General musing on a simpler autoloader...

[natedog]

I've been thinking about a mojor complaint over autoloading handguns: some believe that they're too complicated. So this is a gun entirely aimed at new shooters...

Lets start with a G17 as the basic platform. Glocks are already quite simple in operation (no external safety). From that, we put in an automatic-magzine release that drops the mag when it empties (sort of like an M1 Garand ejecting the empty en-bloc). When you insert the fresh magazine, the slide closes automatically (yes I know you can already do this with Glocks). Now we have a simplified autoloader: just insert a magzine, rack slide, shoot till empty, insert new magazine, shoot till empty, repeat. A mag release could be included in order to eject magzines early in case of a need to unload or clear a malfunction, and to automatically release the slide you can pull it back a quarter of an inch and let it go. Thoughts?

 

[Kamicosmos]

I think they're simple enough to operate after a quick training session. Most autos hold the slide back when it's empty, so I don't see the advantage of having it automatically drop the mag when it's empty.

Plus, the gun itself would actually become more complicated if you add in the mechanisms to hold the slide open without a mag, release the mag when empty, and close the slide automatically when a new mag is inserted.

 

[gbelleh]

Pretty good ideas.
The Mauser HSc / HK 4 pistols do automatically close the slide when a magazine is inserted.

Automatically dropping the magazine might not always be what you want. It might even confuse or scare some newbies. But, it's an interesting idea.

 

[critter]

There are a lot of times/places where you would NOT WANT to drop the mag.

The 'squeeze cockers' HK P7 M8, M10, M13's drop the slide when you squeeze the lever to fire anyway. Pretty quick.

 

[Alerion]

There are a lot of times/places where you would NOT WANT to drop the mag.

I can just see a newbie crawling under the firing line bench to retrieve his magazine after every ten rounds.

Tom

 

[DonGlock26]

In Korea, the Chinese would wait until they heard the sound of a Garand clip ejecting, then they would rush the G.I.'s. I'd like to keep my pistol's condition a secret until I'm re-loaded.

 

[Marko Kloos]

In Korea, the Chinese would wait until they heard the sound of a Garand clip ejecting, then they would rush the G.I.'s.

I think that's an urban myth. I find it very hard to believe that the ChiComs (or nazis, or japs) would hear a *ping* between .30-06 Garands and M1919 MGs going off all along the line, hand grenades and artillery shells exploding, and all the other noises of the battlefield....and *then* have the stones to charge the American position on the basis of that *ping* sound, hoping that the hapless GI's foxhole neighbors are also empty.

 

[Black Snowman]

On the History Channel they talked about lone or sparsely spaced Japanese soldiers removing the dust covers from their Type 99s to keep the noise of the rattling from drawing fire in their direction. Under "moving front" conditions like that any noise could be bad. I don't know how often those conditions occured in Korea.