Pretty impressive when you see a 1903 stacked on a FN Reflex XL and realize they were essentially the same size.
Major Pandemic’s Bunker Bar Podcast Summary (MajorPandemic.com): Micro-Compact Pistols Aren’t New — The Colt 1903 Started It All
In this episode of Major Pandemic’s Bunker Bar on MajorPandemic.com, Major Pandemic cuts through the hype around today’s “brand-new” micro-slim, micro-compact pistol trend with a simple thesis: we’ve been here before. Modern carry guns may have better capacity, optics cuts, and comps—but the core concealed-carry concept was already solved more than a century ago.
The Real Origin Story: The 1903 Concealed Carry Standard
The episode starts by rewinding to the early 1900s—when open hip carry was increasingly frowned upon in many “civilized” cities, and people demanded firearms that disappeared under clothing. That environment produced creative concealment options (tiny revolvers, derringers, oddball multi-barrel guns), but one pistol stood apart: the Colt Colt 1903 Pocket Hammerless.
The host argues it wasn’t just “small for its time”—it was purpose-built for concealed carry, not adapted to it. Slim profile, rounded “melted” edges to prevent snagging, internal hammer (the original “hammerless” carry concept), and real defensive usability in pocket-friendly calibers like .32 ACP (and later .380 ACP variants). In other words: the DNA of modern carry pistols was already in the room.
The Evolution: From PPK to Pocket .380 to Slim 9mm
From there, the episode walks a timeline of “pre-microcompact microcompacts” that kept refining the same idea:
Walther Walther PP Series and Walther PPK as iconic compact carry pistols that kept the slim concealment concept alive for decades.
Pocket .32/.380 standouts like Seecamp and North American Arms (Guardian-style pistols) that built reputations around reliability in tiny packages.
The polymer pocket revolution, led by Kel-Tec (P32/P3AT style era) and later popularized to the masses by Ruger with the LCP wave—where “micro” often meant .380 and compromise sights, but unbeatable carry convenience.
The jump to slim 9mm with Kahr Arms and the PM9 concept: thin, shootable, reliable—yet still stuck in a single-stack capacity ceiling that would eventually get crushed by the next era.
The Modern Breakthrough: Double-Stack Micros and “Micro Thin Compacts”
The host frames SIG Sauer’s P365 moment as the market inflection point: double-stack capacity in a truly micro footprint. Then the category explodes—better ergonomics, better recoil systems, better triggers—and it becomes normal to expect 10+ rounds in guns that used to hold 6–8.
He highlights how today’s “micro thin compact” crossover guns—like the FN Herstal FN Reflex XL—deliver a full-size-ish shooting feel with serious capacity, in dimensions shockingly close to the original 1903 concept. The episode even compares size and weight, using that match-up to prove the point: we didn’t invent a new idea—we finally perfected the old one.
Where It’s Going: Dots, Comps, and the “Just Because You Can…” Question
The host closes by calling out the wild direction the category is taking—red dots, compensators, porting, and ultra-aggressive “mini comp gun” setups. He separates “awesome range/training tools” from “defensive carry choices,” noting potential downsides of ported/comped guns in close-retention shooting. Still, the verdict is clear: modern micro-compacts are in a golden era—and the road that got us here started in 1903.
Bottom line: This Major Pandemic’s Bunker Bar episode on MajorPandemic.com is a history-backed reality check: today’s micro-compact boom is less a revolution and more a return to a century-old concealment blueprint—now upgraded with modern capacity, ergonomics, and performance.
