Most modular handgun

[USAF_Vet]

The AR-15 seems to be the most modular rifle platform on the market, able to shoot everything from rim fire to pistol rounds, intermediate rounds, .50 BMG, even a crossbow.

Would it be possible to create a full sized handgun with a similar level of modularity?
I'd love a reliable, full sized pistol that is capable to shooting virtually every pistol round with only the simplest of part swaps.

Drop in .22 conversions are cool and fairly available, Glocks offer barrel conversions with limited range, and that's all well and good.

But I want a pistol that can run everything from .22 to .45 with a simple slide swap and mag adaptor.

Why is this not a thing yet?

 

[rcmodel]

Simple Answer = Just because.

More complicated answer = Pressure, and how the locking system must be tuned exactly to deal with it.

Handgun rounds run from very low pressure to very high pressure.
Also Center-fire & Rim-fire.
Straight case, tapered case, to bottle-neck case shape & rimmed & rim-less.
As well as OAL length of the cartridge.

Handgun locking systems, slide weight, and magazine feed angle all have to be designed for similar cartridge designs & pressure.
9mm & .40 S&W are the same length & pressure.
10mm Is the same pressure basically but the length of the .45 ACP running about half as much pressure.
(Yes, I know how much pressure they run before you correct me.)


The AR-15 is gas operated, which controls Exactly when it is safe pressure to allow the bolt to unlock. The conversions are all pretty much the same length to fit, and pretty much the same pressure to operate the gas system.

.22 RF conversions for the blow open and opening timing is not critical due to the low pressure RF round.

rc

 

[JRH6856]

Might be able to do it with something like this:

 

[CWL]

They exist, they just tend to be expensive and can cost as much as if you bought each caliber as a separate gun. Most people would rather own 4 pistols than own just one and a bunch of barrels.

H&K came out with 2 multi-caliber pistols:

H&K HK4 came with 4 barrels/springs & 4 magazines and could be interchanged between .380ACP, .32ACP, .25ACP and .22LR (needed adjustment to extractor & firing pin). Even was carried by West German police in .32ACP.


Something I've been meaning to pick-up for my P7 collection is the HK P7K3, which interchanges between .380ACP, .32ACP and .22LR with a barrel & slide change.


The pistol that can be easily interchanged between the most number of calibers would have to be Thompson Center Arms. Their original Contender pistol/rifle can change between: .17HMR, .22LR, .204Ruger, .223Rem, 6.8Rem, 7-30Waters, .30-30Win, .357Mag, .38Spl, 9mm Luger, .40SW, .44Mag, .45ACP, .45/70Govt, .45Long Colt and .410shotgun (maybe more).

The newer Thompson Encore pistol can interchange between 86 bullet calibers from .22Hornet thru .416Rigby even .600Nitro Express, as well as 12ga and even .45 & .50cal muzzleloaders. (no way I'm going to try & list all of those!)

 

[Don357]

In a modern design, the Witness pistols have interchangeable barrel/slide/magazine kits available in calibers from .22lr to .45acp, but only for the large frame steel and polymer frame guns. When last I checked, they were running around $320 each.

 

[USAF_Vet]

That's about what I'm looking for, a full sized, heavy frame pistol with near limitless possibilities for interchangeability. I'll look into it.

 

[ATLDave]

As Don357 said, Tanfoglios are designed to have interchangeable top ends (slide/barrel combo).

 

[WestKentucky]

Don't forget the ar-15 pistol. When coupled with sig's "arm brace" you have all of the capability of the rifle but in a smaller package. Put on a standard tube with the foam pad on it and your back to basically useless for most purposes. With 22 9mm 40 45 10mm and a host of other pistol cal barrels available you have lots of capability, not to mention the rifle caliber uppers from 5.45x39 up to the 458 socom and 50 Beowulf. I believe the AR is the most versatile gun, both rifle and pistol. It is certainly large and heavy as a pistol.

 

[USAF_Vet]

The AR pistol is a little too much for daily carry, is all.

 

[Armor Snail]

In a modern design, the Witness pistols have interchangeable barrel/slide/magazine kits available in calibers from .22lr to .45acp, but only for the large frame steel and polymer frame guns. When last I checked, they were running around $320 each.

Winner,winner.
Iirc, .22, 9mm, .38 super, 40 S&W, 45 acp and 10mm conversions are all available factory.

 

[ATLDave]

One further point in favor of the Witness/Tanfoglio guns... they can be had in DA/SA or SAO configurations. And it's possible to convert one to the other without frame modifications... just new trigger/hammer guts. I wouldn't call that stuff "modular" in the way that Glock connectors are, but it can be done at home if you're handy.

 

[WestKentucky]

I would be inclined to say that for normal full size guns the sig p250? With factory conversions available would be in the running, but then again there are multiple companies putting out glock,xd,m&p conversion barrels with spring kits. These are more practical than a TC contender which has more barrel availability but it's also huge for a handgun, plus only one shot...I love mine but it's no carry/defense/battle gun. My ultimate vote on most versatile would be glock 36 45acp. Can be converted to 40,9,357sig,380,and 22, possibly others, usually for around 200 bucks or less when buying a barrel, spring kit if needed, mags etc. the 22 kit has a lighter slide and likely goes blowback rather than locking.

 

[bannockburn]

I remember an article in Guns and Ammo where the author put together a 5 cartridge gun around a Colt Government in .38 Super. Added conversion barrels in 9 mm. and .38/45, along with a .22LR upper assembly. For the .45 ACP he managed to get a Combat Commander slide assembly to function on the Government frame.

 

[OARNGESI]

Sig makes the p250 i think you can go between 9 40 45 and also swap out frame sizes

 

[poco loco]

the full size 45 Glock can take .45acp, 460 Rowland, 10mm, 40S&W, 357 sig, 9x25 dillon, 400 cor bon, 9x21, 9x19, and that's just barrel and mag swaps, with the slide too it can do 22lr also and there may be more I missed...those are just the ones I know exist. Plus, barrels are as low as a hundred bucks, Lone Wolf, to 150 for the Storm Lake, to whatever you want to spend for custom fit barrels. Heck with customs, you could add a few more calibers to the list too.

I was never a Glock fan till I got my gen 3 G-23, the compact just fits much better for me than the full size pistols and I have barrels for 40, 357 Sig and barrel and magazines for 9x19 making it pretty versatile imo.

 

[kilibreaux]

It IS "a thing" called the AR-15 platform.

 

[Rembrandt]

Modular guns have been around for a long time. Just as rifled actions come in different sizes, (rim fire, short action, long action, etc), the same holds true with pistol frames. Rarely do you see something that will handle a broad range of calibers in one package (exception being the Thompson Contender).

Perhaps the best example was (Germany's) Peter Stahls conversions that fit the 1911 frame. He offered over 15 different calibers by simply changing barrels. Those units were imported by Springfield Armory under the "Omega" brand name, offering three caliber sets. Purchased mine (38 Super, 10mm, 45ACP) back in the early 1990's. In seconds you can make a caliber change.

I later built a Browning High Power "set" similar few years ago, 9mm, 40 S&W, and .22LR.

Magnum Research has done the similar thing with the Desert Eagle, 357 mag, .41 mag, 44 mag, 50, 440 Corbon, and so forth.

 

[TRX]

Both the 1911 and Glock will handle multiple calibers easily. However, since there are three major breechface sizes (9mm, .40, .45) feeding may be a problem, though people have gotten away shooting 9mm with a .45 1911 slide. Of course, there's a company out there making .45 slides with interchangeable breechfaces...

Both the 1911s and Glocks seem to have the caliber conversion thing down fairly well, otherwise. The same basic mechanism works from .380 ACP to .50GI.

Don't forget the Dan Wesson revolvers, where you could change the cylinder and barrel out with your field kit...

 

[Havok7416]

The Witness pistols have at least 10 different calibers to change between. I own one with 2 barrels (.45 and .22) and was looking at .357 Sig, .38 Super, 10mm and 9mm at one time. Very versatile and very cheap (my dual-caliber example was $550).

Also as mentioned, the Sig P250 is another convertible design along modular lines.

 

[MikeJackmin]

Sig offers both the P250 and P320 handguns. They are perfectly modular:



That's the gun, right there. Everything else (the grip frame, barrel, slide, recoil springs, etc) are just non-serialized parts, and they can be bought and sold without restriction. They make frames in three different sizes, each available with three different sized grips. They make slides and barrels in three different sizes, currently in five different calibers, but they could make this gun in any caliber they wanted. They could even make a carbine kit too.

The P250 is true double-action-only, the P320 is striker-fired. Other than that they are basically the same pistol, and parts supposedly interchange between them, with the necessary exception of the slides.

I think this is a great idea, which unfortunately has not caught on. If third-party vendors were producing a wide variety of parts this would be an incredible pistol, but (probably because of how Sig has chosen to market and support this platform) it has not occurred.