We gun owners often waste our time talk earnestly about the concept known as the “BBQ gun” (or “Governor’s BBQ gun”). In essence, this would be a nice-looking, quality handgun that would “show well” in a fancy holster — in other words, a description that no gun named “Glock” could ever satisfy.
Of course, people will suggest something like a shiny nickel Colt Single Action Army (Peacemaker) as the sine qua non:
…and I would be the last to disagree with that, to be sure, because it’s as pretty as a picture and would make a fine addition to one’s formal attire.
However, there are a few drawbacks to this, from a practical perspective. Firstly, there’s the price… yikes, and that’s for a new manufacture. Step back to a First Generation piece and well, you don’t wanna know. Next, we all know that while the SAA shoots the manly .45 Long Colt, as a self-defense gun it’s not what we’d call an optimal choice in terms of both capacity (6) and reloading speed (measured in geological time by comparison to the usual self-defense choices).
But that doesn’t matter because this is a “dress” gun — one could even be unkind and say it’s “ornamental”. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course; thinking from a girlie perspective, a pair of sexy Christian Louboutin shoes might be a perfect choice for the Governor’s BBQ Party, much less so for hiking in the mountains.
So getting back to the gun thing: all this was brought to mind when I got the latest sales promotion from the kids at Palmetto State Armory, which featured this:
Granted, this might be a little too show-offy for some (it certainly is for me), but you can’t deny that it’s not the worst-looking handgun you could carry on your hip at said event. Certainly, it’s more affordable than the nickel SAA above — like 10% of the SAA’s price — and yes I know, cheap guns don’t always make the very best choice for self-defense. But remember, the main thing about a BBQ gun is that it looks good on a formal occasion, not necessarily that it works that well as a self-defense piece.
See where I’m going, here? Discuss.