Gun purchases thread.

[commando552]

Originally Posted by Yournamehere

Hammer snag and the size of the sights are not concerns of physically carrying the gun, but drawing it. I suppose that the 3913 is more snag proof, but my point was that the size reductions of the gun are not enough to make any discernible difference for the actual carrying of the gun, or the comfort in carry.

Aside from the half inch length off the front and the grip, the other reductions are roughly 2/10ths of an inch all around, including the grip width. The window where the 3913 would be permissible where the full size gun would not be is very, very small, and if the full size gun doesn't work when the 3913 does, it's as simple as changing your wardrobe or getting a better holster.

I will concede that perhaps the narrowing of the grip combined with the narrowing of the slide stop may reduce the pressure of the slide stop digging into someone carrying the gun, but this does not address the concealment issues that will still be present. You have to be a very particular person with a very discriminatory body type to where 2/10ths of an inch matters with regard to a gun being seen or not.

The thing is though, it isn't only the grip width that is different, it is a number of factors that combine together to make it a more comfortable and practical carry gun (for some people at least). Just roughly, by picking a 3913 over a 5906 for example you get a 40% reduction in weight (unloaded weight, functionally more when you consider it has less rounds in it), 20% reduction in grip width, and 10% reductions in the height and total length.

If you are going somewhere where you need a full size double stack then fine, but this is not the case the majority of the time. To me it seems that an 8 round mag will be more than sufficient for most self-defence situations, and carrying something over and above this is just wasted effort.