[jyl]

For handguns, I'd like to see a really thin gun. Most semiautos are over 1" thick (e.g. Glocks are about 1.2" thick at the slide) and rather blocky. How about something 1/2" thick? I guess the ultimate limiting factor is the cartridge diameter. But instead of fat short bullets with blunt/soft tips, how about skinny long bullets with pointed/hardened tips for penetration, designed to fragment or tumble (or better yet, fragment then tumble) after penetrating.

I also think bore axis can be a lot lower. A typical semiauto puts the bore axis about 1" above the base of your thumb. After each shot you have to re-acquire the target. Why can't bore axis be level with or slightly below the base of your web? Not possible with Browning's design, where the slide is wrapped around the barrel and has to move rearwards along the barrel axis by over an inch - your hand is in the way. But there are other ways to absorb and release the recoil energy. E.g. with the Luger's toggle action, after a a tiny rearward motion the recoil energy is stored by the toggle, which moves upwards - your hand would not be in the way. A gas system would allow even more possibilities.

Everyone places the magazine in the grip. This restricts the dimensions of the cartridge and results in blocky, non-ergonomic grips. It also limits the practical barrel length, since the chamber is located forward of the grip. Suppose the chamber were located behind the grip, like on the old Remington XP-100? Instead of a 4" barrel as in a full-size 1911 (after deducting the chamber) you could have 8" of actual rifled barrel. The magazine could go above the barrel, similar to the FN P90, which might get you a 30+ round capacity as well.

There must be all sorts of interesting and better designs out there. We could have concealed carry pistols less than 1/2" thick, fast-shooting pistols that stay on target with no barrel lift at all, long-barreled pistols with terrific muzzle velocity that aren't front-heavy.