Milsurp After Hours

The 9mm Glock is lighter and tougher than the Browning but above all much easier to fire – advantages that have already attracted US law enforcement agencies, including police forces, to the weapon. It can be removed from its holster and fired within a second. With the Browning it would take four seconds or more.

"If I'm getting it out in under a second, I'm going to win it," said Marine Sergeant Steve Long, who has been deployed twice to Afghanistan as well as to Iraq and Sierra Leone. He tested the Glock in the heat of Brunei.

Speaking at Woolwich Arsenal in south-east London, where journalists and officials were invited to test the pistol, he described the decision to equip British troops with the weapon as a "massive step forward". He explained that with the Browning, a soldier had to undo the holster flap, flick the safety catch and draw a bullet from the magazine before firing a shot.

Which has got nothing to do with the pistol but all to do with outdated holsters and incorrect procedure and understanding of the mechanism of the Browning pistol, which is perfectly safe to carry cocked and loaded.