Still Trending Away from Target Handguns

We have trends in handguns that change like the wind. Simply because one type of handgun is on stage does not mean all others have disappeared.
The single actions were all the rage during the "Cowboy" trend in the past few years. During the big game hunting seasons the heavy magnum revolvers are still extremely popular.
Once the concealed carry market slows down who knows? The people who make and sell handguns will set new rabbit traps to grab our dollars.

Are they selling less of them or are they just a smaller portion of the overall market? I notice Ruger has a Mark 4 coming out. I would also point out that a six inch barrel with the exception of a magnum was more about a long sighting plane and its likely a target gun today would have an optic on it.

As long as there are handgun hunters and those that target shoot with handguns there will be adjustable sighted handguns with pipes longer than 3 inches. In the last decade, the second fastest growing handgun trend has been in the hunting revolver market as more folks take up the sport, especially in shotgun only states for deer, where handgun caliber cartridges are now legal. All of those hunting specific handguns have adjustable sights and longer pipes. In the case of 1911s, there are more models available now with adjustable sights than ever before. What many folks see is advertising. They look in a gun rag and see SD/HD handguns being advertised in full page ads. They go to Goose Hill and see a case dedicated solely to SD/HD handguns and think that's all there is. This is not true. While SD/HD compact type handguns have become the rage lately, hunting and target type handguns are not gone. Go to S&Ws Performance Center web Page and you'll see about as many long piped adjustable sighted handguns as you see snub nosed fixed sighted ones.

The trend ain't going away at my house. The last new offering I bought was a 7" 686 seven shooter a couple of years ago. It is one of my favorite guns.

I see conceal/carry handguns, AR15's and sniper type rifles being shot most of the year.

The hunting type firearms start to appear around November.

I dont remember the last time i seen a 8 3/8" S&W, except mine.

bluetopper said:

The trend it seems for the last, say, twenty years anyway has been to conceal/carry handguns, and drastically so within the last ten years.

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In the free(er) West, short of the left coast, not so much.

bluetopper said:

I assume they were sold to hunters, target shooters, and pleasure shooters in general.

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Manufacturers are going to make and promote whatever they can hype and sell. Dirty Harry sold 44's, Deathwish sold Wildey's, Various movies sold DE's. Pres#44 sold just about everything, especially hi-cap and concealable. There are target oriented handguns available, but they aren't as popular as they used to be. Part of the reason there aren't as many hunters, target shooters, or pleasure shooters at the moment. So you have to ask - What sort of firearm related things are teenagers involved with? It's not silhouette. It's not bullseye. If it were those, you'd see more target handguns. If you've spent time in a big-box outdoor store, you won't be there long before you hear a couple of younger guys window shopping. What do they say? - Whoa, that's the gun from... (enter video game). Video games are usually the biggest exposure to firearms culture for young people. Tactical games produce excitement over tactical firearms. Couple that with a past general fear of "better buy it before they ban it," and you get a trend toward all things black and polymer.

If young people get involved in shooting sports that involve target handguns, you will see more of them. That is why it is important to teach younger people about firearm responsibility. Because we all know that a game like Silhouette Simulator 2017 would never sell

Id say the Glock MOS, S&W core, and Sigs with the Romeo sights are primarily target guns but with a different game in mind than NRA bullseye.

I think in 10 years all duty pistols will have optics but until then RMR
Type guns are for IPSC and USPSA

When law enforcement entities transitioned away from revolvers to semiautomatic pistols the citizen market trend followed except for specialized revolvers used in hunting. I have S&W J-K&N frame revolvers which are seldom shot. I was never that interested in Colt, Ruger and or Dan Wesson revolvers. Most of my revolvers are 4in barrel length but I did have K38 and K22 with 6in barrel lengths. The last S&W revolver acquired was before the ILS which was the final straw.

Someone ought to tell the Anaconda and Python sellers...

I'll bet out of 50 of my friends less than 5 carry revolvers...at all...of any length.

In earlier times, target shooting was seen as a wholesome family activity. That activity required appropriate firearms, like my S&W 25-2, Giles .38 Special M1911, and High Standard Citation.

While the anti-gun cult has managed to somewhat constrict the "target" gun market, the self-defense market is booming, driven by publicized crimes and the realization that police don't protect individuals.

Even "sport" shooting has been nudged in the direction of self-defense oriented activities like IDPA.

After eight years of Trump, that could very well change.

I could not disagree more, there are MORE target pistols out than ever before. Just because the market is flooded with CCW type pistols does not mean target pistols are less prevalent. All guns types are more prevalent than they used to be.

One of my favorite shooting disciplines has been Bullseye competition. One result of this interest is that, over the years, I have become acquainted with some of the finest handguns ever made in America, including Colt Officer Special/Match rf/cf target revolvers; Smith & Wesson K and N frame, rf/cf target revolvers; the Colt Gold Cup National Match 1911, cf auto; the Smith & Wesson Model 52 and 952 cf autos and the many .22 rf semi-auto target pistols made by Colt, Ruger, Smith & Wesson, High Standard and Browning.

But there are many other venues that several different kinds of handguns will always be relevant to and that aren't subject to "trends" that the op posited, including self-defense (concealed carry and otherwise), police and military formats, cowboy action, hunting, "plinking", informal target shooting, "camp" gun and the various combat/tactical disciplines. So, my answer to the op's query is that there are way too many different reasons to have one type of handgun or another to ever see any "trend" negating the relevancy for any one type or another.

I think it has to do with where you live. Things have not changed that much on the High Plains. Gun ownership is not based on political trends. Revolvers and semi-auto pistols are both in demand. Due to long months of snow covered range we shoot revolvers in the Winter months. We hate losing that brass

There has been some success with Springfield RO 5 inch models. Enough to pull Colt on the bandwagon with their new Competition model.

Deanimator said:

In earlier times, target shooting was seen as a wholesome family activity. That activity required appropriate firearms, like my S&W 25-2, Giles .38 Special M1911, and High Standard Citation.

While the anti-gun cult has managed to somewhat constrict the "target" gun market, the self-defense market is booming, driven by publicized crimes and the realization that police don't protect individuals.

Even "sport" shooting has been nudged in the direction of self-defense oriented activities like IDPA.

After eight years of Trump, that could very well change.

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I hope the market will evolve with the new political atmosphere, and I think it will. I've looked at guns a few times recently, and there seems to be several themes floating around:

• get one while you can; this applies to the AR/AKs, and especially the pistol versions
• compact and subcompact; focusing on the CCW movement
• 1911's of course, which seems a bit nostalgic for some, and for target shooting sports for others (making race guns)

I like fullsize DA/SA metal duty pistols, and you don't see a lot of them anymore. The CCW salesmen frown and say you can't conceal them. The tactical crowd disapproves of the cartridge not being hot enough. The polymer striker crowd says they're too heavy and the trigger isn't consistent, and they have that horrible safety somewhere. The 1911 crowd says... they aren't 1911s.
But in my opinion, they are the most comfortable shooters to plink with, there's a lot of craft in their making, they usually have some amount of historical significance to the different models, and they will do the true job they are intended for, if ever the need arises.
BTW, duty guns don't need optics. They are designed and intended to work without a lot of sighting effort; they combine with proper stance to hit where you point, at the range you would employ them.