If the Colt Peacemaker was the "gun that won the West," the Webley was the gun that won an empire. Most in this country were cut down to accept .45 ACP cartridges with moon clips. The Webley, in its various Marks, was in the service of the Empire for eighty years or more. The pictured model is a Mark VI, the model used in two wars for killing Jerries. Indiana Jones carried one in the third "Raiders" movie, there is a shot of him opening it up and the extraction star lifts up, but the gun is empty.
#4: Smith & Wesson K-22 Masterpiece, .22 rimfire:
The K-22 was the first really accurate pistol that I ever owned. I shot it a lot and learned a lot about shooting from my range time with one. When I spent time at my parent's farm, I used it with .22 shorts for popping #3: Ruger New Model Blackhawk/Vaquero:
This is a Vaquero, Blackhawks have adjustable sights. They are modern versions of the Colt Peacemaker. They are a lot stronger, though, and with the transfer bar ignition system, they are true six-shooters. That was dangerous with a Colt Peacemaker, for if you dropped the gun with a loaded chamber under the hammer, the gun would fire. Which is why, back in the day, nobody loaded the sixth chamber unless they were going into a fight.
#2: Smith & Wesson M-29, .44 magnum:
Not the most powerful handgun in the world, but good enough for most jobs. They are excellent for hunting
#1: Cold M1911, .45 ACP:
Probably the finest military handgun ever. In a bout of sheer foolishness, the US replaced it in 1984 with the M9 Beretta 9mm, a move that has been unofficially regretted ever since. Often copied, there have been many attempts to make guns that were as good as or better, but almost a century after John Moses Browning designed it, the 1911 Colt is the gold standard of handguns, firing the cartridge that is, in itself, the gold standard of self-defense cartridges.
I have a fondness for automatics, but it is pretty interesting that when I come up with five favorite handguns, four are revolvers.
2 comments:
The ACP is a favorite of mine too, but the deal with revolvers is that they are simple, reliable weapons that never jam in an inopportune time and always work. It takes a lot to make a revolver not work, even if you neglect its care a bit. Many automatics, on the other hand, are prima donnas. Did you jack a round into the chamber? Is the safety off? When you've fired a few dozen rounds off through the thing, have you thoroughly cleaned the extractor mechanism and checked it for jerky movement or wear that could cause jams? Is the return spring still up to snuff? A revolver, on the other hand, is pretty much point and shoot, even with a single-action revolver you always know where you are -- if the hammer is back it's ready to go, if not, well, you're not.
I guess what I'm saying is that a revolver is honest. That's one reason why if someone asks me to recommend a self-defense handgun for the home, I generally point them at a revolver of the appropriate caliber for their size rather than at one of the sexy Glocks or the workhorse 1911. Because the last thing you want to be doing if someone is smashing in your door is fumbling with the safety trying to remember if *forward* is off, or *backward* is off... when the nerves are going, you want the closest thing to point and click possible. (Unfortunately, when it comes to compact concealable weapons, you're pretty much stuck with a small automatic, since the smallest revolver that I consider to have sufficient stopping power, the .38 snubby, is still much more bulky than a small 9mm or .380 automatic such as the Kahr PM9 or K-Tel P3AT with similar stopping power).
I suppose you could say revolvers are the Mac to the automatic's PC. Well, I suppose the 1911 would be Unix/Linux instead, which actually predates the PC, but the point is, even someone who has been in the computer industry since the days when you could call up Ken and Dennis over at Bell Labs with your Unix questions can appreciate the Mac's operational simplicity and elegance, and someone who has no problem doing a full teardown and refurb of a 1911A can appreciate the simplicity of a revolver.
And I ramble entirely too long but what can I say, I like talking about guns and there's not too many other Democrats around who seem to like doing so, which is probably why I keep wandering by your blog :-).
Actually, if you go back to one of the earliest posts I wrote, I recommended that people buy a revolver, especially if they are neophytes at shooting.
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