Handguns that didn't stick around

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If this topic were posted few years from now I wonder if the Chiappa Rhino would make the list...?
I actually like the idea of a revolver that shoots from the bottom for a more even recoil push but let's face it none of us average Joe's and Jane's are gonna pay what they're asking.
 
FEG pistols
Mauser marked Hi-powers (actually FEG's)
The big CZ-97 in .45
IMI's Jericho 941-- a CZ clone made from mostly Italian parts (Tanfoglio' Witness series) and branded as home grown
sold later as Magnum Research "Baby Eagle" when actually made in Israel.
Safari Arms custom 45's (finger grooves in the steel, wicked looking but heavy)
Mitchell Arms stainless Lugers
AMT's full line from the .380 to .45 Win mag and 30 carbine
Wildey .45 Winmag autoloaders
Astra pistols like the Constanble
Brolin Arms 1911's
Browning's BDM
LAR Grizzly

(I have a few old Shooter's Bibles and Gun Digests from the late 90's laying nearby)
Actually had a friend that had a Lar grizzly he would occasionally shoot til someone eventually bought it. (his family owned pawn shop)
Talk about serious recoil. This coming from a guy who enjoys the pop of .40
 
Rhino -
I like the concept too ... but I can't get past the looks of the darned thing. I have only seen one in personal ownership ; don't think that they are flying off the shelves.

Handgun that didn't stick around : the Rossi Cyclops. Heavy lugged 357 , looked for one for a while - extinct I think.
 
I actually like the idea of a revolver that shoots from the bottom for a more even recoil push but let's face it none of us average Joe's and Jane's are gonna pay what they're asking.
Oh yeah? Guess I missed the memo.
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Also mentioned somewhere above, the AMT Automag III (.30 Carbine) and IAI Javelina (7" 10mm 1911)
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Though introduced in the mid-1980s, the COP .357 was produced into 1990. It was a four-barreled derringer-type with a striker that rotated from barrel to barrel with each pull of the trigger.
 
Resources to check:
-Ian from Forgotten Weapons on Youtube
-Tim from Military Arms Channel on Youtube also has some cool retro guns

-Gun buyers guides and Gun Bibles from specific years will list different various models sold by manufacturers. You could use the process of elimination going through the old catalogs. I did when I was a kid in the 90's and wish I still held on to them for vintage nostalgia reasons.

There's a couple of other sites that I can't remember off the top of my head that have some decent info on military sidearms and it looked like it was complied in the 90's.

Here's another website (russian): http://modernfirearms.net/ru/pistolety-i-revolvery/

List of handguns off the top of my head:
Smith 3rd gens
Ruger P-series
Colt 2000 all american
Star/Astra brands
Daewoos (now imported as lionheart)

Don't knock the Astra. I have a .380 Constable that I have had for 40 years. ;)
 
Did they take a sudden jump in price?

I thought they were very competitively priced in the $700 range
Yeah, you can get the 2 inch version for about that. The 5 and 6 inch version are closer to $1000. And I think the 4 incher is about $850-900.
 
Wow, this brings back memories. I'm probably just a few years older than you, so much of this stuff was coming out just as I was old enough to start buying handguns myself. This was an interesting time because it during the federal AWB period, but also in the same period many states were passing new laws changing from may issue to shall issue carry permits. So, lots of new carry permits were being issued, but there was still a 10 round magazine capacity. As a result, the trend was to smaller, lighter carry guns; or to larger calibers in mid and full size guns.

Alongside the big caliber full size / smaller caliber subcompacts new gun development, there was huge demand for Glocks, 3rd Gen S&Ws, Beretta 92s, SIG P226s, and anything else that had decent availability of pre-ban mags over 10 rounds.

The 1911 was in resurgence on the bigger caliber side. This was when Kimber really established themselves, and when they were arguably making their best pistols. Springfield Armory was making their V-xx ported barrel pistols. The Glock 26 and 27 were a big deal then. Seecamp pistols and the similar NAA models were popular. Even with the private citizen 10 round mag restriction everyone was still trying desperately to catch up with Glock on service pistols. This was the time period when the Steyr M9/M40, S&W Sigma, Walther P99 / SW99, and HS2000 (now Springfield Armory XD) entered the market. I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting, but hopefully those models will jog someone else's memory. Surplus Russian and Bulgarian Makarov pistols were very popular then too.

On the revolver side S&W and Taurus were in a race to build the smallest lightest 5 shot .38s and .357s. Titanium and Scandium were the rage. Taurus had a wide variety of brightly anodized colors of Ti frames. IIRC, this also the period when the Raging Bull was first released, which was a big deal since it was the first DA revolver in .454 Casull. IIRC, surplus Nagant revolvers started hitting the market in the early 2000s as the supply of surplus Makarovs started drying up. The early 2000s also saw a big release of used S&W model 10s and similar service revolvers onto the used market as corrections departments and security companies finally followed LE and started switching over to semi-autos en masse.

Again, I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch of stuff, but hopefully what I've posted will jog some other memories.
Kimber's were really reasonably priced those days.
 
The Heritage Stealth pistol is one I had completely forgotten until lately. It has the trigger of the Glock and the gas-delayed breech of the H&K P7.

And the Alchemy Arms Spectre pistol came and went with hardly a ripple:

http://guns.wikia.com/wiki/Alchemy_Arms_Spectre

I saw one in a gun store about 5 years ago, but they came out well before that. There used to be a long article on the internet by an engineer who tried to help Alchemy Arms get the gun working. No idea if it's still up.

Oh, and the Cobray Pocket Pal, which was somebody's bright idea of trying to turn the old Mossberg Brownie into a revolver, and a convertible 22/380ACP revolver at that.
 
The Heritage Stealth pistol is one I had completely forgotten until lately. It has the trigger of the Glock and the gas-delayed breech of the H&K P7.

And the Alchemy Arms Spectre pistol came and went with hardly a ripple:

http://guns.wikia.com/wiki/Alchemy_Arms_Spectre

I saw one in a gun store about 5 years ago, but they came out well before that. There used to be a long article on the internet by an engineer who tried to help Alchemy Arms get the gun working. No idea if it's still up.

Oh, and the Cobray Pocket Pal, which was somebody's bright idea of trying to turn the old Mossberg Brownie into a revolver, and a convertible 22/380ACP revolver at that.
Hey! A Glock-teen-11! Something for everyone to hate!
 
Havok7416, If I recall the article about the AA Spectre that I mentioned, that was exactly the design principle involved, except of course they thought it would give everybody something to love. Also, they had previously made aircraft parts, so they used aluminum for the frame instead of steel or plastic (excuse me, "polymer").
 
The Heritage Stealth pistol is one I had completely forgotten until lately. It has the trigger of the Glock and the gas-delayed breech of the H&K P7.
I have one of those in the garage somewhere...got it during a clearance sale in Shotgun News. They were designed by South African Alex Du Plessis, produced by Tanfoglio, and imported by Heritage.

After they were discontinued by Heritage, they were imported by Wilson Combat for a while as the ADP
 
There are a number of hi cap magazine pistols like the Intratec Tec 9, The Sites Spectre, Kimmel AP that were dropped from sale by the AWB of 1994.

Laseraim had a line of pistols based on the 1911 but with bits of BHP and CZ75 thrown in. They sold out to AMT in the late 90's.
 
Another short-lived gun on the US market was the American Arms Escort 380 automatic:

http://www.akfiles.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3036281

It was a DAO 380 made mostly of stainless steel castings, with a very ingenious takedown, involving the thing that looks like a second trigger behind the real trigger.

I have one, and it is surprisingly pleasant to shoot, accurate and reliable in feeding. But the trigger spring on mine broke, which seems to be a common failing for them. I was only able to replace it because a friend of mine has significant gunsmithing skills. Also, the grips were made out of some kind of plastic that has gone very bad with age, and crumble at a touch. I need to find someone who can make replacements out of wood or something else durable.

If I understand correctly, the guns were made in Italy but failed to sell in Europe, and AA worked out some kind of arrangement by which the remainder could nominally be "manufactured" in the United States. I think total production was about 6,000, but I don't know if that is the grand total, or just the US guns, and I have no documentation. It also seems to me that the European name was the SITES "Resolver" (sic).
 
I got to shoot a squeeze cocker, it was a very technologically advanced pistol. It had a gas delay blow back system, gas pressure kept the slide in battery, once the gas pressure dropped, the slide opened up. You can see pictures of the gas system here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heckler_&_Koch_P7 Very interesting locking system.
But, it had a problem. You were supposed to squeeze the grip than pull the trigger. The forward grip was a safety, or supposed to be a safety. However, if you were confused, you pulled the trigger, nothing happened. If you pulled the trigger and then squeezed the grip, it fired. I am certain an number of accidental discharges happened because someone pulled the trigger, realized that they did something wrong, and without releasing the trigger, squeezed the grip.

I got to handle the Colt 2000 back in the day. It was way too early for that type of gun, it was a DAO pistol, in an era when everything had a hammer. When I played with it, I thought, what a horrible trigger, no one will want it. Well fast forward 20 years, and semi auto's with hammers are being phased out in preference to DAO types.

Anyone remember the Randall M1911? The History of the Randall : https://www.sightm1911.com/lib/history/randall_history.htm When it arrived, you would have thought, based on the print press writers, that the Second Coming of Christ had happened. I guess I am now living the Tribulation: Randall only lasted two years. The only ones I have seen were at gun shows. And they were over priced.

That and the Bren Ten. Never seen one of them, but if I had a box of magazines, I would have been a very rich man. they were going for $200.00 each, the object lesson is, don't buy a semi auto that does not have its own magazine. The company shipped pistols without magazines and then went broke. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bren_Ten Interestingly, I found an 2016 ebay auction where an original magazine went for $55.00 https://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-N...10-Round-Magazine-10mm-LAST-FEW-/122097925399 I guess the excitement generated by the the character Sonny Crockett carrying a Bren Ten, in the TV show Miami Vice, has sort of fizzed away.
 
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Smith and Wesson Sigma SW380. The factory supposedly gave them a 2500 round expected life. Considered by most as a piece of crap and a huge mistake by S&W.
 
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