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| Large frame and small frame compact Smiths |
I used "Large Frame" to refer to the pistols designed around the cartridges with a ~32mm overall length: .45ACP, 10mm Auto, and .38 Super. "Small Frame" was for pistols built around the ~27-29mm OAL: 9x19mm, .40 S&W, .45 GAP.
So a S&W 4516 would be a "compact large frame single stack Smith" and a Glock 17 would be a "full size small frame double stack Glock".
In general, manufacturers spun all their guns off their duty-size guns. The aforementioned compact Smith .45 was essentially a full-size 4506 with the slide and grip shortened, while Glock created the subcompact small-frame 26 by essentially shortening the 17 likewise. The little guns would even eat out of the magazines from their larger siblings.
But starting with the P365 and now extending to most manufacturer's catalogs we now have a category of even smaller small-frame guns, ones that don't share magazine dimensions with their duty-size catalog mates. To further confuse things, there are now upsized versions of these guns, like the Hellcat Pro and the P365 XMACRO.
My terminology gyros are tumbled.
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| I have no idea what to call this. |
