[Rangie]

Ever wonder why a certain handgun feels "right" ?

Try this:

Take your favorite pistol or revolver (Don't use guns chopped for CCW or long barreled Target or hunting guns just your standard size pistol)

Measure the slide length on your auto or the length from recoil shield to muzzle on your DA revolver.

Multiply by .618 - this should be the length of the grip

Multiply by .618 again - length of the front strap and reach from the back of the grip to the trigger in single action.

So What ?

Measure from the first to the second nuckle on one of your fingers.

Multiply by .618 - this should be the length from the second nuckle to the third.

Multiply by .618 - this should be the length from the third nuckle to the end of the bone in your finger.

Figured out why almost nobody the feel of the Glock 21 but the 1911 and the S&W K-frame have been popular for a century ?

The "Golden Mean" is a proportion ( 1 to .618 ) that shows up everywhere in nature from butterfly wings to our hands. Man has repeated this proportion in everything from the shape of a credit card to the 747.

[The Undertoad]

I never tried that with a handgun, I will have to measure my 1911 tonight. I must admit a fondness for "phi" though. I have a large nautilus shell tattooed on my shoulder. Nerdy but I like it. :cool:

[JohnKSa]

Are you saying that the length of the slide is a big factor in how a gun feels?

Grip angle trigger guard design and trigger reach, yes. Slide length and grip length, no.*

*Unless it gets ridiculously long or short.

[esldude]

Well posted this once and it disappeared.

Never thought of this. Measured and most of my pistols met this ratio.

However, I don't. The ratio of 1st to 2nd knuckle with 2nd to 3rd knuckle is 1 to .5 on 3 fingers. Only my middle finger follows the Golden ratio. Does that mean only my middle finger is Golden?

Maybe that is why the first time I found a Glock 17 in my hand it felt good. And pointed just right. While a 1911 just seems wrong.

Neat post though. Thanks.

[Rangie]

I'm just saying that the proportion helps a gun feel right to most people.

Not every person is going to fit the ratio. Plastis surgons use it to make faces look right to us.

The Glock 17 fits but the 21 dosen't.

[Standing Wolf]

Measure the slide length on your auto or the length from recoil shield to muzzle on your DA revolver.

Speaking strictly as a graphic designer: the golden mean works.

That said™, I don't see what the recoil shield has to do with the proportions of a revolver.

[JohnKSa]

Speaking strictly as a graphic designer: the golden mean works.Sure--and if he had said that the ratio of the slide length to the grip length made the gun look good I'd probably agree.

Saying that the slide length to grip length ratio is part of what makes a gun FEEL good doesn't make sense. Your point about the recoil shield is also well taken. I can't imagine how anything measured from the recoil shield makes the gun feel any particular way...

[armoredman]

They all feel good, as long as they are CZs.... :p

[Dienekes]

One of the best indicators I have found is the lineup of the middle knuckles of the fingers of the strong hand when the handgun is held in a normal grip. If they fall along the line of the middle of the frontstrap the grip is about the right size for you. Not infallible, but indicative--at least for me.

The whole subject tends to get ignored by firearms designers. I guess they feel if they can get all the moving parts inside the frame the resultant size is of no importance.

The recent downsizing of the Ruger Vaquero is a move in the right direction.

[Rangie]

OK, maby the barrel length dosen't matter that much. I just made myself a pair of golden means dividers, and have been tyring them on everything. I was just surprised how some of the old favorites "fit".