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The hallmark of the Army’s 2016 Modular Handgun System contract was to be able to use the selected pistol in a lot of different roles, and the Air Force is taking that to heart. The service, which fields some 125,000 M18 pistols, a mid-size variant of Sig Sauer’s P320, is seeking to order at least 3,000 kits that will convert them to this bad boy.

Sig introduced the P320 XCompact in 2019— after the Army had already selected the M17 and M18 MHS pistols. It sports a small profile, just 7-inches long overall, while still providing an optics plate, accessory rail, beavertail grip, and double-stack 15-shot mags. Overall length is 7-inches while height is 5.3-inches. Weight is 25.3-ounces.

As the “heart” of the P320 is a serialized fire control group that can be swapped between grip modules, by ordering a kit with the 3.6-inch barrel and loaded slide, along with the shorter grip of the XCarry, the USAF can get an essentially a shorty new pistol without having to jump through the hoops of having to actually acquire an entire shorty new pistol. Welcome to modularity.

More in my column at Guns.com.