Seagal Using a 1911 Instead of a Beretta M9

It's his favorite pistol, and he uses it at least once in every one of his films. If I'm not mistaken, he even has his own line of them. He always uses the guns he likes, even at the sake of continuity. If you notice, in several scenes, he switches back and forth between an HK94 and an MP5K without explanation.

And yes, they were ;)

Actually the Army switched to the M9 initially. The Marines and Navy didn't begin doing so until 1990. There were M1911s still in shipboard Armories until mid 1995. When this movie came out in 1992 nearly all Ships were still using the M1911. As late as 1997 there were 1911s still being used on Submarine Tenders that were getting Decommissioned in the near future. The Marines never stopped using the 1911 altogether. Recon and FAST units kept the 1911 and then instead of changing over to the M9 they bought new custom 1911s.

You're taking a dump and they call GQ do you pinch it off or finish your business?

I knew the US military always carried the M1911 .45 sidearm, but, I believe they had not yet changed to the 9mm Beretta at the time of filming

The Seals actually have the option to this day to use a 1911 or SIG

If I remember right, the M1911 was originally the sidearm of Nash, the young Marine Krill leaves to guard Ryback. When Nash is killed, one of the bad guys relieves him of his sidearm. I think Ryback takes it from that guy when he kills him immediately afterward. So the reason Ryback has an M1911 is because Nash did. Why Nash had it is another story.

I mean, really, how many times will you look under Jabba's manboobs?

I served Temporary Active Duty (TAD) in Security Division (RL division was my normal division) for about 8 months on the USS Enterprise in the 90's and I qualified on the 1911. From what I was told we couldn't buy the Berettas since our division didn't have the money for them. Whether that was true or not I can't say. Regardless for qualifications I fired the 1911 and our 12 gauge shotgun. I can confirm my ship did not have Berettas, although the marine detachment may have had Berettas, but the marines are a completely different branch of the military.

It's a fine weapon and I actually fired that weapon better than my personal Glock. I even got the marksman ribbon. I think the heavier weapon suits me better than my Glock. I would have rather purchased a 1911.

Now of course special forces would be using the most up to date equipment regardless. My point was not all departments in the Navy upgraded to M9's immediately. It took time for those upgrades.

There were plenty of 1911s still in use at the time. The real question is why he was using a commercial 1911 instead of a USGI 1911.

The gun he was using was most likely a Colt Series 70 Government Model, 9mm. And there's a good chance it was one of the several guns used on the TV show Magnum, P.I. to portray Thomas Magnum's pistol (which also should have been a USGI M1911A1).

9mm 1911s (introduced by Colt circa 1970) were often used back then in place of .45s because they functioned better with blanks, and 9mm blanks were more readily available as well. Before 1970 they often used a Colt Commander (which was available in 9mm from day one, 1950) or a Star Model B (which looked similar to, but wasn't an exact clone of, a 1911) as stand-ins for 1911 .45s.