The other day I read SOTI that a poll showed that owners of Colt’s 1911 are the “most irritating of all” gun owners.
I can sympathize with this view point, even though I am a lifelong devotee of John Moses Browning’s wonderful design, and will admit to having posted haaaateful things like this before:
…and so on. (more below the fold)
Despite this, I have gone on record, many times, in saying that my dislike of Glocks is primarily because I think they’re fugly and plastic — something, by the way, they share with all the plastic fantastics — and not because they’re crap guns. Something else I’ve admitted is that (annoyingly) I shoot Glocks as accurately or more so than just about every other handgun I’ve ever shot.
So it’s nothing personal: I just prefer steel and wood for my guns, and the miracle that is JMB’s design is, to my mind, the best manifestation of that combination of materials plus performance.
I can understand why 1911 owners can be a PITA to owners of lesser other guns, because at the end of the day, nobody likes to have their choice of firepower ridiculed. But I do it in a spirit of playfulness, because of course I know that a gun that works perfectly for one shooter may not do so for another.
However, I was watching Othias talking about the introduction of Colt’s 1911 as the sidearm of the U.S. military (go on; it’s only two hours long), and something he said struck a chord. Paraphrased, it’s this:
Over a century later, the 1911 is still being made, purchased and used, more or less unchanged from its original design.
Which other semi-automatic handgun can say anything like the same thing? And why do so many manufacturers of other brands (SIG, S&W, Ruger, Springfield etc.) make and sell the 1911 under their nomenclature? Because the 1911 is overwhelmingly popular with shooters, not because of some JMB cult but because the frigging 1911 works really well, despite its many shortcomings
More to the point, here’s something to all the SIG, Glock, H&K and Beretta owners: can you say that the gun you own right now will still be made, unchanged, in a hundred years’ time? Although I’ll never live to see if I’ve won the bet, I would bet that the 1911 will still be being manufactured in yet another hundred years from now. Glock? Ruger’s P-series? SIG’s 22x? All of them great guns, but in longevity terms, they all have a long way to go to beat that of the 1911.
It’s not that the 1911’s design is perfect; no gun design is. But for what a gun owner needs from a handgun, it’s pretty damn close.
And then there’s that untouchable aura surrounding the 1911, which is durable and undeniable, and certainly so compared to all the others, especially the plastic fantastic ones. Holding a 1911 in your hand is touching history — also true, by the way, of Colt’s Peacemaker (the 1911 of revolvers) and the Luger P08 (although nobody makes the Luger anymore). Here’s the same thing, expressed in automotive terms:
The most irritating thing about 1911 owners is their smugness (guilty as charged). Because no matter how much we and our beloved 1911 are mocked, it has no effect: we’re proud to own our 1911s, for all their admitted faults. And while we’re on the topic:
Ring any bells?
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