Why is a “duty” pistol larger than other pistols?

[Arik]

Also:
Walther P-38
Colt 1903
FN 1905
FN 1910
Savage 1907

You're right that from their inception until the last decade or two of the 20th Century, revolvers ruled the world

Most of those carried about the same ammo. FN1910 is 6 rounds of 380 or 7 of 32. FN 1905 6 rounds of 25. Still in the same ballpark as a 6 sh

I don't know how widely used surplus semi auto firearms were like P38

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

[ST911]

Better to stick with "full size", "compact", "subcompact" and maybe "micro". It's as common to see G19s, 320 compacts, M&P 2.0 compacts, and P228/229 sized guns in "duty" applications as their full size counterparts.

Whether or not there are merits to carrying full size over the compacts varies by task, model, shooter.

Sight radius is vastly overrated, and can be mitigated with smart sight selection.

[C-grunt]

A LE handgun is a fighting handgun. For a fighting handgun I want a full grip and a large magazine.

[MountainRaven]

Also:
Walther P-38
Colt 1903
FN 1905
FN 1910
Savage 1907

You're right that from their inception until the last decade or two of the 20th Century, revolvers ruled the world

Revolvers didn't rule the world for most of the Twentieth Century, they ruled the United States. And to a lesser extent, the UK.

Europe and South America bought into semi-autos wholesale early on (prior to WWI in many instances - and almost universally after WWI). As did Japan and China.

In fact, it might even be more accurate to say that the revolver's last holdouts were in the US and UK pretty much from the end of WWII to the end of the Cold War, and that the auto starting taking over within the first decade or two of the Twentieth Century and had largely taken over the world by the time Hitler's freshly corpsified body was lit on fire.

[ST911]

A LE handgun is a fighting handgun. For a fighting handgun I want a full grip and a large magazine.

That's the rub... What does "full size grip" and "large magazine" mean? And does it mean the same thing for everyone?

[Uni-Vibe]

Revolvers didn't rule the world for most of the Twentieth Century, they ruled the United States. And to a lesser extent, the UK.

Europe and South America bought into semi-autos wholesale early on (prior to WWI in many instances - and almost universally after WWI). As did Japan and China.

In fact, it might even be more accurate to say that the revolver's last holdouts were in the US and UK pretty much from the end of WWII to the end of the Cold War, and that the auto starting taking over within the first decade or two of the Twentieth Century and had largely taken over the world by the time Hitler's freshly corpsified body was lit on fire.

What the heck, revolvers were largely scrapped by the US military in 1911. It was civilian US shooters, and law enforcement that held on until the eighties. Now revolvers are the province of hunters, hand loaders, and certain specialized target shooters.

(N.B.: after 40 years of semi auto shooting, U.Vibe is just getting into revolvers. )

[MountainRaven]

What the heck, revolvers were largely scrapped by the US military in 1911. It was civilian US shooters, and law enforcement that held on until the eighties. Now revolvers are the province of hunters, hand loaders, and certain specialized target shooters.

(N.B.: after 40 years of semi auto shooting, U.Vibe is just getting into revolvers. )

The UK military dropped revolvers after WWII, but their police kept them for quite a while (I don't think British police dropped revolvers until widespread adaptation of Glocks in the 90s). The US military also issued significant numbers of revolvers until at least the 1980s - the M1911 had only been adopted for six years when the US military starting buying new revolvers that stayed on until at least the end of WWII - plus a variety of revolvers in 38 Special that were in limited use through the Vietnam War and (in increasingly smaller numbers) into the 1980s and possibly even the 90s.

AFAIK, the last major institutional user of revolvers were the Norwegian Police Service, who dropped their S&W model 10s for H&K P30Ls late in the first decade or early in the second decade of this century.

[DoubleW]

It’s larger because typically concealment is not a factor. Therefore, a larger grip & greater capacity can generally be achieved.

[MistWolf]

Revolvers didn't rule the world for most of the Twentieth Century, they ruled the United States. And to a lesser extent, the UK.

Europe and South America bought into semi-autos wholesale early on (prior to WWI in many instances - and almost universally after WWI). As did Japan and China.

In fact, it might even be more accurate to say that the revolver's last holdouts were in the US and UK pretty much from the end of WWII to the end of the Cold War, and that the auto starting taking over within the first decade or two of the Twentieth Century and had largely taken over the world by the time Hitler's freshly corpsified body was lit on fire.

You're quite right, of course. In saying "revolvers ruled the world", I am guilty of speaking from strictly an American perspective.

In fact, the handgun that ruled the free world during the Cold War was the High Power.

[RHINOWSO]

Even just the little bit more grip makes it easier to grip, especially when the user may be wearing gloves as part of their uniform / professional setup.