Yeah, I was pulled deep into the magazine wells of Teh Intarwebz, and ended up watching the Outlaw listing his Top 10 Guns You Can Bet Your Life On.
And I don’t disagree with any of his choices, to any degree of difference other than choice — as he puts it, guns that you like and are familiar with, as opposed to an equally good option but in a different platform (AR vs. AK, for instance; he prefers the AR, I prefer the AK, but I have almost no experience with the AR because I served in a different country’s .dotmil).
Also, given how much he shoots and how many more guns he plays with, I’m going to state with the utmost conviction that his opinions are going to be much more worthwhile than mine.
And given that I’m a cantankerous Old Phartte with way too many prejudices (fuck off, Glock), Chris’s opinions are even more reliable than mine. So whereas his recommendations for a gun are more likely to be based on solid testing and experience, mine are going to be the same five guns, every single time, because a lifetime’s shooting of those five has imprinted them deep in my psyche and I’m not likely to change them.
What guns? Oh, come on:
- 1911, Browning P35, CZ 75, SIG 210 and Beretta 92FS for centerfire semi-auto handguns
- Python, S&W 65 and 686, Ruger GP100 and Ruger Blackhawk for revolvers
- Mauser 98, Mauser Mod 12, Mauser 1896, Winchester 1894, and AK-47 for centerfire rifles
- and so on.
If you couldn’t guess at least four out of my five in each category, you haven’t been paying attention.
So I’m not going to be doing any more gun lists because my opinions are no longer that relevant. Let the young gunslingers have their day on EeewChoob.
You do of course follow Steven Hayward The Week in Pictures at Powerline Blog. Search for “And finally…”
The wisdom of a man is measured by how much his opinions are the same as mine.
Save for your misguided attachment to AK type rifles, your personal choices mirror my own. I am also a “well seasoned” elderly flatus with many decades of shooting behind me.
You might add side by side vs over-under shotguns as another strange choice of yours. You don’t see many side by side shotguns used in high level clay shooting because and over under works better when you have a desire to hit things as they fly by. Just saying and I also like the style of the old side by sides but I find a 30″ barrel on my Beretta 20 ga. o/u has been a dependable shotgun for the last 20 years of clay and bird shooting. I have been fortunate to have lots of adventures shooting quail, pheasant and dove with that gun which is plenty of shotgun for most all critters and having been back to Beretta for one rework about 12 years ago when I was shooting skeet every week my fine shotgun should last me the rest of my years since I am now 77 years old and counting.
When it comes to pistols and rifles my choices pretty much align with yours, I do like steel more than plastic. Merry, Happy, Christmas to one and all. Thank you Kim for sharing your choices with us over the years.
Keep publishing lists. Found this blog for the guns. Stayed for the repartee. Still enjoy the gun part.
Kim sed: “…because a lifetime’s shooting of those five has imprinted them deep in my psyche and I’m not likely to change them. …my opinions are no longer that relevant.”
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When you think about it, THAT is the only thing that is important.
Each of us starts out in gun life probably poorer than we are now, but we start with what we can afford and we become proficient with those guns and learn along the way. No matter which gun you choose to become expert with, as long as the gun functions properly and you can routinely put holes where you want them, then no one gets to say anything about your choices.
FWIW, I like everyone of the guns on your list and at least 500 more. In fact, unless a gun is majorly flawed in some way so that it doesn’t function properly (and can’t be easily repaired) I will probably like it.