I never heard anybody who was around when the Army transitioned to the M9 have a single good word to say about them.  When my unit transitioned to them the range qual scores for every swinging dick went down, lol.  I agree with you the accuracy of the M9 sucked.  It was/is a BIG gun for a 15 round 9mm capacity too.  The first time I shot one was in Aviation OBC....I was not impressed.  I got a chance to shoot in the 4th ID pistol competition during "Iron Horse Days" once.  I made it all the way to the finals and ended up in a shoot off with a MP for third place in the Division.  The rules were you had to shoot the weapon issued to you on the TOE.  For me at the time that was a S&W M-10.  When I looked over at the MP he was carrying a M9....that's when I knew I had his ass, lol.  The top two shooters were both still rocking the 1911A1.