When considering handgun design it is important to consider what uses to gun will actually be used for. A combat or self-defence pistol has the incapacitation of the target as its main requirement. Whether or not the hit proves to be fatal is a secondary consideration.
Handgun bullets incapacitate by several mechanisms.
Unless they are dis-proportionally light or subject to excessive mushrooming or fragmentation, most combat rounds have sufficient penetration, usually judged to be between 10-15".
When it comes to causing tissue damage and a stretch cavity the important consideration is not how much energy a bullet has at the muzzle but how much it has at the target and how it utilizes it.
A large calibre bullet creates a wider wound channel, resulting in faster blood loss. The larger surface area of the round also means that mushrooming tends to be more reliable and energy is lost to the target at a more efficient rate.
This is why large calibre rounds such as the .45ACP, .44Spl and .45 Long Colt are the preferred chambering for the following weapons.
My ideas on defensive handguns consitute a small family of weapons. These are:
The first case describes the various 5-shot .44spl revolvers which can be as light as 19oz. A .45ACP variant would be welcome.
In the second case this might be a requirement for a potent but portable protection against large animals. A 3-4" barrelled .44 magnum answers this need, and such a gun could also fire .44spl. A short-barrelled M1917 type weapon that could be converted to fire .45 Long Colt or .45 ACP/Super would also be useful. .45 ACP revolvers can use shotshells made from 30-06 brass, and guns like the Russian Udar revolver have demonstrated how specialist rounds can be used in large-calibre revolvers. A .45 ACP revolver could also use the .45 Springfield Magnum round.
The Dragon and Wyvern are .45ACP calibre, and designed from the start to be compatible with the .45 SuperŪ round. A hunting/long range model in 9x23mm Win or 10mm may be available, as might barrels for the 400 Cor Bon round for the same uses.
The Wyvern autopistol is about the same size as a Glock 19, with the shrouded hammer of the Tokarev and an ambidextrous frame-mounted safety. The safety resembles that of an M1911A1, only working on a cocked hammer and being pushed down to disengage.
The shroud and hammer are designed so that a holster strap can still secure the hammer if the weapon is carried “cocked and locked.;”
The gun can be adjusted to be single action, DA/SA or DAO. In one mode the hammer stays back after each shot, but can be either thumb- or trigger-cocked. In the second mode, the hammer falls after every shot, but can be thumb-cocked for individual shots. One model of weapon can therefore cater to all shooter's tastes.
In the manner of the Walther P5, the slide-release also serves to decock the hammer.
The slide is a standard component, and longer guns such as the Dragon are made by fitting a longer barrel, much like how a P38K becomes a P38, but with a sighting rib or flat topped barrel. This barrel will probably be quite heavy, and flat topped (ie “nocks-form”). The front sight is mounted on the barrel and a cut-out in the slide top accommodates the front sight of the shorter-barrelled models.
Standard magazine is double-column but an alternate frame taking a single-column magazine is available for those with small hands or needing better concealment. It may be possible to design the double-column frames so that they can still take both double- and single-column magazines.
The magazine has a button on the follower, much like a Luger, so the spring can be compressed and rounds just dropped in. Single-column magazines could be standard Colt M1911A1 designs. Like the Tokarev, the magazine feed-lips are part of the gun's frame, reducing the likelihood of misfeeds or malfunctions due to a damaged magazine.
The frame is polymer, but in several sections so grip panels or grip length can be altered by changing sections. This feature also allows the grip to be altered to suit the user so that the weapon points well when used for fast shooting.
I was once sent a picture or a customized S&W automatic that had a scale pattern engraved on the slide instead of the usual cocking serrations. The scales were also cut into the forward part of the slide, and a forward cocking area is often seen on customized guns. Both would be nice features for the Dragon and Wyvern.
A shotshell .45 round may be used for survival use, similar to a .410 shotshell. The pistol may also have a shoulder stock option.
I quite like the Glock .45 weapons too, although I think something could be done to make them look a little better. Below is my sketch of a modified Glock system gun. It's a .45, naturally. Maybe I should call this a Gloch, since the slide is inspired by the H&K P9S.
Snub backups are often carried as pocket guns but are only available in .38, 9mm and .357
If you are using a 45 pistol as your main handgun (one of the best choices) you don't have a pocket gun in the same calibre, other than a derringer. This is why I've suggested occasionally a four-shot DAO derringer might be a good idea in .40, 10mm, .44spl and .45. This would be an internal-hammer weapon rather like the COP stainless pistol, but with a better trigger. By removing the barrel block calibre can be easily changed. The four-shot pistol may share some components with the j-frame revolvers. A related two-shot version is also possible.
A J-frame four-shot .45 revolver with a concealed hammer is an alternate possibility. I'd like something that looks like the Russian R92, since it resembles the classic .455 Webley.
Some shooters will prefer to have more shots in a backup weapon, and are prepared to accept a smaller calibre. Modern metalurgy has given us medium-frame .357 revolvers with seven or even eight rounds. It is not impossible that J-frame weapons with six or more rounds may be built. A useful option for a backup weapon would be a medium-calibre J-frame revolver using the multi-round facility of the Medusa revolvers. This would be able to fire .357 rounds but also use rounds such as 9mm Luger and 9mm makarov.
Another interesting possibilty for small-frame revolvers is to build the grip and frame from polymer. In automatics, polymer frames are said to reduce felt recoil while saving weight. Such a strategy would allow the weight and strength of a light revolver to be concentrated where it is most needed: in the barrel and cylinder.
One of the advantages of a revolver is that it can use rounds of a shape, length or softness that would not feed through an automatic. To exploit this, a dedicated defensive load should be developed for short-barreled medium-calibre revolvers.
This will probably take the form of a large-diameter soft-lead hollow-point, possibly resembling the reversed hollow base wadcutter rounds used by some handloaders. An alternative could be a round based on the Webley “Manstopper”: a lead cylinder with a deep hollow-point and a hollow base.
The correct bullet weight for this round needs to be established empirically. A selection of bullet weights of the correct configuration should be fired a gelatin targets set up at several realistic combat ranges, for example 2, 6 and 12 metres. Selection would be made on the basis of penetration, mushrooming performance and proportions of stretch cavity. Practical accuracy and recoil would also be considered. Test should include bullet weights in the 158-200gr range. The obvious round to use will be based on the 357/38spl case.
There are also J-frame pistols chambered for 9x19mm ammo that may not be able to fire a 38spl-based round. A 9mm +P 115gr bullet actually has more energy and velocity than a 110gr .357 when fired from a short-barrelled revolver. On the other hand, the .357 round is available with more efficient bullet types. A 9mm-based round will also be made using Luger brass. Since these rounds do not have to feed through an automatic they can hold a longer heavier bullet than is usually used. Possibly these rounds will be “9mm Auto rim”
A non-expanding high penetration round for defence against animals would also be produced.
The reversed bullet ideas detailed at http://guns.connect.fi/gow/QA13.html may prove to be very useful if applied to bullets for short-barrelled revolvers.
Although large-calibre pistols are more effective for combat, I feel there is still a place for a weapon using the 9mm makarov round, particularly in areas that were formerly under Soviet influence. Although a J-frame revolver is more suited to being fired from within a pocket and can fire a potentially more effective round, a 9mm makarov pistol offers a larger magazine capacity. “Tunnel Rats” in Vietnam favoured small-calibre pistols since the blast of un-silenced larger weapons had been know to collapse tunnels. The Velata might have other specialized combat applications.
This round also has the advantage that it only needs a simple blowback design to fire it.
Ideally, this weapon would share many of the features and controls of the Dragon series pistols. Like these, there would be single-column frames and large-capacity frames, preferably using existing models of magazines. A single-column weapon will be thinner and more concealable than the weapons mentioned above, while a large-capacity variant would have firepower close to that of a Browning High Power pistol.
Alternately, there will be a single model with a frame for a 10-round magazine. This should be compact enough in 9mm and would meet US legal requirements. Extended larger-capacity magazines would be available as reloads for those entitled to use them.
Since this gun is more compact than the Dragon, it may be carried in the pocket, so one difference from the larger-calibre weapon is that the gun has the option of altering the magazine release from thumb-button to heel-release. Possibly the manual frame safety will project backward in the manner of the PSM rather than to the side.
As well as 9mm makarov chambering, the weapon can also be converted to 9x17mm/.380ACP, probably using a loading close to the makarov in power. Ideally the Velata would be sold with both a 9x18mm barrel and a .380 barrel. In recent years, there has come to light a more powerful loading of makarov round, and this can still be used in blowback pistols that have had the chamber walls spirally grooved to produce a simple delay mechanism. Such a feature should obviously be a standard feature of the Velata.
I see the Velata looking something like the Mauser HSC
The Velata would be a simple to manufacture, highly-concealable weapon with the option of a large-magazine capacity. Sub-compact models may also be produced.
By the Author of the Scrapboard : | |
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 | Attack, Avoid, Survive: Essential Principles of Self Defence Available in Handy A5 and US Trade Formats. |
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 | Crash Combat Fourth Edition Epub edition Fourth Edition. |
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