About Smallest Guns

On this site I intend to list the smallest of each type of gun for every caliber. I believe this information is very useful to those who carry concealed, and at the time I am creating it, this information seems to be basically completely unavailable. If you know of something that should be on this list (especially if it would bump something else off), please submit it, or at least email me a URL about it.

Click on the column headings to sort by that column.

Description of fields:

Volume Length, height, and width, in inches, multiplied together. Smaller is better.
Caliber Caliber / type of bullet. Bigger is better. Sorts in the order listed here, which is based on effectiveness against an unarmored attacker at 7 yards. If you disagree with this order, email me.
Capacity Number of rounds it will hold total, including one in the chamber if possible. More is better.
Action Type of action. Generally single-action is better, because it comes with a much nicer trigger pull, but for deep concealment, a double-action with a long trigger pull and no safety may be acceptable. "Single-action" means pulling the trigger performs one action: releasing the hammer, so the hammer must be cocked some other way - in a semi-auto, it is cocked by the act of firing. "Double-action" means that pulling the trigger does 2 things: 1) cock the hammer, 2) release the hammer.

Other relevant characteristics:

For a concealment gun, roundess is better than squareness or pointyness. The shape of the slide on a Glock or a Kahr is less comfortable because it is very square. The shape of the slide on a 1911 or Kel-Tec is more comfortable because it is round. It is better for the base of the grip to be rounded than pointy so it doesn't dig into you.

Features to be Added to this Site

Sun Jan 20 09:53:11 EST 2002
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