Most influential innovation in past 20 years

J

JimmyR

New member
Ok, folks, so I was wondering about this, and since there are so many brilliant minds on here, I would ask you all, since I think there might be some great discussion from this.

That said, what would you say is the most influential innovation in handguns from the past 20 years?

My first instinct would be to say the improvements in polymer that have directly lead to the introduction of the mouse guns in 9mm and up.

What say you guys?
 
Wow... In the last 20 years? I really haven't seen much of any earth shattering innovations at all in guns with the possible exception of small bore, high velocity cartridges such as the 5.7 and the .22 TCM. Everything else is just someone else's breakfast warmed over.
 
The materials and manufacturing (Taurus excluded :D ) have gotten better.
Much better CAD, simulation and 3D modeling have done a lot for better recoil management, ergonomics, weight and balance.
The number of rounds squeezed in a magazine has risen. (Legislation excepted).
But as noted above the basics have been around since 1911 and longer.
 
Inexpensive rifles with excellent accuracy, probably due to the modern manufacturing techniques.
Many more choices, from many more importers, thanks to the fall of the Soviet iron curtain.
 
I'd vote for the interchangeable fire control group in the Sig 250, 320 series of pistols. Followed by the ability of poly guns to have various grip sizes.
 
Evolutionary changes...

- Rails (and better lights and lasers)
- Replaceable Backstraps
- Small handguns in more powerful calibers (.380 is the size of a .32)
- More modularity, which is very important for institutions, but marginally useful for me. I'm not removing my trigger pack every time I want to go from a compact model to a full size pistol, I'll just buy two pistols. I've seen frames on institutional guns fail, but have never shot a personal weapon enough to do it.

Revolutionary...

Very little in last 20 years. Glock and it's innovations are 36 years old, they were pretty common 20 years ago. So nothing new about polymer striker guns. The 40 S&W is 26 years old and the 10mm is probably 33 years old.

What could be revolutionary are new sighting systems on handguns, but this idea is only in it's infancy...most red dots are designed for either handgun competition or use on rifles. Adapting them to practical handguns now means clumsy suppressor sized open sights for indexing the dot.

Electronics integration will probably come, but the market doesn't see much value in it. I don't either.

There are some changes to long guns that are probably close at hand. I've seen a lot of shotgun alternatives in the last few years that could be viable alternatives to the traditional pump. I'm ready for something new in handguns, though, the handgun market a little stale to me just a sea of Glock clones.
 
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Thinking about "recent" developements and realizing that most of them were more than 20 years ago. Crap, I'm old. How the hell did that happen?
 
If you extend to include current long guns 2 other innovations that will likely go to handguns include the Tracking point system, and 2 different laser guided bullet technologies. One from DARPA using a smooth bore speciality rifle, and a prototype Weller Tech 50 BMG laser guided projectile fired from any .50.
 
(Not so) Smart guns

Actually the most important safety feature for handguns ever developed has happened in the last 20 years, the highly acclaimed "Smart Gun", which I'm sure everyone will be using in the near future.
:D :D :D :D :D
(And that is sarcasm for the humor impaired)
 
"Glock and its innovations are 36 years old..."

This. It is way too old to be news.

But...

I'm not sure who developed the tiny polymer locked-breech pocket pistols in 32acp and 380. Was it Keltec? That seems innovative to me.
 
Far and away......

hollowpoints....

I go back to the days of JSP ammunition being "state of art".

Today, the performance of hollowpoints is really taken for granted.
Back in the late 1990's - just about the time internet forums came about - hollowpoint ammunition was just at the beginning stages of what it's ultimately become.
Gold Dot, Golden Saber, Hydra-Shok - - those things were just coming into being.

Prior to that time period, hollowpoint ammunition was real hit or miss (no pun intended).
Although expansion could be nearly counted on all the time, true "controlled expansion" wasn't quite there yet.

Today?
My God, just think of it! You can stuff that 125 gran Gold Dot into your .357 mag "snubby" with a 1 7/8" barrel - - all the way up to a 6 or 8 inch barreled .357 mag & have nearly 100% confidence in how the bullet will perform.

Yes - the idea of "hollowpoints" goes back a long, long, long time - - but - it wasn't until the last 20 years or so where they became so perfected they became nearly the defacto standard.

Black Talons were introduced in 1991. Many consider them to be THE model for the modern JHP. I can't say I find fault with that idea.
They earned a very bad reputation - for being too good!
It wasn't until later in the decade that everyone else caught up with Winchester and brought out their own JHP that was at the same level.

So - yes - while it seems such a ubiquitous thing, far and away the modern JHP is the most significant development if "firearms" in the last 20 years.
 
I would say tritium night sights if they are 20 or so years old. My 1911 came with them from the factory and I absolutely love them. They say tritium has a half life of 10-12 years, so after that time they will still glow but not as bright. Awesome.

I would also have to say another awesome development in recent years is the .460 Rowland, which can turn a strongly built 1911 into something much much meaner. Sure, you will wear your gun out quicker than normal, but if someone is going into bear country and doesn't want to spend $700 plus dollars on a big bore revolver, you can take your forged 1911 .45 or your .45 Springfield XD, throw in a $300 kit and be decently armed. Sure the ammo is really expensive but so are big bore revolver roynds, and that's why people handload. Some guys can really get the .460 smoking, I'd like to start reloading one say and get a .460 kit and see how fast I can safely push 300gr bullets. I'm thinking 1000+ fps
 
The increase in people legally carrying guns has resulted in a lot of nice guns specially designed for concealed carry.
 
Hollow points were commercially sold in the late 1800s. Even Black Talons were introduced in 1991, just outside 20 years.
Tritium sights are at least 35 years old.
Both of those products have seen advances that finally made them marketable in the last couple of decades, but that was more evolution than revolution as another poster stated.

In 1996 I think there were just a few firearms companies just getting their feet wet with computer modeling and CNC. Over the last twenty years the use of this technology has allowed designers to shave an ounce here or there, make new models in a fraction of the time it used to take to develop them, successfully utilize polymers in more and more parts, make the majority parts in new designs drop-in, etc.

The only design change I see from the last 20 years with a chance of success in the future, no matter how deplorable, is the smart gun. More happening with long arms. Probably the largest having to do with regulations, just like the smart gun, the bump-fire systems. I don't think that will transfer to pistols, although I may be wrong. The target systems may though.
 
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what would you say is the most influential innovation in handguns from the past 20 years?
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They say there is nothing new under the sun, and I suppose if you set your parameters broadly enough, it's true. Nearly everything I can think of is (or could be) considered a refinement of an earlier concept.

Controlled expansion hollow points? Maybe, you can make a fair case for them, BUT they are still hollow points. and that goes back way beyond 20 years. Influential? absolutely. Innovation? yes in detail, but not in principle.

Laser sights?? Innovated in the 80s made PRACTICAL within the 20 years. Remember the Terminator's ".45 Long slide with laser sight"?? At the time (84) it was Hollywood magic (the sight's "small" size), laser sights existed at that time, but were about the size of a carton of cigarettes. Now? Some are the size of a bump on the grip, and there are even some that fit inside the gun.

Tritium sights? Again, not new within the last 20 years, just new and better application. I was removing (and tossing in the trash, per orders) bent and broken tritium night sights from M16A1s in the mid 70s.

My vote for the most influential thing falls just outside the 20yr range in origin, and on the edge of the 20yr range when they began hitting the streets.

Again, not a new concept, the innovation I'm talking about here is the compact and subcompact duty pistol. While the Colt Commander (and a few others) had been around for decades, the smaller "duty" class pistols were only a fairly small segment of the market. A solid segment, but not the majority by any means.

So, how did they get to be such a large share of today's market? How did the smaller size guns get so influential?

Thank the govt. The 10 round magazine limit from the 1994 AWB (now just outside the 20yr range).

The smaller, compact 10rnd (duty class) pistols are a direct result of the AWB. An unintended consequence of the mag capacity law.

Rather ironic in a way, that gun control law created the popularity for smaller, more easily concealed pistols. Why carry a gun that was built to hold 15 or 17, etc., when the law limits you to 10? Gunmakers began making models of their main duty pistols scaled for a 10rnd mag. Smaller, and a bit lighter, they became very popular, leading to even smaller designs the "subcompacts".

VERY influential, how many designs fit in those classes today? a dozen? more??

Even though the AWB expired in 04, the pistols it accidently created and popularized are still a major market share today.
 
My guess (and it is just that) is that most innovations have been in ammo, rather in the guns that shoot them.

There are various new bullet designs (some gimmicky, some not) that have increased effectiveness. After all, the bullet does the work...
 
I can't stop thinking of the Glock 18. Is it older than 20 years?
I might be missing the OP's intended purpose. Am I confusing "innovative" and "influential" with advanced?
 
Controlled expansion hollow points? Maybe, you can make a fair case for them, BUT they are still hollow points. and that goes back way beyond 20 years
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There's a lot of things that go back many years prior to their becoming so ingrained in usage - - because of final perfection - that their date of acceptance becomes inseparable from their date of introduction.

Perhaps I should have been more specific and said "jacketed hollowpoints".
Without a solidly working jacketed hollowpoint, there would be no mass market for semi automatic handguns.

The mass transition from revolvers to semi autos would never have taken place - outside of the military.
Those nice small compact semi autos would probably never have seen the light of day.

Honesty, why would anyone choose ball ammunition? & without good reliable working controlled expansion JHP ammunition, that's exactly what it would mean.

Hollow points were commercially sold in the late 1800s. Even Black Talons were introduced in 1991, just outside 20 years.
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I mentioned that. Black Talons were also pulled from the shelves a few years later, in 1993. They had built up a reputation of being too effective - - a cult status they still enjoy to this day.

Something else I should mention here is that a lot of discussion here at TFL back in it's early days ( a little under 20 years ago) centered around "hollowpoints".
It was nearly universal for everyone to perform their own tests on hollowpoints - to satisfy their own curiosity.
There's ample evidence right here in the threads that jacketed controlled expansion hollow points make up a significant number of threads. In all probability, far more than any other single topic.

Now it's a very rare thread that mentions testing expansion under different conditions.
That sort of testing has pretty much gone the way of doing a walk around the car or truck before getting in it to drive to work.
 
20 years, is that all...Hell, I've got underwear that old!

Ok...here goes.
Light polymer (tupperwear) pistols that actually shoot and don't wear out. Chronographs affordable to the average shooter.
Good, adjustable sights on most any model.
Rubber, recoil absorbing grips.
Stainless steel handguns.
Tritium night sights for defensive carry.
Mini-flashlights that work well on night table guns.
JHP's that actually penetrate and open up when they should.
The .40 S&W round: has a "4" in the caliber designation, offers good weight to its bullets, plus speed, all in a 9mm sized frame for smallish hands.
Computer access to most any loading data imaginable, and to every manuf.'s catalogue.
Computer ordering of components.

That should keep you busy...just don't obsess over my underwear comment...I'm going "Commando" today!

Rod
 
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