Another Firearms Related Platform

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Whit

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As an old geezer, I just can’t get on board with the term platform for firearms. AR platforms, 1911 platforms, revolver platforms and on and on. A platform is something one stands on or stacks stuff on.

The other day I saw and advertisement for a new holster platform. Another puzzle to me. Once again my old mind must be faulty. I don’t put a handgun on a platform, I put it in a holster to carry.

OK, I’m old but I’m willing to learn. Someone explain the platform thing. How did this term become a part of the firearms lexicon? I relate it to a thread in The Lounge a few days ago about the use of like, you know, um and other such words in conversation. Old man rant over…maybe not a rant, just trying to learn. But I’ll never like learn um you know how to talk using those words.🤣🤣
 
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Irregardless that I aren't a grammarian, I know that without an i-phone I could not be in the penultimate epicenter of like, what's happening now.

Best to let a sleeping dog lie.

BTW, regarding AR-15 rifles, do you think maybe the "platform" concept has some relationship to their being called Barbie Dolls for boys?
 
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I do believe the term "platform", as is used when talking about guns, first originated with the military, when referring to various weapons "platforms".

When I hear, say, the 1911 as being a "platform", I assume they are referring to the 1911 as it's generic being, and including all similar pistols manufactured by various makers. Perhaps the word "pattern" might be more appropriate?

Larry
 
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Whit said:
As an old geezer, I just can’t get on board with the term platform for firearms. AR platforms, 1911 platforms, revolver platforms and on and on. A platform is something one stands on or stacks stuff on.

The other day I saw and advertisement for a new holster platform. Another puzzle to me. Once again my old mind must be faulty. I don’t put a handgun on a platform, I put it in a holster to carry.

OK, I’m old but I’m willing to learn. Someone explain the platform thing. How did this term become a part of the firearms lexicon? I relate it to a thread in The Lounge a few days ago about the use of like, you know, um and other such words in conversation. Old man rant over…maybe not a rant, just trying to learn. But I’ll never like learn um you know how to talk using those words.🤣🤣
Click to expand...

A newschooler fad term that probably won't be around for long. "Chassis" apparently means the same thing, but looks like that word has been abandoned by most.
 
Thanks Fishinfool, you are probably correct. I had not thought about the military usage of the term in discussing weapons. You may be 2 for 2 in saying pattern is a better term. You are like um very you know right on man! Oops, that just slipped right of the keyboard.
 
I’m with you Whit. I don’t savvy platforms on firearms and another thing that trips my trigger is when the weather guys refer to areas affected close to the I40 “corridor “ or the I35 “corridor “ or some such description. Tell me where it is or the area at least. That has become common.
 
I think the "platform" thing started in the car industry and was quickly picked up by the military. In the car industry I think it replaced chassis because that word has a specific meaning, and monocoque construction is very different. A car platform is a particular style of monocoque construction that can be stretched or shrunk a little for different models.

With weapons, I think it was a way for:

1) The military to bamboozle the accountants when it comes to buying new weapons. "Oh, the new XYZ456 uses the same platform as the old ABC123 so that will keep the cost down".

2) When a platform is reused, it cuts down on retraining.
 
It's a common term in the aerospace/defense industry. Here's an excerpt from Lockheed Martin literature on the F-35:



I think platform, used this way, is a weapons system that you can configure in various ways — adding or subtracting stuff to the "platform."

So while, in my opinion, a bit pretentious for a handheld weapon, with all the mods and accessories people hang on their ARs and semi-auto pistols, it probably makes sense.
 
Only politicians and political parties have platforms which are forgotten after they are elected. I guess there are platform shoes, but I don’t know what those are.
 
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LVSteve said:
I think the "platform" thing started in the car industry and was quickly picked up by the military. In the car industry I think it replaced chassis because that word has a specific meaning, and monocoque construction is very different. A car platform is a particular style of monocoque construction that can be stretched or shrunk a little for different models.
Click to expand...

I have specifically seen a reference to the Panther platform that Ford had used as the base for the Ford Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Car. Unfortunately none of these are being made now.
 
I reckon I've been exposed to so many ways to state basically the same thing that I pay little attention to the terms platform, base, chassis, engine, framework, O. S., etc as just part of today's lexicon.

As Rusty1953 pointed out, "gifted" was a word that until recent years I had never seen/heard used as it is today. Seinfeld may have got the ball rolling with re-gifting an item.

I'll add "fitment" as another term that has ground its way inside the firearms community.

I'm not alone in noticing that people have three pairs of eyeglasses now. Until the last five or so years those same folks had three pair of glasses, a dozen pair of drawers, two shirts and 4 pair of pants packed for their trip. Pairs may be the proper term? I don't care. Seems to be a waste of a perfectly good but unnecessary "S."

Seems hardly anyone left on the planet knows when to use I or Me in a sentence today.

People today have been educated beyond their intelligence.

Sorry for drifting away from your threads original platform. :rolleyes:
 
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'Platform' in this use is an unregulated, public forum.

Referring to a platform in a public square.
 
Terms that I hate....platform, price point, new normal.

Slang that I hate.... "prolly" instead of "probably".

Poor grammar that I find irritating...."I want to sale my car"...."Do you have one for sell?"

Old boomer rant mode off.
 
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