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

I still love my Detonics 45, a d tend to shoot it well!

Along the same vein I’ve found it comical the press that has surrounded the 44 over the years. To some degree, maybe worse, the same phenomenon followed the 357.

When introduced it was “The most powerful handgun known to man”, and there was all kinds of borderline silliness written about it like alluded to in the above post. Broken or sprained wrists, uncontrollable recoil, battered hands. Of course it was suitable for any game animal you might want to turn it on. I saw people regularly when I lived in AK who were certain their 44 was a better bear stopper than whatever hunting rifle they were using, which probably isn’t true. Larry Kelly killing elephants with the 44. DB Wesson killing grizzlies and moose with the 357. Old issues of American Handgunner and Handgun Hunter regularly referring to it as “The big 44” or the hand cannon.

To current day when I’ve read on multiple forums and in an article or two that the 44 is okay for deer but marginal for much else. Many guys use super heavy bullets just for deer hunting, “what load should I use to drive this LBT 330 fast enough to deer hunt?”, questions are commonplace. In many circles the 357 is assuredly too small to hunt anything bigger than a groundhog.

Funny how things change.

While this has yet to be fully realized, I think gimmick guns will fully lose their mystique.

Tactical leverguns, the Chiappa Rhino, .45-70 derringers etc.

They appeal to a very limited audience, no matter how tacticool it is to see Harley Quinn flying around on wires shooting CGI bad guys with one in each hand.

Guns like the Colt SAA or 1911, Winchesters 1892, 1894 or Model 70, or Rugers 10-22 or Single Six will always have mystique and therefore popularity because they are real working guns, not gimmicks.

I know several Luger collectors. I see collectors at the shows still. The Luger forum is alive and well: https://www.lugerforums.com/

Harry Sanford’s .44 Auto Mag. I recall seeing it advertised in Guns and Ammo for $265 in 1971. Shot one, not impressed. Shot a Wildley .45 Mag too, it was not bad.

Agreed on the Automag. Was a grail gun for me and eventually got one. Don’t get me wrong it is a cool piece of kit. It was accurate and the round did have some snort but the package as a whole was pretty subpar.

I would call that a niche, not a mystique, and one that gets smaller every day. At this stage a Luger is more memorabilia than a gun.

Sure, Lugers are memorabilia and for collectors. But I shoot the crap out of my LP08 Artillery. Kids love it.
And I agree, you rarely see anyone shooting them anymore. But having been in the business a long time, I notice that even the young ones often show interest when there's one on the table. They all know what it is, and most kinda want one.

However Lugers are out of reach for many cost wise. To be quite honest, had I not got a crazy good deal I'd never afford an artillery Luger.

I'm very underwhelmed by all the large magnum auto's. They're just huge, awkward, horrible ergo's (and I have large hands), and most have serious functioning, or parts breakage problems. They are hugely cool conversation pieces. And they always bring smiles and interest at the range. But I'm happy to let others own them. If I want a heavy magnum handgun, it will be a revolver.

Trying to think which guns might qualify for this thread, my mind stumbled over things which could be more described as fads or maybe just misques, not even making it to fad status.

The Fitzgerald or Fitz Special revolver was a hot mod at one time - easily recognized by having the front part of the trigger guard removed. Looks like a ND waiting to happen. If only they had a Glock "safe trigger". The other characteristics of a short barrel and bobbed hammer were very practical and have lasted to this day.

The Gyro Jet pistol, cool but never really took off. Get it, "took off"?

Who remembers the triangular round aka tround?


Another mystique gun to some folks is the good old 1911A1 in .45 ACP. My father, an Army surgeon in WWII who btw carried a Luger immediately post-war in Germany, actually told me that you could hit a man in the hand with the .45 and it would knock him down. If that ain't an aura of power I don't know what is.

He didn't like it, however, because he couldn't hit anything with it. As far as I know he came to that conclusion because he had shot at a bottle on a stump with his issue 1911 and missed it but then hit it with his Luger. He did feel that the 1911 made a superior club.

Easily, the dumbest thing I’ve read in months. Could’ve been written by “Sheriff Joe” or Biden...

Luger prices have quadrupled in the past 8 years. Can’t touch even a “shooter” parts gun for under 1K plus.

Those six WW2 vets must be loaded. I repeat, "Memorabilia".

OK, 6 1/2 is close enough, I don't recall an 8 3/8, but it's been a long time since I saw any of those movies and I don't think I ever saw The Dead Pool.

There is a museum in Tombstone that has what they claim is one of the 29's from one of the movies.

I wish I had thought of that.

I understand they used the 8-3/8” for some of the shots where the camera is looking down the muzzle.

Lotta badged guys from that are had sweat rusted guns that needed refinishing...

Correct.

Yes, you repeat. Demonstrating clearly the difference between “ignorance” and “stupidity”.

So basically, name calling is all you have to add of value?

MontanaMan: Thank you for that link - as "I" was one of the myriads of gun types suffering under the delusion that Mr. Eastwood was provided with a Smith & Wesson Model 57 in 41 Remington Magnum to "stand in" for the intended Model 29 in 44 Remington Magnum during the filming of that first Dirty Harry movie!
Your link explains the difficulties in obtaining the pistol for the movie and I give it much more credence than the original (erroneous) story I first heard maybe 45 years ago.
I think the statute of limitations has run out now (if it comes into play at all?) so I will relay this.
Back in 1970 - 1976 I had an "in" at a "hardware store" in Seattles "Chinatown" - the family that owned the store liked me (as I was the local "pohlice" and a dedicated Salmon and Stealhead fisherman as was this Japanese family) anyway over the years I bought NUMEROUS Smith & Wesson revolving pistols from them. Probably three dozen at least and all were at well below "street value" at the time - this group of pistols included at least a dozen Model 29's (I only bought the 8 3/8" styles) and a handful of the then kind of new Smith & Wesson Model 60's!
Man how I wish I had that batch of pistols all back.
Have just a couple left that I bought from that family owned hardware store, including one unfired Model 29 (in presentation box circa 1971) a couple of unfired Model 60's in the box and a Model 63 that I have carried from Alaska to Texas and points in between.
Aaah.... if one could only see into the future a few years - I would have retired even earlier than I did.
Thanks again for that informative and interesting link.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy