[jsalcedo]

Caliber, barrel length, type of action, finish, grips/stock, sights/optics

What have you dreamed up to satisfy that empty spot in your collection that cannot be filled by any retail source?

[Dorian]

A USP Tactical in Variant 3 :-D

[sm]

Semi: GI 1911 45ACP as issued
Wheelie: Blue steel, various frames sizes , like models 36, 10, 13, 19, 27...etc.
Getting picky, but more 3" RB, J and K frame size. Wood grips, depends but Eagle Secret Service works as an example.

OH wait, they did this already...bring them back, quality, fit finish and all.

Just toss the fins, doohickeys, FLGR, lawyer locks , etc. Off the current line to make room for quality again.

[blades67]

A 10mm Auto SIG Sauer P220 would be nice.:cool:

[MagKnightX]

Well, let's see here...

.300 Win Mag...
Lapped steel barrel with accurized Sako action, 5rd capacity.
I'm not sure the optimum length for .300 WM, but let's say 26in, with a threaded end, with removable muzzle brake matched to the finish.
Adjustable 3-7lb trigger pull, action tuned smooth as butter.
Satin blued finish with gold trigger, safety, and trigger guard.
Fine engraving on the reciever, floorplate, and bolt-handle.
Glossy burled walnut Monte Carlo stock, custom fitted, with large black ventilated recoil pad
Gold and silver inlay in the forestock, grip, and buttstock, with my initials inlaid into the forestock. Family crest inlaid in ebony, pau amarello, and birch. Ebony grip cap and foretip, with a gold fleur-de-lis inlaid in both.
Weaver rail built onto the receiver, with 2 sets of matched-finish quick-detach rings and both a Carl Zeiss Diavari VM/V 3-9x42mm T* and a Leupold Vari-X III 8.5-25x50mm LRT zeroed in each set of rings.

A rifle a deer would be proud to be shot with :p .

Now, the price, of course... :uhoh:

[HankB]

Pistol: A Browning HP with a scandium or titanium frame, with the front of the grip frame checkered. Fixed night sights, and a trigger with a short reconnect.

Revolver: S&W M-27 with 5" underlug barrel, ball crane lock, cylinder notches offset from the chambers, and pre-war workmanship.

Bolt action rifle: Blackened stainless Winchester M70 in .458 Lott with a drop-box mag holding 5 rounds and stocked both to suit myself dimensionally and with proper reinforcements to stand up to the pounding of the Lott.

Most other stuff - like a nice DB rifle in a serious African caliber - is too expensive. But the ones I listed can at least theoretically be made affordably by the factory - particularly the bolt action rifle.

[Chris Rhines]

I'd like to have a semi-automatic pistol with a fixed barrel, locked breech, comfortable slim grip with enough angle to lock my wrist, and a 3# trigger with minimal takeup, no overtravel, and a nice soft, non-crisp break. And compact enough to carry.

- Chris

[duckfoot]

small fal style .17 hmr auto carbine with a 50 to 100 round mags, all in about the size of a large stocked pistol.

[45R]

It would the following

"Modern" M14 that wieghts under 5 lbs emtpy.
Sig 220ST in 10mm
Walther P99 Chambered in 45ACP

[T.Stahl]

Something like a longslide Glock in 7.63 Mauser/7.62 Tokarev - for the need for speed.
An HK G3 with better open sights, a 'forward assist', an ambidextrous mag-release, and a bolt-catch/release - for...uuh...SHTF?
A Steyr Scout with a slightly stronger and longer barrel in 9.3x62 and a HC-Kit - for a hiking trip on Spitsbergen.
An MG3 shrunk to .223, with a titanium frame, diopter sights, and a Picatinny rail to mount night optics.

[Sean Smith]

The bottom end of the gun would be similar to the 1911... same trigger mechanism, same basic shape, and so forth. However, there would be significant differences.

- The frame would be made of titanium.
- It would have an intergal magwell; however, the overall length of the grip would be the same as on a standard GM frame, and you would not need basepads on your magazines to use it.
- The plunger tube would be more securely fixed to the frame.
- The removable grip screw bushings would be done away with.
- The grip safety mechanism would be removed entirely. In its place would be a modular "beavertail" section that could be swapped out to adjust the erognomics to the user.

The top end would be 1911-like, with some important modifications:

- The slide would be made of forged 4340 steel, and be somewhat heavier than a standard 1911 slide.
- The barrel would be a linkless, bushingless bull barrel with an intergal ramp. It would have similar features to the Schuemann AET barrels.
- The extractor would be a completely new design, designed for extreme durability and long service life with high-pressure cartridges.
- Heinie Slant-Pro sights would be standard.

Oh, and it would be chambered in 10mm Auto. :evil:

[DMK]

1) CZ P01 with DA/SA action and PCR like Tritium sights in 45ACP, although I'd settle for .40S&W.

2) Colt CCO in stainless


Just give me one of those and I'll be happy.

[Keith]

I want a 1911 "compact" sized pistol in .40 or .45 with an aluminum or titanium frame. And I want that gun to be less than .75" at the widest part (I think .60" is technically possible). And I want it to weigh less than 12 ounces.

STI makes a gun with width in mind, but they didn't go nearly far enough.

If any of you have ever hefted a 1903/06 Colt Pocket Pistol, you'll know what I'm talking about. The gun is slender enough to truly hide against your skin. Unfortunately, it's in .380, doesn't have decent sights, it's 100 years old, etc, etc.

There's no reason such a gun couldn't be designed and built today and be even more slender than the old Colt (and of lighter materials), and in a more authoritative caliber.

Somewhere, there must be a gun company exec that actually has a carry permit and understands what is needed - or so you'd think...

Keith

[MagKnightX]

Sure there's no problem with such a thin gun...

If you want the barrel and slide made out of tinfoil. A .40 leaves .10in of barrel AND slide on either side, for a .6in thick gun. And the .45 leaves .075in on either side, and that's not even going by true measurements. I THINK you may have get a little wider...

But then again, since it's just fantasy...

[Keith]

OK, so .6 may be pushing it unless you go with a 9mm, but we could certainly go a long way here.
With good metallurgy, you don't need much to contain the pressure of a pistol cartridge. Remember, the 1911 was designed at a time when metallurgy was less than an exact science. More metal was the only way they could ensure that it didn't fail. And it was designed as a belt gun, not a concealment gun.

With that in mind, you CAN re-engineer the gun for concealment. The problem is, designers seem more interested in shortening the length of the slide and grip than in making the gun skinny. And it's the width (and weight) that turns out to be the problem for concealed carry...

They just don't "get it".

Keith

[Kaylee]

hrmmm.. you know, it might be possible to shave off some of that width by using a desert-eagle style arrangement. You know, fixed barrel, with the "slide" only being the rear portion of the weapon, like a rifle bolt/carrier on rails.

Seems to me that if you don't have to actually envelop the chamber of the barrel with the slide, just shove a round into it and pull it back out, that you could get a substancially thinner mechanism, no?

-K

[Keith]

That's a thought.

I'm prejudiced in favor of that whole Browning tilting barrel thing because of the inherent reliability. But, I'm no engineer and there ARE fixed barrel guns out there that match or exceed the 1911 in reliability - the Mak for one - But then that's a blowback gun and I'm not sure how you'd accomplish the lock-up without enveloping the barrel... I certainly wouldn't want to go back to some Luger-style thing with all the reliability issues that opens up.

I dunno, it just seems fairly simple to adapt the 1911 to this. You don't need a massive barrel and you certainly don't need a thick slide. And you don't need any of that bushing business up front - just a thin barrel with a very slight lip to lock up (like a compact, but less so...).

And I'm not in the least concerned about accuracy. Any handgun made with any care at all is accurate enough for self-defense work.

Keith

[Sean Smith]

They just don't "get it".

One thing to bear in mind is that slide mass serves a functional purpose in timing the gun so it actually works reliably. Reduce the mass of the slide, and you increase the slide velocity, which creates all kinds of problems with most semi-auto pistol designs. Not to say that there isn't some clever work-around with, say, gas or mechanically-delayed unlocking that hasn't been thought of yet, just that it is tricky making small guns in major calibers actually work.

[Keith]

Yeah, I understand the principles involved with slide mass, etc, but it would very easy to get around all of that by simply increasing the mass elsewhere - above the bore or below the guide rod (probably a better idea...), or even at the rear of the slide.

There's nothing prohibiting the concept that good engineer couldn't overcome with a few hours brainstorming. And it's been already done by his worthiness J. M. Browning hisself - with the 1903 Pocket Auto! You don't have to re-invent the wheel, just adapt this to a major caliber in a locked breech design. With modern metallurgy, you could certainly take it further than JMB could in 1903.

There's some pretty knowledgeable people right here on this board - where's Mike Irwin or Badger Arms when you need them?

Keith

[Standing Wolf]

I want a .44 magnum Python. I don't want an Anaconda. I want a Python.

[MagKnightX]

What's the difference besides name, if you have both in .44?

[Sean Smith]

Yeah, I understand the principles involved with slide mass, etc, but it would very easy to get around all of that by simply increasing the mass elsewhere - above the bore or below the guide rod (probably a better idea...), or even at the rear of the slide.

Remember, this is a SMALL gun... you can't add jack squat for extra mass "under the guide rod." You might as well look for the keys to a Cadillac "under the couch cushions." Maybe if you used depleted uranium in the design? :p

There's nothing prohibiting the concept that good engineer couldn't overcome with a few hours brainstorming. And it's been already done by his worthiness J. M. Browning hisself - with the 1903 Pocket Auto! You don't have to re-invent the wheel, just adapt this to a major caliber in a locked breech design. With modern metallurgy, you could certainly take it further than JMB could in 1903.

The 1903 pocket auto worked because it had almost no recoil energy to worry about since it was chambered in a sissy caliber. What you can do with a mousegun cartridge tells you nothing about what you can do with a real service caliber like 9x19. I'm sure that the small 9x19 could be refined more than it already has, don't get me wrong. But I suspect that we are getting close to the limits of how small we can make really make the sucker.

Put another way, how much smaller than a PM9 do you want? Its slide is 0.9" wide, and I suppose you could make it a bit narrower if you made it of unobtanium, and a little less blocky if you used a BHP-style lockup instead of locking up in the ejection port. You'd basically just squish the slide so it is taller but narrower so you can keep enough mass for it to work right. Maybe you go back and use steel or titanium instead of polymer for the frame to make it as thin as possible too, and accept the extra weight in the frame.

Of course, I'm one to talk, my dream gun is pretty nutty too. :evil:

[Keith]

you can't add jack squat for extra mass "under the guide rod."

Of course you can. The slide is already thinner than the barrel at that point and you can widen it up to the overall width you want the gun to be.

The 1903 pocket auto worked because it had almost no recoil energy to worry about since it was chambered in a sissy caliber.

A blowback .380 has considerable felt recoil because there is no locking mechanism to spread out the recoil impulse. And people already shoot extremely light pocket gun .45's of types without any trouble. Recoil isn't even a consideration.

I'm sure that the small 9x19 could be refined more than it already has, don't get me wrong. But I suspect that we are getting close to the limits of how small we can make really make the sucker.

Nobody (for the last 100 years) has even tried to explore how thin you can make a semi-auto handgun. They're too fixated on making the barrels and grips shorter to look at anything else.

Keith

[Weimadog]

I like my Glock 26
I like my Heckler and Koch P7M8

I would like a double stack Heckler and Koch manufactured squeeze cocker with a grip as short as the sub compact G26 Glock.

It could be done.


Weimadog

[jsalcedo]

7 shot brushed stainless .44 special with a 20 gauge shotgun barrel
underneath. Kind of like a modernish Lemat

[Mike Irwin]

"What have you dreamed up to satisfy that empty spot in your collection that cannot be filled by any retail source?"

I guess maybe I'm not that imaginatitive when it comes to rifles, because I really think that everything I want in a rifle I can get either retail, through an auction site if an older gun (I always lust after Savage 99s), or can make from fairly readily available components.

[Gunhead]

P7M18 racegun

[Black Snowman]

Low-barrel revolver a-la Mataba w/o the extra "semi-auto" strangeness. Just good old double action.
Two tone CZ-97B in 10mm or .400 Cor-Bon
.454 Casaull/.45 Colt lever gun patterned after the Marlin 1894
Falling block single shot firing Fin Stablaized Discarding Sabot at extremely high velocities for those REALLY long shots.
A scaled down M134 mini-gun that shoots .22 LR so you can actually afford to shoot it occasionally :)

[The Silver Bullet 1719]

A 5.56x45mm milled AK that takes AR magazines, AR peep sights, and a Vortex flash hider.

Browning Hi-Power in stainless steel.

[Dionysusigma]

SA/ DA Desert Eagle in .30 Carbine
A 1911 w/ a 30-rd mag, full-auto, and fires from an "open bolt" (open slide) Why? 'Cause it'd be so strange...:p
A TEC-9/ AB-10 looking- design, but in a bullpup configuration that uses Sten mags (and manufactured by someone of decent quality)
A reliable pepperbox-style pistol in .357
A Calico-style carbine, but redesigned to have an autoloading .410 slapped on there as well
plus a couple others...

[Nightcrawler]

http://www.turbosquid.com/Previews/Content_on_12_29_2002_10_43_44/vashs_gun_2_2.jpgF15EA74D-6434-4593-B295E4973AD2B51E.jpgLarge.jpg

http://www.turbosquid.com/Previews/Content_on_12_29_2002_10_43_44/vashs_gun_2_3.jpgEFBF4415-5AB6-47DB-A2DCBDAE0616FA9A.jpgLarge.jpg

http://www.turbosquid.com/Previews/Content_on_12_29_2002_10_43_44/vashs_gun_2_4.jpgECBF0505-E0D7-4576-B61D3703684B72B4.jpgLarge.jpg

In original .45 Colt chambering, strong enough to handle a steady diet of Buffalo Bore, Cor-Bon, etc. hunting loads. I'd prefer mine with a shortened 5" barrel, though, and of course, an ambidextrious release lever.

(I know, I know, break-tops can't be done, blah blah blah. If they can make a lightweight, break-action rifle in .45-70 that's strong enough to handle Buffalo Bore barn burner loads, that is, the NEF Handi-Rifle, then they can make a sturdy locking mechanism on a revolver too.)

[Black Snowman]

Watching a little Trigun eh Nightcrawler? :D

[Nightcrawler]

You betcha. I've just got the hots for that revolver.

[Black Snowman]

Not sure how that high hammer strikes the low firing pin. I've always thought a revolver with a low barrel would be good for minimizing muzzle flip and would make a good pin-gun. On a heavy cartridge I think I'd prefer a high barrel so it could roll but something in the .45 Colt power level or below should be great in a heavy, low-barrel target gun.

Rumor (very rumor) has it that before the current Mataba automatic that the Mataba company made a gun like this chambered in 9mm. But I've never found real evidence of it. I'm just itching for this kind of a revolver though. Even if I have to buy a milling machine and make it myself :what:

[Bruce H]

One that I knew would work everytime period.

[kernal_panic]

an ar10 or bar chambered in 8mm mauser

[CleverNickname]

AR flattop with a gas piston upper, chambered in a ~6mm round.

[Futo Inu]

Handguns:

1. CZ 75 BD "Combat", two-tone (not the 85 ambi, but WITH decocker, and with the Combat features), 9x19.

2. HK USP longslide (6") in 10mm.

3. Big double-stack 1911ish/Coonan-ish in 5.7mm Johnson Spitfire, 8" bbl.

Shotguns:

4. One of those new Rem 1100 "Competition" models (the exact features of this model - semi-auto, oversized charging handle, 22" bbl, full-length magazine tube, midway bead, etc.), except at a more affordable price, like a Charles Daly or somesuch economical make, and preferably, will also take 3" in addition to 2.5", unlike the Rem.

Rifles:

5. Bring back the Calico in 9x19mm and .22lr.

6. An AR180B with integral easy-to-mount optics fixtures and match trigger, in both .223 AND in the "6mm Badger Lite" (the "6mm Rem BR Magnum").

7. M1 Carbine in 10mm

[madmike]

A pre-ban AR with 20" 1:9 barrel, flattop with Eotech Holosight, hard chrome bolt and carrier, side-mounted front swivel, Choate hook stock with additional 1" spacer w/ QD swivel attachment, Stowaway grip with the stupid finger groove polished off, rail handguards for accessories, bipod and 25 30-round mags, issue, Thermold and Orlite.

Oh, wait. I have that.

Er, right. 1911A1 .45 Super with integral flared mag well, rounded butt, severely undercut trigger guard, smooth plastic grips and smooth mainspring housing, slight tailed grip safety, commander hammer, extended thumb safety, a nice, crisp, 3 lb trigger, guttersnipe sight, conical barrel, integral laser and spare slide in 10mm.

By the way, can I borrow $2300?

[MagKnightX]

Oh, by the way, if I can also have a handgun in addition to the excelsior rifle, then I'd like two replica 1875 Schofield revolvers, strengthened, with ebony grips inlaid in gold, 7" bbl, in .45LC, though still with fixed sights. Why? CAS Gunfighter Division. Oh, and lapped barrels, precision-aligned cylinder, target crowns, heavier weight, precision-aligned sights, basically a race SASS gun.

And for shotgun? Holland and Holland Royal O/U 12ga, single-trigger, ebony stock with gold inlay, beavertail forend, special engraving, 3" chamber, and Invector Plus choke system; and a Stoeger Coach Gun with SBS tax stamp, pistol-grip, and 10" barrel, in 10ga if possible, or else 12ga.