Gun design question-why no auto ejecting magazines or auto slide drop?

I can see where in competition it may help, but I do not want my magazines falling out, especially if I only have one. That'd be very annoying.
 
magazines being a fairly critical part of a semi-auto pistol working correctly, I'd hate to have dependable mags and then foul one or more of them up because they auto-ejected onto the floor
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My thoughts exactly.
 
Lanyard rings on magazines? I have one! I mentioned it in another thread months ago. I inherited a web set that belonged to one of my wife's distant relatives. It included a pre-WWI Mills web belt (pea green with a d-ring for a sword carrier), first aid pouch with foil covered first aid dressing, magazine pouch with one magazine. The magazine was charged with six .45 auto cartridges. You could tell the magazine was originally with the pouch because the lanyard loop made a little rusty dimple on the underside of the flap. The original owner had signed his name on the back of the first aid pouch. There was no holster.

Because the pistol itself also had a lanyard loop, we (here, in the other thread) discussed just how one was supposed to tie everything down but I don't think we were very conclusive about the method.
 
"FWIW this is the way all standard Walther PP-series .32ACP and .380ACP pistols work."

Not quite. The PP Super has a manual slide stop/release.
 
The PP Super has a manual slide stop/release.
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I don't consider it "standard". :p
The Mauser models 1910, 1914, 1934 and HSc all had an automatic slide releases when a magazine was inserted.
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That's interesting, I didn't know that. I DID know that these were some of the first common European automatics with a last-round slide-lock feature; the FN Browning M1910 and M1922, probably the top-selling small-caliber automatics in Europe before WWII, notably lack it.
Somebody mentioned a Beretta, but the Beretta slides were held open by the follower and closed when the mag was removed.
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...as explained in my earlier post. FWIW the first time I handled one, the clerk handed it to me with the slide locked open, and I was startled when I removed the magazine and it slammed shut! I was unconsciously expecting it to stay open like a Walther PP. :o
 
Some pistols, H&K pistols come to mind, will close the slide when a fresh mag is inserted by design.
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That was not by design and HK tried to eliminate it when it was pointed out back in the early days of the USP (1993-ish).

I don't like it and I've seen more than a few people try to "slam charge" their P2000, only to find that it sent the slide forward on an empty chamber.
 
However, the safety on these guns is located above the trigger guard and has to be rotated 180° to engage or release it; it was apparently designed for mutants with extra joints in their index fingers or unusually long thumbs.
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No, they aren't designed for mutants. They are designed with the (fairly) common European philosophy that one works the safety with the "off" hand. One finds this on many of their rifles, as well.

Many older guns were designed with the idea that one always has plenty of time to ready a pistol before use. Even some newer ones don't have the best possible ergonomics, particularly some rifles. It's not a design flaw, just a different operating philosophy, kind of like safeties that go "up" for off, rather than "down".

I have a Mauser HSc that lock open on an empty mag, but shuts as soon as you begin to remove the mag. It will not lock open without the empty mag in place.

Also, consider for a moment the mechanics of an auto ejecting empty mag. Unless you include some kind of "override" mechanism, the empty mag will always be ejected when you opened the action. In fact, I wonder if you would be able to lock in an empty mag at all. How would the gun know the difference between a mag just emptied by firing it dry, vs. an empty mag inserted for storage/safe keeping?

Since the empty mag would be ejected (couldn't be locked in?), then your gun has to be stored without a mag in it, or with the mag just sitting in the well, and ready to fall out as soon as you pick up the gun.

And that completely ignores the the ugly possibilities of having the auto eject mechanism malfunction and dump a loaded or partially loaded mag while firing. Remember, Murphy is always looking, and if it can happen, it likely will, at the worst possible time!
 
I seem to recall reading somewhere that Tokarevs had a habit of allowing magazines to fall out before given the command.
 
I don't know about an auto-ejecting magazine but i think for a COMBAT PISTOL it would be nice if when you inserted a new mag that the slide automatically released. Everyone always talks about crucial seconds in a self defense situation and that would save a little time in between Mags. If i am not mistaken the op was asking about combat pistols so i would assume being used by the military, police, government,etc. To me that sounds like a good idea.
 
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