What might be the next innovation in handguns?

So much for my predicative abilities. I probably had seen this somewhere and subconsciously thought it was a new idea. I don't recall seeing it but its so close to what I was picturing I can't believe I had not.
 
That thing is indeed innovative, and it's no uglier than a host of other "service" pistols on the market today. I'm impressed.

Dave
 
Forget the newest, plastic / tactical pistol innovation... I WANT A LIGHTSABER!!! Blue, like Skywalker's original one. :D
 
That we peasants are still allowed to legally own them in 10-20 years
Now that will be an innovation

Beyond that...
Polymer slides or maybe even polymer barrels seem like a real possibility
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Was thinking exactly the same on both points...
 
No innovation required but finding that Colt SAA as used by Roy, Hopalong and the Lone ranger has been a daunting task, I mean:
never runs out of bullets.
never kills anyone.
always shoots the gun out of the bad guys hand without hurting him.
accurate to 1000 yards.
always attracts beautiful women.
comes standard with an awesome horse.
Gotta get me one of those. :rolleyes:
 
Not necessarily a gun innovation, but I would love to see a consumer "smart optic" where you highlight your target on a screen, the optic range finds the distance and automatically adjusts your elevation based upon currently stored ballistics. Be pretty cool for guys that do a lot of "unknown distance" target shooting.
 
Road_Clam said:
Not necessarily a gun innovation, but I would love to see a consumer "smart optic" where you highlight your target on a screen, the optic range finds the distance and automatically adjusts your elevation based upon currently stored ballistics. Be pretty cool for guys that do a lot of "unknown distance" target shooting.
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TrackingPoint was doing this with rifles. Acquire target. Hit some sort of set button. Optics/lasers/etc calculate windage, bullet drop, etc. You hold the trigger down and when your sight moves back over the same point the rifle fires.

It may work slightly different than that but that's the gist.
 
A really great innovation would be a new, improved version of the Black Talon that did even more damage to the target.

Imagine a 115-124 grain 9MM bullet that had a 95+ percent one shot lethality rate.
 
Huh? The Black Talon was re-introduced as the SXT (Same Xact Thing) and has already been "improved" in the latest Ranger T. But it is not more remarkable than similar bullets from Hornady and Vista (Federal and Speer), or even Remington.
 
Elmer Keith was not a recoil junky by any means.
He did not invent the .357 Magnum or the .44 Magnum.
He was known to "hot-rod" cartridges like the .38 and .44 Special, but only because he started with what were cartridges at black powder pressure levels.
He disliked the .454 Casull and dismissed it as excessive and unpleasant.
He did invent a .41 caliber rimmed revolver cartridge that Remington loaded in excess of his wishes and named the .41 Remington Magnum. Had it instead been to Keith's specifications, it would have been similar to the .40 S&W but 26 years ahead of its time.

Speculation about far-future technology is moderately amusing, but a discussion of the next innovation, rather than dozens of innovations into the future, will have to consider that for the time being, "The laws of physics cannot be denied: minimal recoil is inconsistent with maximal tissue disruption" (a quote from Martin Fackler).
 
I think there are still a majority of auto pistols sold that will never see an optic. And machining an optic cut in a slide is, 1.) Useless if you're not going to utilize it. 2.) And becomes an unnecessary expense.
 
Forget the Moon, we can't even reach low Earth orbit any longer in a manned vehicle, since we abandoned the Shuttle. We have to buy rides with the Russians to get to the International Space Station. Pathetic.
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Nor is it possible for civilians to cross the Atlantic in 3 hours anymore since the retirement of the Concorde.

It goes to show that humanity has regressed in at least a few measurable ways in recent years.
 
I think "locks" per se are too controversial, even if they were only intended for law enforcement. "Bio" might not be necessary. Instead, an RFID wrist strap could unlock the holster which would otherwise prevent someone unauthorized from drawing it. It's not clear to me how often perpetrators that shoot officers with the officer's gun actually retrieve it from the holster and how often it is wrestled from their hands.

Rather than "locks" I think we could see guns that integrate with "apps" similar to Mantis X. For a while now, I've been thinking that Axon should make a Glock-a-like with integrated RFID or Rubee and Mantis-X-like sensors (accelerometers) and tie it into their data-acquisition evidence-storage ecosystem. But the win for them is not the value-add features. It would be their margin on the guns under the kind of sole-source contracts they've been able to get with agencies all over the US.

The value-add for non-institutional users is marginal. I don't see a killer-app that would be likely to have even majority-adoption. If red dot sights don't get majority-adoption, I dount that access-control or motion-tracking (accounting) will be anything more than optional add-ons like lasers.
 
Modularity

More modular designs.

Compact frames that are CCW friendly but that can use full size magazines with grip extensions that extend the grip to that of a full size pistol.

And these compact frames should allow for the use of full length or competition length slides.

Also the ability to change calibers. An ability to turn my CCW compact 9mm pistol into a full size 10mm firearm for hunting.

Sig is moving in this direction (sans the ability to change caliber).

EAA Tanfoglio sells kits for changing caliber. My 9mm Witness Polymer Compact has a 10mm caliber conversion available in compact and full size (if I am not mistaken).

Ultimately I think that versatility is the key. In my case I would like to own one pistol that I can modify to suit different purposes, instead of having to own one dedicated pistol for each different use.
 
The Sig P365 proves most 9mm current handguns are .2 inches wider than needed...

Would be nice if the NRA stopped killing gun lock technology too. I would like to see and buy that.
 
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