So from reading the answers to my original post, I would think that such a weapon did exist in small numbers, no doubt modified in the field.
Why you just wouldn't use an issued handgun, as Peter pointed out, I don't know, maybe supply was a problem, but then, weren't handguns only issued to certain ranks ?
In any case, an interesting topic.
(That bloody fish-on-a-bike is haunting me...look at its legsI have to stay off the Bundy !)