There's a lot of trendy additions to firearms I'm seeing over the past few years, and they all bug me to different levels, how about you?

1. Hyper-aggressive grip texture. I understand the logic, but in application, this is super annoying on a carry pistol. Abrades everything, catches on clothing, and eventually gets worn so it looks like trash. There is a good compromise between grip and comfort for carry (non-competition).

2. Accessory rails on everything. Even micro-compacts. Anything on a rail adds bulk. If I wanted bulky, I wouldn't have a such a small form factor. This is especially true for pocket pistols. Give me a smoother profile for easier draw and re-holstering any day.

3. RMR cutouts on everything. This is the least annoying, because a cover plate alleviates the issue, but see my point above. Also, the cover plate has screws that can loosen, and need to be watched. I like the KISS philosophy, and a RMR adds complexity, and more room for failure. Iron sights 'just work'. Then you end up with 'co-witness height sights', and it gets even less friendly.

4. Aggressively cut/angled rear sight. Yeah, I know, it's for one-handed slide operation, but I've tried, it doesn't work well, and is likely to be impossible in a high stress scenario. I like rear sights to be smooth and low profile.

5. Short-slide, long-grip pistols. For carry, the grip is the hardest part of the pistol to conceal. Prints like crazy under a shirt. Barrel length, not so much. I'd rather have a compact long slide for carry than one of the new short-slide models.

Granted, my frustration is all related to carry suitability, but these features are being marketed on modern carry pistols. What does everyone else think?

i pretty much keep all my guns original.

Agree with a lot of that I'm simple, summertime in TX =43x or 365x, almost all other times = g19, winter =SFT

Comp guns SFX and X5 with max grip texture

I stopped carrying my Elite SC, compared to a 19 just not a good fit for me

Get off my lawn!!!

I'll have disagree with 2 and 3, I have a light on my pocket pistol, and I like having option to put optic on. I can agree with the rest, strongly agree with 5.

Interesting post
I prefer having a rail on my nightstand gun and my carry gun. I train in low light conditions frequently, and prefer to not use a flashlight, do prefer having both hands on the gun. That said, I also train in the common flashlight hold positions. My bug gun is "clean", no rail.
RMR cuts - certainly not going to see a reverse in this direction. In fact, I held out as long as I could with the irons, but finally decided to dive in and train on a dot. I can shoot tighter, more consistent groups at farther distances than I ever could with irons (drawing from a holster and moving). I believe the percentages of dots (read = reputable) failing when you need them are low, and if you are an average "John-Q-Public" carrying a pistol for personal defense, the high percentage of these encounters are in pretty close range of the attacker. If you can't point and shoot and hit the threat - dot, iron, or neither - at these distances, I firmly believe more training is in order anyway. This is a generalization, I get that there are additional mitigating factors.

My personal pet peeve is the hype around the "need" for the smallest, lightest, slimmest pistol for every day carry. Misguided sales persons drive this home as much as the advertising moguls do. For some people new to shooting, this can be a damning piece of bad advice. My message is the opposite - learn to dress around the gun you can handle the most comfortably, and shoot the most accurate and consistent. You can always go from there in any direction size and weight wise if needed. The key, of course, is always get good training so you can hone your fundamentals of marksmanship. The learning curve seems to bite harder with the micro's.
I do agree, the point of an EDC gun with a short barrel and a lengthy grip is what now??? Kind of the same thing I try to reason when someone buys a mid or compact size gun for EDC then scours the world for a 20 round mag. Why??? Unless you commit to dress around it - always, it makes no sense to me.

Neil

qballbandit wrote: ↑Fri Jan 21, 2022 10:15 pm Interesting post
I prefer having a rail on my nightstand gun and my carry gun. I train in low light conditions frequently, and prefer to not use a flashlight, do prefer having both hands on the gun. That said, I also train in the common flashlight hold positions. My bug gun is "clean", no rail.
RMR cuts - certainly not going to see a reverse in this direction. In fact, I held out as long as I could with the irons, but finally decided to dive in and train on a dot. I can shoot tighter, more consistent groups at farther distances than I ever could with irons (drawing from a holster and moving). I believe the percentages of dots (read = reputable) failing when you need them are low, and if you are an average "John-Q-Public" carrying a pistol for personal defense, the high percentage of these encounters are in pretty close range of the attacker. If you can't point and shoot and hit the threat - dot, iron, or neither - at these distances, I firmly believe more training is in order anyway. This is a generalization, I get that there are additional mitigating factors.

My personal pet peeve is the hype around the "need" for the smallest, lightest, slimmest pistol for every day carry. Misguided sales persons drive this home as much as the advertising moguls do. For some people new to shooting, this can be a damning piece of bad advice. My message is the opposite - learn to dress around the gun you can handle the most comfortably, and shoot the most accurate and consistent. You can always go from there in any direction size and weight wise if needed. The key, of course, is always get good training so you can hone your fundamentals of marksmanship. The learning curve seems to bite harder with the micro's.
I do agree, the point of an EDC gun with a short barrel and a lengthy grip is what now??? Kind of the same thing I try to reason when someone buys a mid or compact size gun for EDC then scours the world for a 20 round mag. Why??? Unless you commit to dress around it - always, it makes no sense to me.

Neil

Well for me I bought the sf elite to carry, and yes I am scouring the world for 18 rd mags. I will keep and use the 2 original 15 round mags for carry but I would like the extended grip for time at the range ( my hands are on the large side and my pinky barely catches the bottom of my gun with the 15 rounders in ). But I do agree that there is no point in a gun with a short barrel and a permanently long grip when you can just send a short and a long mag out instead like some guns have.

keltex78 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 21, 2022 11:20 am There's a lot of trendy additions to firearms I'm seeing over the past few years, and they all bug me to different levels, how about you?

1. Hyper-aggressive grip texture. I understand the logic, but in application, this is super annoying on a carry pistol. Abrades everything, catches on clothing, and eventually gets worn so it looks like trash. There is a good compromise between grip and comfort for carry (non-competition).

2. Accessory rails on everything. Even micro-compacts. Anything on a rail adds bulk. If I wanted bulky, I wouldn't have a such a small form factor. This is especially true for pocket pistols. Give me a smoother profile for easier draw and re-holstering any day.

3. RMR cutouts on everything. This is the least annoying, because a cover plate alleviates the issue, but see my point above. Also, the cover plate has screws that can loosen, and need to be watched. I like the KISS philosophy, and a RMR adds complexity, and more room for failure. Iron sights 'just work'. Then you end up with 'co-witness height sights', and it gets even less friendly.

4. Aggressively cut/angled rear sight. Yeah, I know, it's for one-handed slide operation, but I've tried, it doesn't work well, and is likely to be impossible in a high stress scenario. I like rear sights to be smooth and low profile.

5. Short-slide, long-grip pistols. For carry, the grip is the hardest part of the pistol to conceal. Prints like crazy under a shirt. Barrel length, not so much. I'd rather have a compact long slide for carry than one of the new short-slide models.

Granted, my frustration is all related to carry suitability, but these features are being marketed on modern carry pistols. What does everyone else think?

You have said everything that I have been saying recently ! I agree 100 % . Short slides with a foot long grips is just stupid. Sandpaper grips that cut your clothes and skin , and tiny pocket pistols having light rails. Unreal !