Handgun Technology is Better Today
In the long-lasting Colt/S&W brand war, S&W exactly
copied Colt once, with the SW1911 of 2004. Photo: S&W
Handgun technology hasn’t advanced nearly so rapidly as, say, electronic technology. However, that’s not to say it’s entirely stuck in the mud. Let’s go back and look at the handgun scene in the USA 20 years ago.
In 2004, we were celebrating the sunset of the so-called high-capacity magazine ban. For a decade beginning in 1994, only law enforcement had been allowed to purchase magazines of larger than 10-round cartridge capacity, though any possessed earlier were grandfathered and legal under then-president Bill Clinton’s Crime Bill. During this period, I saw new shooters in IPSC and people buying their first self-defense gun cough up as much as a hundred bucks for a grandfathered full-capacity magazine. “It was a crime, Bill!”
Another effect of the mag ban was the rise of the “pocket rockets,” small pistols in serious calibers such as the baby GLOCK series. A lot of folks back in the time of the Ban figured, “If I can only have a few rounds, I want them to be really powerful.”
Power Emphasized
In 2004, more law enforcement agencies issued .40 S&W pistols than any other caliber, including the influential, trend-setting FBI. Several departments had adopted the .357 SIG, particularly state police agencies who appreciated that round’s barrier penetration ability. The United States Secret Service and the Federal Air Marshals were carrying the .357 SIG round at the time, with both agencies choosing the SIG P229 pistol as the platform.
The year saw the introduction of the .45 GAP (GLOCK Auto Pistol), which offered .45 ACP ballistics in a 9mm length case. The GLOCK 21 had become the most popular police .45 Auto but had a fat grip and a long trigger reach to accommodate its 13+1 rounds — the new cartridge allowed the same power level in the G37, a gun with smaller girth and 10+1 capacity. It got off to a good start as the state troopers of New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Georgia soon adopted the G37. It would not catch on in the long run given a double whammy of the soon-to-come theory 9mm was just as good as .45, and the introduction of slimmer-gripped, higher capacity .45 ACPs including GLOCK’s own G21SF and Gen4 G21.
The scale of power went up in 2004 when Smith & Wesson introduced their giant X-Frame .500 Magnum. Weighing in at a monstrous 71 oz., we who were at the introductory press conference in Springfield, Mass. couldn’t keep the smiles off our faces as we fired those monster revolvers with 400-grain bullets at 1,665 foot-seconds for 2,500 foot-pounds of energy. It would be followed the next year with the .460 Magnum. S&W had literally created a whole new class of handgun. Smith simultaneously introduced another powerhouse: the 329PD, the lightest 4″ barrel .44 Magnum ever. It weighed only 26 oz. due to its Titanium cylinder and Scandium slide. Believe me, I didn’t see anyone smiling when they shot this one with full-power .44 Magnum.
Ammo Prices
Speaking of ammo, I remember 2004 as about the last period when I could buy a 100-pack of Winchester white box 9mm ball for $10 before sales tax. The 2004 Gun Digest listed .38 Special +P carry loads at $20 for a box of 50 and .45 ACP for $18 to $31 a box, not bad at all in comparison to 2024 prices. On the gun budget side, a Model 642 Smith & Wesson listed for $571 suggested retail in the same 2004 Gun Digest and the GLOCK 17 started at $641, not vastly cheaper than today.
For perspective, a quick check on the Internet showed that in 2004, the average American’s income was $28,770 a year, average price of a single home was $195,200 and gasoline was $1.89 a gallon. Gun stuff has held up against inflation better than some think.
In 2004 Ruger was still making their rugged, value-priced P-series; Para-Ordnance was still in business; HK was selling their P7M8 for $1,471 new; and S&W was still producing their wonderful Gen3 autoloaders. Indeed, S&W had introduced an excellent 1911 in 2004 and wrote an unexpected chapter in the classic brand war with their ancient arch-rival Colt. Of all the guns I just mentioned, only the SW1911 (and of course, Colt’s 1911s), remain with us today.
Weapon-mounted lights, once the province of SWAT, had already become pretty much standard for K9 officers in 2004, and were rapidly becoming the new norm for uniformed patrol and popular in the home defense sector as well. Carry optics were only a gleam in the eye of some forward-thinking people but by 2024 would become The New Hotness.
Handgun technology may not advance at the speed of high tech, but the last score of years shows it moves relentlessly forward at its own pace.
