Fancy hand guns vs. plain ones

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I have to admit. I want it all. I want a pretty gun that is a good shooter. If it wears and it is no longer pretty, I can get another.
 
Spade5 wrote,
I am not taking about engraving and such but I see guns in display cases that are really nice looking. I cannot give you the model but I have seen several Kimbers for example that are multi colored and have really nice looking wood grips.
Some of your question may revolve around how old you are.

If you are fairly young, you've grown up in an era where the "just regular plain models" are usually made with polymer frames. Because of this, most are all black, or maybe a tan frame every now and then. Most come with grips integral to the frame.

Back in the old days, all guns were made with metal frames and nearly all came with "really nice looking wood grips". Those were the plain ones.
 
I've always had a strong preference for unadorned guns. The fanciest one I own is an all blue, Single action army, Colt Sheriff's model with fake Ivories on it. I shoot it regularly.
 
My absolulte favorite semi auto handgun is a Star M30 I bought years ago. It is pretty much lacking in anything closel to being finely finished. Sort of a doggy looking thing. But, what it does do is to shoot accurately and aside from a old German P38, the only SA I've owned that has not had a feed or fire failure. It simply does what it is supposed to all the time.
 
This Clark Custom Colt Compact Meltdown is one of my off duty guns, it was a very plain/ugly working gun when I got it, functionally perfect but a lot of finish wear. I had the slide smoothed, added some checkering, had the whole gun polished and blued, added some stag grips, and, voila, a silk purse from a sow's ear. It's still a working gun and gets carried plenty, it just looks a lot better when it does. Why carry an ugly gun when you don't have to?
I've got other custom guns, fancy and plain, they all get shot regularly.

Before-
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After-
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Not sure I own one that would qualify as "fancy" ie hi end engraving, gold inlay, etc. as that's not to my taste. I think a lightly engraved one could catch my eye and I believe I'd carry and shoot it proudly. Something about a pretty, accurate pistola mask me want it around a lot.
 
Whoa!! We posted about the same time and I missed this.

That's one fine-looking gun wc!! Nice to find a good one and clean it up. Ya done good!
 
I shoot my fancy(ish) guns all the time. Having a plain gun because you think it's a fighting gun is meaningless, and if you aren't seeing them at the range you are just frequenting the wrong ranges. If you've got enough money then buy what you want. I've bought 3 pistols in the last 5 weeks, a Walther PPS for my daughter for her 31st birthday, a Walther PK 380 for my wife because the slide is very easy to operate, and another Witness Elite Match for me just because. The Witness is actually a very nice looking pistol with the hard chrome finish, but the Walthers would never be called pretty, they just happen to be the guns that fit their new owners well.

BHP, a little customized and with Esmerelda grips on it, my main carry gun for many years.

PracticalCocoboloGrips1.jpg

Browning 1971 Renaissance, pretty darn nice factory engraving, as are all the Renaissance models.

1971Browning.jpg

CZ 75, the 30th Ann. model, the grips aren't that nice to me but I really like the gold filled Art Deco engraving and they really did a superb polishing and bluing job on these.

CZ30th01Small.jpg

S&W 1911 SC, not really a fancy gun but much better looking to me than a plain Jane 1911 GI model.

Smith1911SC.jpg

I really wish people would quit trying to pretend they are better because they see guns as a tool, sort of like a shovel that goes bang. Some of us see firearms almost as pieces of art, it's a steel canvas ready to be worked on. There is absolutely nothing better about a plain gun than a fancy gun, it's just plain. My grade 3 and 4 BAR's shoot as good as any rifle has a right to, and the same with my Benelli Montefeltro Silver shotgun with all the engraving.
 
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Fancy or plain, I shoot them all, no safe queens for me. My main criteria is reliable and good value.

As to fancy expensive grips, the amboyna burl grips on my Matchmaster only set me back $75.00 - fancy and beautiful need not be expensive...
 

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Fighting guns if you will.

You get in a lot of fights?

For some reason, people who own fancy hand guns don't seem to shoot them very much, if at all.

Fine, if what you want is a piece of art that all people can do is look at.

Have never known anyone like that - and some of my friends shoot shotguns that are fancy enough and worth over $30,000. They get shot, a lot and used, as do all of mine
 
To me, the guns the OP speaks of are not even close to "fancy" but I think post #29 addressed this well.

"I'd much rather have a few nice guns than a bunch of cheaper ones."
Me too!

Some folks need to live a little. I've never understood the notion that some guns were too sacred to shoot. With rare exception (and I don't mean Ruger flat-top rare but factory engraved Colt from the late 1800's rare), there are no guns I'd own but not shoot. I'm quite the opposite of many, to me the fanciest guns are too expensive NOT to shoot. All mine get shot and if they don't see the light of day, it's unintentional. I don't own a handgun I won't slide into a holster or a long gun I won't hunt with. Probably over 90% of the handguns I own have at least custom grips.

From the custom Ruger (one of four):
IMG_0942b.jpg

The factory engraved USFA/Turnbull .44Spl (one of four):
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To the engraved Open Top .44Colt:
IMG_2324b.jpg

To the hand-built .54cal flintlock:
IMG_2489b.jpg


.....and the $4000 Merkel 28ga that I don't have a picture of. They all get used and I'm working on a new holster for the Open Top as we speak.
 
This is certainly not true with my group of fellow shooters.
A number of us have what may be considered "fancy" handguns; but we shoot the snot out of them.

Have never known anyone like that - and some of my friends shoot shotguns that are fancy enough and worth over $30,000. They get shot, a lot and used, as do all of mine

That's good to hear!

Like I said...if I own it, I'm-a-gonna shoot it!

I suppose if I bought one specifically as a collector's item, I MIGHT not shoot it. But I wouldn't bet on it.

:)
 
Very glad we have a site such as this to see all the great looking guns. I simply find beauty in utility, no disrespect for pretty guns and no self-elevation for not owning any.
 
Interesting thread and beautiful guns shown. Made me think of the engraved swords I have seen in museums, I wonder if this question was asked in the 1600's.

I own nothing to compare to some of the fancy firearms here. I do hunt with my best, even if I could take a similar but not as high quality firearm. I am slowly increasing the quality of my gun cabinet and keep most of the earlier and cheaper. But I dearly love to hunt, and only get to do so about 1 week per year. And I will only live once. So this year I will use a 1905 Winchester rifle, early Browning Sweet 16 shotgun and a Colt revolver from 1916.
 
Engraved swords? I'd say more than a few used fancy swords 1300 years ago. National Geographic did a story on the Staffordshire Gold Hoard a couple of years ago.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/11/gold-hoard/alexander-text

A man with a metal detector found a crushed mass of "3500 pieces representing hundreds of objects", including...

"more than 300 sword-hilt fittings, 92 sword-pommel caps, and 10 scabbard pendants. Also noteworthy: There were no coins or women's jewelry. Intriguingly, many of the items seemed to have been bent or broken."

www.staffordshirehoard.org.uk/
 
I picked up a S&W 29-10, 4" barrel and unfluted cylinder, Lew Horton Special with gold plated hammer, trigger and ejector rod and cylinder release.
I got it second hand but complete with box and everything that came in it at a very good price. I don't own a museum, so I bought it as a shooter.
I carry it because I shoot it well and can conceal it. The new Federal Premium Defense ammo with the 225-gr Barnes Expander bullet does not overpenetrate the way most other loads do, and it doesn't kick as hard due to moderate velocity.
So, it's purdy, but, of course, no one sees it when I carry it.
 
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