Handgun specs: whats your "GO-TO" source?

B

Biff Tannen

New member
PROBLEM:
Even on the manufacturers sites, many times handgun width is not listed, and multi angle photos of the guns are not shown.
To increase the confusion, the measurement standards vary from one manufacturer to another (some measure in 16ths of an inch, some measure in 10ths, etc)...
Preferably, I'd love to do physical side-by-side comparisons while gun shopping, but it is not always possible...
AND SO, can you please recommend your favorite go-to sources for gun specs?

Thank you much!
 
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Good point about the manufacturer specs. There aren't any standards that gunmakers are held to when advertising the size of their pistols.

Here's an example where comparing manufacturer specs gave an incorrect impression of the relative sizes of two pistols.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=246335

The only really accurate source I'm aware of is your own personal measurements. My guess is that most reviewers probably quote manufacturer specs rather than do their own measurements. It's simple & quick and you never have to come up with explanations as to why your measurements don't agree with the manufacturer's.
 
It's called a ratio. 9/16 = what in tenths? Mulitiply 9 by 10 and divide by 16. 9/16 = 5.625 tenths. A nun tought me this when I was ten and she wasn't so bright. Are you serious?
 
The mfgs often list incorrectly on their sites. I think some of it is marketing... like for the micro-matics they list the width of the slide and conveniently omit the extra width that the slide-stop lever adds.

Some times the gun makers are slow to notify their IT department / web page desginer or whatever of changes.

After Kahr made changes to the PM9 their web site didn't reflect the new OAL for a long long time.

I'd say bring a caliper to the LGS and if you can't do that - go to the forum for the gun in question (every gun has a forum right?) and ask one of the members to take a caliber to it.

Glocktalk has a vendor's forum and I asked a Lone Wolf Distributor sales rep to measure the length from the trigger face to the backstrap of the LWD Glock frame. He did and posted the measurements on the forum.

P.S. the distance is significantly shorter on the LWD frame
 
10 Beers said: It's called a ratio. 9/16 = what in tenths? Mulitiply 9 by 10 and divide by 16. 9/16 = 5.625 tenths. A nun tought me this when I was ten and she wasn't so bright. Are you serious
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Dear 10 Beers:
1- yes, I am serious
2- can you please forward your nun's conversion tables for 10ths&16ths/inches into centimeters? Not all of us have had the benefit of your swanky catholic education:D
 
I too like genitron.com but unfortunately I think they pull specs off other sites/sources instead of measuring. Still that doesn't keep me from using it though - for weight at least.
 
1 inch = 2.54 cm or 25.4mm

SO, multiply inches (or fractions of inch, converted to decimal) by 2.54 and you get cm. Basic math. There's even computer programs to do it, if you can't handle it yourself.


Here's another tip, common fractions convert to decimals easily. 1/2"=.5"
1/4=.25" 1/8=.125, etc. If you didn't learn this when you were a kid, your education (where ever you got it) was sadly lacking.
 
Here's another tip, common fractions convert to decimals easily. 1/2"=.5"
1/4=.25" 1/8=.125, etc. If you didn't learn this when you were a kid, your education (where ever you got it) was sadly lacking
Click to expand...

Unfortunately thats todays school. 27 years ago and the fist marriage the oldest one at the time maybe 11 years old was allowed to use a calculator to do math homework. All he learned was if you push the right button you get the right answer. I was going to go back to school to brush up on the Automotive field being I have not been under a hood for a living since 1984 and the head professor at the college stated to me that I would be bored through 3/4 of the class because, he has to start from the very, very basics regarding math as he has the majority of student DO NOT KNOW HOW TO READ A RULE, FRACTIONS, let alone even thinking of using a micrometer. Sad truly sad. Way to much technology and not enough hands on old school.
 
I was a cruel father. I must have been, because I taught my children how to think.

When my daughter brought home a math book and one of her homework pages was a page of 3 column addition, with the answers, and the instructions in the book said to "use your calculator to find the wrong answers", I nearly hit the roof.

I would quiz my kids with verbal math, spelling and other problems while we drove. Science and history were common topics for our trips, and any other time I had them cornered.;)

AND, wonder of wonders, you know what? They LEARNED!

I have always felt the worst and most subtle form of child abuse is a failing to properly educate children.

Can't do a lot about the rest of the world, but I made damn sure my own learned what they needed to know.

Sorry for the OT rant.
 
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