag wells, and of the 1911 pattern guns ALL apparently were tricked out with expanded mag wells as well as other tactical modifications.

[Glock Lover]

No modification to the mag wells here

[Virtus]

Originally Posted by melensdad

Just curious, but as you guys indicate 'your teams' guns, do you know if the handguns have opened up magazine wells? I didn't think to post it in my original post, but of the Glocks in the competition, most had modified mag wells, and of the 1911 pattern guns ALL apparently were tricked out with expanded mag wells as well as other tactical modifications.

"Open" or "Production"? Didn't think Mag Wells were allowed on USPSA/IPDA in the "Production, Limited" divisions? Please correct me if I am wrong.

[TomN]

He's talking about the SWAT competition, not USPSA or IDPA.

[Virtus]

Thanks for the clarification.

[melensdad]

Originally Posted by TomN

He's talking about the SWAT competition, not USPSA or IDPA.

Yes, this was at the international SWAT team competition. They use their duty guns in the competition and many of the departments allow SWAT members very wide latitude on the equipment they can carry, as well as providing the SWAT team members some of the newest state of the art weapons. BTW, this year a Canadian team won, their team is attached to a nuclear facility.

[phylodog]

I don't think we have a laser on anything in our inventory.