“Oh bloody hell, here goes old Kim again, bitching about how ugly new stuff is compared to old stuff.”
Well, yes. I am very aware that the new stuff is streets ahead of the old stuff, technologically speaking. I am also aware that despite this, in many cases this techno-superiority makes very little difference in terms of everyday use. Here’s an example, using this modern iteration of the venerable 1911 handgun:
…versus the traditional:
Now I know that there are all sorts of reasons why the SIG P211 is a great pistol, probably far better than the Gold Cup in terms of, well, everything, from features to function and so on. But at the end of the day, will both guns deliver a half-dozen or so rounds of manly .45 ACP goodness into the desired target area? Yes, the P211 has more rounds to deliver, and yes, it has a tacti-cool red-dot sight which I guess will make this new model x times more accurate than the old-fashioned Gold Cup. If all that floats your boat, have at it. I’ll stick with the old 1911, because it’s enough for me, and it will shoot better than I can shoot it anyway.
Consider another example of this phenomenon, using high-end sports cars this time. Here’s Ferrari’s La Ferrari:
Looks good, is super-fast, has all those holes in the body to make the airflow more efficient, etc. And hoo boy, it sure is super-fast. No argument about that, least of all from me.
So let’s look at an older version of a supercar, the Jaguar E-type Series 2:
It’s for sure not as fast as the Ferrari — hell, a tuned E-type can only manage at best ~150mph compared to the 220mph of the Scuderia creation, and its piddly little 4.2-liter straight 6 engine pushes out at best 265hp (compared to the newer supercar’s 6.3-liter V12 plus the F1-derived KERS system yielding 850hp).
So… no contest, right?
Quite right. I’d take the Jag any day of the week, six ways to Sunday. The looks of the Jag are smoother, less angular and frankly, streamlined enough for me, and the performance is frankly much more than I need. (The Ferrari’s performance is not only excessive, it frightens me because I wouldn’t be able to control the beast.)
Frankly, both the SIG and LaFerrari embody to me a “modern” style that I have come to detest — much as this example of a “modern” building compares very badly to an older one:
Your opinions on all the above examples may vary.
With all those sharp edges, the Sig looks like a fucking cheese grater.
mmmm cheese, this sounds like yet another feature!!!
No disagreement here.
Ive used Red dot sights up at Sig Academy several times now in their classes. Two days ago was a rifle class and I used their M400 AR type rifle with a red dot of some sort. I just cannot get my eyes to adjust using it. Their handgun 101 class had us start out with iron sights then they swapped slides out with red dots installed. I stuck with that for a bit but I used it like a traditional scope sight. I closed my non dominant eye to use the sight. As I said then, I am a man of the ’20s; the 1920s. I like my iron sights, 1911s, double action revolvers and my stick shift truck. I think they’re dragging me kicking and screaming into the 2020s.
Most folk here would rather help a spouse get up from the toilet than change the diaper on someone else’s baby.
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Congratulations: you’ve just won Opaque Comment Of The Week.
The red dot doesn’t (necessarily) make you more accurate, it just lets you see the dot when you’re focused on the target focusing on the front sight and seeing the target as some sort of blur.
For close encounters of the violent kind it’s not really relevant–the front sight and the problem are close enough together that it’s all good.
For longer range problems– say 15 yards and beyond, depending heavily on how age degraded your eyesight is, that red dot means the difference between good hits, bad hits, and misses.
The Sig shown is a race gun, it’s designed for games not daily carry. They have a smaller, sleeker version https://www.sigsauer.com/p211-gt4.html that doesn’t have the compensator or the RDS. Yeah, it’s still not as smooth as the old school 1911, but swap the grips out for something wood looking, and it’s closer.
I’d still want an RDS version of it.
But I’m not a 1911 guy. I was hoping that CZ would come out with a red dot slide for their CZ-75, but I may have to compromise and look at the P-09c.
“But I’m not a 1911 guy.”
See? I even allow heretics on this back porch of mine.
(signed) Mr. Tolerant
Well, as long as the Heritics-R-Us door is open–
I get CZ attraction. I (also) own an EAA Witness and an FEG PJK. An RMR ready line you might consider is CANIK.
I have a double handful of pistols already– a few Glocks, HK P7, Beretta 92fs, Sig P239, Ruger LCP. My wife has a CZ75b and a S&W M&P.
I’m *way* past “need” on these things.
The next pistol I buy for me I want to meet four critera:
1. Hammer fired DA/SA. Yeah, I don’t care. I’ve been around and trained enough that I know what I want.
2. Metal. Yeah, I’ve got a bunch of plastic guns. They’re *great*. I like metal better. Your life, your money, your choice. I want metal.
3. Has the slide engineered and pre-cut for a red dot.
4. 9mm.
I *really* like the CZ line, and was hoping that we’d see a CZ75b with a factory slide set up for red dots. But I guess they’re not changing that line, and if you want that you have to go with the polymer P-09 line. Which is a great gun.
Beretta’s got a few of the 92s where they’ve moved the decocker back onto the frame where it belongs, so maybe I’ll do that.
But the Canik line just looks like they’re remolded Glocks. If I wanted something like that I’d get a new Glock 19 with the MOS slide, so I could use existing magazines. But that’s not what I want.
I hear ya. I’d rather have a 328 GTB vs anything Ferrari’s made in the last 15 years or so (honestly, I’d rather have a 275 GTB/4, but at least the 328s are still somewhat affordable. Sort of.). And my “unlimited budget” gat is a nice semi-custom 1911. Preferably from Alchemy Custom, two-tone finished (blued slide, chromium nitride frame and small parts) with a square trigger guard. That just SCREAMS classic and sexy, not like most modern high-end 1911s that look like props from a bad sci-fi movie.
I would take the Jag over the La Ferrari. Strip the engine and wiring out and replace it with a LS1 and related GM wiring for the car. I have been burned by three other British cars and their sub-standard wiring and electronics.
[sigh] More heresy…