Chef wrote:
Sidearms... In the film they used the VP70, the M39 and the Ithaca Stakeout. I believe in the game, they used a 1911 and one appears in the 'tech manual'.
Whether you would 'dual wield' them is another matter entirely.
Sidearms are purely that... A secondary weapon, one to be used when your primary malfunctions or runs out of ammo. It's quite rare that one would carry more than one secondary weapon and a bit of a 'movie' cliche to see people loaded up to the eyeballs with various weapons dripping off them.
This comes back to the 'less is more' approach.
In a combat situation, you generally don't want to be carrying more equipment that you really need.
Any extra room is taken up with ammo and mars bars.
Again, this is only my opinion. Your vision is your own.
I agree with Chef- with a couple of small 'caveats' and expansions:
Much the Colonial Marine 'mythos' is 'informed' from the real life Vietnam War experiences and body of knowledge.
A sidearm is (generally) issued to soldiers whose primary weapon would be unweidly if they needed to defend themselves (such as heavy weapon gunners) or troops whose primary role is something other than infrantryman (Officers, Drivers
However, with the barter economy of most military units, sidearms could be obtained for a case of beer (or similar).
This also 'flowed' the other way-There are many photos that show officers in Vietnam that had kept the 1911 but acquired an M16 as well- You blend with the troops better, and can defend yourself better than with a pistol.
It's unlikely in the extreme that a combat soldier would carry two identical pistols- It's extra weight and belt space that could be better used with either main weapon spare ammo or water.
Dual wielding a pair of heavy pistols isn't going to do anything to improve your chances of survival- you get no points for a near miss and no respawn
Doing the 'New York Reload' of dropping an empty pistol then whipping out a second identical one is equally wasteful and no faster than a well practiced mag change....Why would you tote the weight of a 1911 to fire 7-8 shots from it then drop it on the floor, when a spare mag for the same takes up 1/8th the space and 1/12th of the weight?
The caveat on this is that carrying
more than one pistol for different reasons was common with specialised and specific troops. LRRPS, SOG and Special Forces who went 'over the fence' into enemy territory took to acquiring a snub-nose .38 or left-behind .25 automatic, for themselves as most of them had a price on their head.
I've a personal account (From Nam magazine) of one LRRPs patrol leader who carried-
CAR15 Carbine (Main weapon)
1911a1 Pistol (Sidearm)
High Standard .22 Suppressed Pistol (Secondary- for sentry and guard dog 'pacification')
.38 Snub nose (for 'last-ditch-everythings-empty-and-one-last-bullet-for-me' situations, as it was put)
The writer did point out that his recurring nightmare from his first day of LRRPs to the day he wrote the article (in the 1980s) was of him being mobbed by a wave of enemies when all his weapons jammed, so this selection of weapons is extreme.....But food for thought.
BUT- and it's a big hairy one- LRRPS and the like were weighed down with rucksacks and pouches to hide all this stuff in.... USCM 'movie accurate' loadout doesn't even have a canteen of water on the belt, so having a couple or 3 pistols sticking out of every space is going to look a tad silly, in my opinion.
But as before- It's your gear. You make it your own, how you want!