Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Mystique guns that have lost their mistique

Not sure if "mystique" is really the right word, but it will suffice. I'm talking about guns that years ago were "something a little special", but today are not special at all. Some examples:

Bren Ten: Today we have 10mm handguns, and even CZ copies that are FAR better than a Bren Ten even dreamed of being...but some still think it was somehow special. Its pure collectors piece now
Great Western revolvers: Freaking awesome in the 1950's but pales in comparison to anything currently made by Uberti or Ruger
Norinco 1911: Very well made for the 1980's, but not well made by today's standard, yet people still think there's something special about them.

At one point these guns filled a little niche, and filled that niche rather well. But today they have been far outdone.



What are some others you can think of?

Colt 1911s from the 80’s and 90’s and early 2000’s. They put slightly larger sights with white paint dots and no grind beavertails on them in some attempt to be modern but the fit and finish on many was laughable in comparison to their more modern offerings. Took them a long time to catch up but there are and were guys who swore they were the best or special just because they had the pony on them.

Pretty much anything “tactical” from the 1990’s. At the time G&A, ST, and such mags were constantly writing up the new innovations in the handgun market and while it was revolutionary at the time and necessary for things to evolve to where they are now most of it is crude and antiquated in comparison. I used to have guys bring in “combat” modified pistols they’d had built back in the day to sell and get upset because they didn’t hold their value. They couldn’t understand that clamp on lights and lasers, Pachmayr rubber grips, and Millett dual crimp sights were no longer cutting edge.

Time marches on.

The Dirty Harry 8 3/8" model 29; now all model 29's are just ho-hum.

But I'd still like a Bren Ten....................

MM

Although this is the Handgun forum the first thing that popped into my mind was the Scout rifle. A short bolt action semi-combat rifle that needs a barrel mounted scope just so you can load it with a clip. It was so popular that optics factories made intermediate eye relief scopes specifically for the genre. For a while there you couldn't turn the page of a shooting mag without another article on "Scout Rifles".

Short AR's with large capacity magazines have taken the shine off of that mystique. Or if you have to have a bolt action, a Ruger Ranch or Predator rifle with a bottom loading magazine is the evolutionary descendant of the format.


Btw, I wasn't into them so this is an honest question, but did any of the factory offered "Scout Rifles" actually have their receiver bridges cut for a clip? Seems like that would be a prerequisite to fit the whole forward mounting scope paradigm.

When I was little the Luger was considered the coolest pistol in my young Boomer age bracket, and I don't even think it was close. Practicality was very different.

I don't think Lugers have ever lost their mystique with gun people, but the general public doesn't much recognize them like older generations do.

Spot on, good post! The handgun that pops to mind for me is the HK squeeze cocker. Anything with "HK" stamped on it back in the day was high dollar and considered high-tech. The Scout Rifle concept was another idea that has lost its zing.

Scout rifle is a great example. Eventually everyone discovered that Cooper was just wrong about the forward mounted scope...but right about pretty much everything else with that rifle. Unless you need your breech exposed for something like stripper clips, a "scout" scope has been proven slower in acquisition, and offers less field of view. But the light weight handy carbine for hunting is spot on. As for the scout rifle as a fighting rifle...Manual action rifles are not fighting rifles anymore...bad idea unless you're in a place that bans all semi-autos.

And I agree, HK pistols were a bit goofy in the '70's and '80's. The P7 series still holds its collectors mystique, but while I think its cool just because its different...Overall I didn't see that it offered anything I felt I needed...especially at that price.

Not necessarily a specific gun, but I heard of a lot of cops in the late 60s and 70s hard-chroming pistols (mainly the Browning HP) so they could use them in adverse conditions.

Don't see many of them anymore--same applies to nickel-plating

I remember reading about the Star PD, Detonics 1911s, and Charter Arms Bulldog a lot in the late 70's?/early 80's as a teen. They were supposed to be great guns for concealment that really packed a punch, and I really wanted one of each.

I briefly owned a Bulldog in one of the not-so-good ownerships of Charter and promptly lost interest due to the inferior quality. A few years ago I bought a S&W 329 instead as an alternative and kept it.

In place of the Star and Detonics, a couple years ago I bought a Magnum Research 1911 3" in .45 (aluminum frame) but quickly realized that I really didn't want to carry that bulky of a gun with only 6+1 capacity with all of the other options out here now. Cool gun, but I'd rather carry my Sig 365XL anytime, so it went down the road too.

Said no one ever about a Luger.

Lots of crap Boomers and older collected and loved have lost their luster.

I was at an auction Friday, they offered a Nortaki dish set.
40-50 pieces, the receipt was there. Over $1000 in decades old dollars. It sold for $40.

Mom has a bunch of it she collected years ago, it's not worth as many of today's dollars as she paid in 70s dollars.


Model 12s, model 88s.
Often don't bring much more than in the 80s when I was a kid.
Despite $900 being a week's take home instead of a month's.

Watch classic DA revolvers over time.
I'm 55, damn near everyone younger than myself want plastic, SS or some coating. Those beautiful guns are going to lose their luster over time. Sure the $number might get bigger, but it is inflation not value.

A live AR home 20 something truck driver in the 90s, I had money to spend. Went to shows with a waller full, laughed at AKs and the SKSs at $80 per, cheaper by the case. Bought a few pre-Garcia Sakos. Could have bought a few AKs or a case of SKS s for a Sako' price. And they would be worth more now. Much more if sold during one of the crazy periods in the last 20 years.

I do not believe it was an 8 3/8".

Nope, it was a 6".

Seecamp LWS

6.5", but they did use the 8 & 3/8th" gun for certain scenes, I believe.

Did you know that, originally, they wanted him to carry a four inch Model 29, but couldn't get their hands on enough of them to proceed with filming, so they switched to the 6.5" version, with an occasional appearance of an 8 & 3/8th"?

Seriously? Please provide an exhaustive list of all the "gun people" that spent even two seconds pining for a Luger in the last year.

SIG Neuhausen P210? Touted as the ultimate precision-made 9mm handgun when I was reading the gun rags as a teenager in the 60's, and retaining that mystique for a good while after that. Expensive then, and really expensive now (that inflation thing again) which is why I never owned one. But, dammit, I would still like to have one.

Actually I guess, we were both wrong.............seems like it was likely a 6 1/2" but there's also a reference to the 8 3/8".

As I recall, the 6 1/2" version did come out 1st, with the 6" a little later.

But either way, the Model 29 became iconic because of the Dirty Harry movies.

MM

Dirty Harry Gun Info

Bending the topic a bit, I'd say that the .44 Magnum cartridge itself has lost a lot of its "fascinating aura of mystery, awe, and power surrounding someone or something".

Way back when it was definitely infused with an aura of awe and power, it was a caliber suitable only for experts who would put in the extensive work needed to master it.

One gun writer recommended that anyone contemplating a .44 Magnum should get a good set of shooting gloves since the checkering on a S&W revolver would likely rub their palm bloody after only a few shots. Another writer tried to mitigate that a bit by surmising that any reasonably fit man who could do ten chin ups should be able to master it - the implication still being that wimps need not apply. Then of course Dirty Harry proclaimed it as the most powerful handgun in the world.

I can see the .44 afficionados' knees starting to jerk so please don't confuse mystique with popularity. It's still a hugely popular and capable handgun round but has lost the mystery and awe it had in the late 50's through early 70's and nowadays is considered just one of several large caliber rounds which can be handled by any reasonably competent handgunner, even men who can't do ten chin ups.