We’ve all done it at the range. Somebody hands you a pistol, you put a few rounds through it, and the verdict comes out: “great gun.” But strip away the nostalgia and the “my buddy said it’s awesome” factor, what actually makes a gun great?
After borrowing a lot of guns for testing over the years, I’ve landed on three things that separate the great ones from the merely OK. Fit and finish, do the mated parts actually line up. Trigger feel, smooth or gritty, predictable break or mushy mess. And tolerances, especially lockup, which is where things get really interesting.
I ran an experiment with a Smith & Wesson M&P that proves the point. Factory configuration shot fine for a service gun, three-inch groups at 25 yards. Then I fit a semi-fit Apex barrel tightly to that specific slide. Same shooter, same gun, almost every load now under one inch. That’s what tolerances really do.
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