Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Are metal framed legacy handguns doomed

I'm old enough to have purchased a new S&W 5906 back in the day, and recently found and purchased an California Parks Dept 4006 for nostalgia. I'm also an person who likes Sig P series and have a couple P220, P226, and a P239. I also have been picking up some older vintage revolvers but that's another subject.

Anyway, the S&W gen 3 metal framed handguns are no longer with us and that's old news, but Sig has been dramatically reducing the classic P series line of their legacy pistols. Already the P227 is gone along with the P239. There's no SAS and other versions being catalogued either. I'm wondering if it's a soon to be reality that they'll cut out the P220, 226, and 229?

Everyone else has ditched the metal framed pistols so why wouldn't Sig continue to axe their line?

Currently we're in a time of the $600+ poly framed handgun. They've convinced everyone that a lightweight pistol is the only handgun that works and have prices on them that are insane. It's almost like there's getting to be no choice anymore. We have a flood of poly guns, a bunch of 1911 choices, and then hardly any metal framed handguns of other designs.

I don't hate the current poly framed pistols but I'm fed up with the high prices of some of them and like having the option of having a classic Sig or S&W (which I do) and would like to have support for them in the future, but it's looking uncertain.

There's some real amazing old designs out there that sadly are now gone. When I think of my old Beretta 950 25acp and my S&W 3913 Ladysmith I am grateful to have come across them and own them. It also make me sick that they're swept into the dust bin of history.

Old Rangers looked back with fondness on the Colt's Model P revolvers. Army Sergeants looked back on their 1911's with tears in their eyes when the Beretta came to town. Old Troopers swore by their 357 magnums, and I wouldn't care today to stick my 1076 in my waistband, but nothing stays the same. I spent the majority of my LE career with a Glock in my holster. It looks like that trend will continue with the generation (or two) who came after me. There will be another innovation, who knows what it will be, and when it does, the men and women who came of age when the Glock ruled the roost will lament its' passing. Just the nature of things.

They are things of the past, when it comes to semi-autos designed for serious purposes. Technology has made them an anachronism.

Nothing wrong with collecting, shooting, and liking those guns, made in the heyday of that class of weapon. You can carry them, too, and train with them, but they are no longer state of the art.

Oh really?

Plastic is cheaper. That's pretty much it.

And lighter, and less prone to corrosion.

Well I'm stuck in the past. Last pistol I bought was a SIG 238. Only reason I did was it a small 1911 platform and metal. No interest at all in a polymer pistol or (WHAT) revolver.

I've got the P238, too. Cool little guns. Mine's been 100% reliable.

you can't hit someone over the head with a polymer framed pistola with the same effect as the old 1911.

There isn't a single thing a metal framed gun does that a comparable polymer gun doesn't do better. Like my Smith wheelguns I love so much...they are neat to look at, but their time in the sun has passed.

Yep. And I bet a lot of old Colt SAA and S&W Triple Locks were used to give bad guys an attitude adjustment with a little rap on the noggin.

Best friend has his Great GrandDad’s old S&W Tripple Lock .44. He was an old time Sherriff in Waco TX. Killed 2 bad guys with it and brought down a fleeing bank robber by shooting him in the ass with it.
If you look down the barrel, you can see a very slight bend. He said that happened when he “rapped a niqqer gal upside the head for sassing him”.

I am getting into 1911's now...

Guess I'm ass backwards

As far as the less corrosion argument, I guess my usage doesnt warrant that level of lack of care. Granted I don't want a blued gun, but a good stainless probably wont corride while it's under my care..... maybe if I was operating in a jungle for days or weeks on a mission but between my car, house, etc., I just don't frequent areas where ultra corrosion resistance would be an issue.... It doesn't take me but a few minutes to wipe one down and clean one up.....

YMMV

Both plastic and metal "work"

Well the sun still shines on the metal ones in my neck of the woods. Wonder what would happen if one left a polymer pistol out in the desert sun...

You're probably right. I'm sure there are hundreds of holsters full of polymer goo all over the southern border.

Would not be anything quick, but anything made of rubber, plastic or their derivatives does not seem over time to last long. Metal will still be the same.

If you just want to talk about pocket pistols, say so. If you're going to leave it open, "handguns" is very broad.

Show me a plastic gun that will handle anything but piss ant cartridges. Show me one that will handle .44 magnum, high pressure .45 Colt, or .454 Casull cartridges. Show me one that'll handle the .460 or .500 S&W. I'm waiting.

Tom

There are a lot of Glocks still running around that have 30+ years of hard road behind them. They are fine..

Use whatever silly arguments you want to convince yourself that polymer is a fad....they don't get any less ridiculous. The die has been cast, they are proven.

Yeah ..there's your Red Herring.

Well I'm glad I have the choice. Seems you have made yours as well. I'll pick one that is not polymer/plastic.

My big gripe is the new cost of say a Glock. The poly pistols are great but way overpriced for what you get in the way of materials.

One example of going backwards is what S&W did in the 22lr offerings. At one time they made the excellent 422 and 622 series of 22lr pistols. They were great lightweight rimfire pistols for the trail and not overly expensive. They were fantastic rimfires for lightweight carry and I'm happy to have picked one up. In the meantime they have introduced a big ol' Victory model but that more of an large heavy target pistol and the M&P style rimfires just aren't close to an outdoorsman trail pistol as the old 422. They really took a step backwards on this one because the 422/622 series are fine handguns even if they had an strange design. The 22lr pistol S&W offers now just doesn't fit my needs and the old era pistols were far better pistols to pack on the trail

I doubt any plastic framed pistol costs more than a Benjamin to manufacture.
Best mark-up might be the Ruger LCR.
Third Gen Smiths and 422s were brilliant but probably gone forever.

Yeah, and I guess I forgot they'll pass through a metal detector as well.

I don't see the weight difference from aluminum as significant, and corrosion just doesn't rise to the level of a major issue.

How are they going to pass through a metal detector?

FWIW, I do like the designs where the plastic frame and grip is not the part with the serial number.

But my most recent purchase is a Ruger Bisley .45 Colt/.45 ACP. So there!

Anybody can go through any metal detector with any firearm ever made. It's not setting the damn alarm off that's the difficult bit.

Not with a steel barrel & ammo loaded..................................just sayin'.

MM

He’s being sarcastic. When Glock first hit the market, the Fake News Media claimed they’d pass through a metal detector at the airports, and that the number of hijackings would increase dramatically. Guess the media idiots were too dumb to realize that Glocks had a metal slide and barrel. Or they were just blatant liars as usual.

When you run dry nothing can replace mass (weight) when you have to whack someone on the head!

Lower left in photo.

That'l do!!!

Yep. Much better.

With an Old Hickory Sticking Knife backup?

That's tellin' 'em.

Can't say much bad about a lot of the new plastic pistols. But I have to wonder how they will fare as heirlooms. Will your grandson swoon over that old G17? Idunno...maybe.

Plastics are still kind of new on the geologic scale. I know they're better than 50 years ago, but what will the effects of time, chemicals, and the elements be, compared to that stainless model 66? Just musing......

I liked my double stack 1911.....until I started carrying a Glock 19.

The difference is night and day.

You might be surprised. I work in a gun shop and most of the younger customers (<30 yo) think that anything with wood and bluing is old fashioned and don't want to have anything to do with it. If it's not black and plastic, it's not kool.

Damn. How are we going to fund our retirements by selling all our old classics, then?

Sell them now and just keep the ones you need, use, or like an awful lot. Let someone else be stuck with them.

Long after we are dead, they will be collectors' items..........or contraband. Or both.

Yeah, but....will it be cool after Gramps has shot the hell out of it and worn the casting marks and grip texture off the plastic?

Seriously, I guess the days of low budget steel handguns are fading fast. But I suspect the market for fine steel will still be there. Just judging from what I see going on with woodworking tools. There will always be the minority who have the money and appreciate the finer things.

^^^^^^^
It is not uncommon for tastes to change and refine. Some of those young folks may come around.

I'm sure my age has a lot to do with it, but I view my plastic guns as "just tools." I do appreciate the better design aspects of some over others, but they are still just tools. I view Glocks as almost commodity goods, but that's just me.

I appreciate an accurate AR, but I would never call it "elegant."

And then there is the good stuff . . . !

everything does not have to wind up in a [bleep] chest bumping fight. There is plenty of room in our little world for steel, aluminum and polymer guns. I have some of everything. They are all good.

I think we need to qualify the question. For example, no doubt a Glock/Glock clone is much more practical, holds more ammo, lighter, etc, but after MANY guns to carry, I stuck with a Colt Officer's model 1911.

I carry Glocks.

I collect pre-Hillary's Hole S&W revolvers.

My sentiments, exactly.

Picked up an excellent condition (other than some nicks on the left side of the grip) 5906 today for $300. No box. No papers. Don't care.

Figure it will make an excellent truck backup gun or pass to an ally if things ever get gnarly. In the meantime, it will be fun to shoot.

a lot of this has to do with individual preferences.
I was shooting a m17 this last week, gun worked fine.
but then i got to thinking of other high capacity 9mm's, and pulled out an older cz75.
And a older sig p6. I just like them better.
i had a guy i know try to tell me the new S&W's are just as good or better than the older ones.
not in my opinion.
i pulled out a classic m29 and laid it down next to a earlier m28, just no comparison to me in terms of workmanship.
I had a 4yr old great grandson pawing through my stuff last weekend.
one of the rifles he said belonged to him was a stevens favorite single shot, and a stevens fold up .410.
they both were made about 1900. He's a good kid.

I recently picked up a 5906 as well and I really like it a lot. I've put a couple of hundred rounds through it. With two extra magazines you have almost a full box of 50. I realize it's a heavy beast compared to many of today's high capacity polymer framed guns, but I'm old enough to prefer steel. Plus it fits in the holster I bought for my Model 39. It will go with me on woods walks and such. I have a Sig 938 for better concealment in more populated environments.

Not at my house

Darn, I thought the world ended when aluminum frame autos replaced steel frame, and now I hear it is ending again with polymer frames.

Seriously though, I've barely left the world of blued revolvers now that I have a stainless one.

Not here. My most recent purchase.

Wife has the P238 and I have the P938. Yes, very cool little guns. Accurate and very reliable