What is the most famous individual handgun?

Patton's single action army

Another vote for John Wilkes Booth's Deringer.

Sirhan Sirhan's Iver-Johnson .22 Cadet revolver.

I think if you put all the pistols mentioned side by side in a lineup, Dirty Harry's gun would be the most recognized by the average person in this country. Even then, they might have to be over 40 to actually remember it. They would say, "cowboy gun" for any single action, and "Army gun" for the 1911 and/or Beretta. Other than that, they would probably just shrug.

If the criteria are:
1) individual handgun, not model,
2) real world, not fiction, and
3) famous among the general populace, not just among gun fans,

I would say General Patton's ivory handled* SAA, followed by Booth's Deringer. Most people may have heard of Hitler's pistol, but not many would know the make or model.

Best known handgun model, I would say the Luger, followed by the "cowboy gun" and the "Army .45", the Models 1911 and 1911A1. In Britain, "the Webley", of whatever model, is often the only recognized hsndgun name.

*Usually called "pearl-handled" in spite of what Patton reportedly said.

Jiim

No one has mentioned Sgt Alvin York's 1911?

You'd have to explain who Alvin York was to many. They might think he was a chipmunk.

The Browning .32acp pistol used by Gavilo Princip to assassinate Archduke Franz Fedinand and spark WW1.

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Though I'm certain it is probably not the most well known, nontheless this individual firearm is probably one of the most important in history. That, or Timothy Murphy's Kentucky Long Rifle he used at Saratoga to take down General Simon Fraser.

The sad part is I have several firearms from the Call of Duty series, but my stepson would rather play the video game rather than learn some skills in reality with the real weapon.

Callahan's M29 comes to mind, Quigley's Sharps is another rifle I'd love to own, after I collect the all the casting equipment to reload for it.

I hate to break the news, but Princip didn't use a .32 Browning (usually said to be a Model 1900). He used a Browning Model 1910 in 9mm Short (.380 ACP), serial number 19074, one of four bought by the Serbian secret police in Belgrade from a commercial gun dealer.

Since no one here got the model right, I doubt the general public would know.

Jim

Any and all of the 1,000 produced Walker Colts. Brought back Sam Colt's business, lead to the eventual conquering of the American west, and a whole slew of very nice single action and double action revolvers, and semi-automatics. Thank you Capt. Samuel Walker, Sam Colt, and John Moses Browning!!

Ooops: Right guy, wrong pistol. But ... you get the idea.

Samuel Colt's 1877 "COLT Lightning"~! This one gets my vote~!


Second Place- Jack Ruby's .38 Special Colt Cobra, used in the Lee Harvey
Oswald killing in 1963~!

Third Place- J. Ed's "Registered Magnum" S&W with S/N #1.

This isn't the most famous handgun, but I think this one sold for the most money of any handgun on record.

Colt-Serial #1

It was not noteworthy at all at the time of manufacture. It was sold to the US Army and was found to be in possession of an army officer's widow in the 1920's.

Notice on the butt and forward of the trigger guard.

Sam Colt himself had nothing to do with the Model 1877; he had been dead for years when it came out.

Jim

Changing my vote to Jack Ruby's Colt Cobra

http://www.guernseys.com/auctions/pu...ibitedlots.pdf

I am talking individual pieces not models.

My next votes would be:

General Loan's S&W Model 40
Genral Patton's Registered Magnum

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So you say "Individual pieces not models."

Then go right ahead & name the Colt Cobra, M40 & Registered Magnum.

Not really a contest anyway. Any Joe Schmoe on the street can tell ya that Inspector Calahan carried a .44 Magnum. "The most powerful handgun in the world."

And who the heck is Gen. Loan?

The ARVN (Army of So. Viet Nam) general who executed a rebel/VC in the head, in broad daylight in Saigon, with a S&W Bodyguard during the VN war. Very famous photo.

Fishslayer, you must not have been around during the Vietnam war. General Loan executing the VC assassin was the picture that probably changed the political and popular tone of the entire VN conflict.

Here is the picture again:


General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan was the chief of police for the Republic of Vietnam. He's the fellow pointing the S&W at the head of Nguyễn Văn Lém, the man in flannel, a VietCong assassin whose gang had murdered a number of General Loan's policemen and their wives and children in a ditch just hours earlier. From Wikipedia:

"South Vietnamese sources state that Lém commanded a Viet Cong death squad, which on that day had murdered South Vietnamese National Police officers, or in their stead, the police officers' families; these sources said that Lém was captured near the site of a ditch holding as many as thirty-four bound and shot bodies of police and their relatives, some of whom were the families of General Nguyễn's deputy and close friend, and six of whom were Nguyễn's godchildren."

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The picture went on to be published worldwide and without context; not knowing what was actually behind the execution many condemned the shooting. The photographer later went on to regret taking the photo.

There was video taken of the execution and if you look on the web you can find it- but I warn you that head wounds are very bloody.

OK, here's another one: Budd Dwyer's .357 S&W that he used to commit suicide on live TV.


Again, the video can be found if you want to look for it, but again, head wounds are very bloody.

The notorious Charter Arms Bulldog .44 Special revolver used by son of sam serial murderer David Berkowitz.

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Come you guys, he says it in the movie:




"This is a .44 magnum and will blow your head clean off....."




A ton of those other names, York, Berkowitz, Dwyer, and others......sadly many of today's youth have no clue who there are....they also don't know where the US is on the map. When it comes to Boothes derringer, most everyone knows he was killed with a pistol, I'd bet 80% don't know it was a derringer or what a derringer even is.



And James Bond never said, "Walter PPK" in a big way in his movies. When Dirty Harry came out sales of Model 29's skyrocketed I believe.

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Fishslayer, you must not have been around during the Vietnam war. General Loan executing the VC assassin was the picture that probably changed the political and popular tone of the entire VN conflict.

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Ahh! OK. I know the picture & now I have a name for the face. I joined the Navy in '73 so I just caught the tail end. Never had to go there.

And no, I wasn't aware of the whole story behind the picture.

After the war, Gen Loan supposedly ran a restaurant in Washington DC.