Do you feel more sentimental towards metal guns?

I get it.

The metal ones feel more substantial, and not just in a material sense. Like they carry history, past and future, better. However tough a polystriker (and I have a few) may prove to be, they just feel ephemeral.

 

Just due to to historical circumstances, the ones I've owned a long time and feel sentimental about are metal.

The plastic ones weren't invented yet.

 

I think that I romanticized metal and wood for a long time and for a number of reasons, aesthetic and emotional. Maybe it was the craftsmanship, maybe the subconscious associations I made about what I thought those guns represented. But guns have as much soul as spoons. Any sentimentality that I have now is related to how long I've owned it, where it came from, or how it shoots.

 

Although not sentimental I am partial to metal guns. I'll pick a nicely blued gun with a nice walnut stock/grips over a polymer gun every time. I really don't even understand why someone would chose a polymer gun with a DA trigger over a nicely blued revolver over a metal gun with a single action trigger. I can understand composite stocks for hunting guns exposed to the weather but I have some nice blued steel and walnut rifles that have spent many days outdoors in the rain and are no worse for wear.

 

I can get a little sentimental over guns that have been in the family from previous generations, or some I've used for a long time. I have some shotguns that belonged to my father, grandfather and great grandfather. Bu no handguns. Obviously, those guns are blue and walnut. And I have some lever guns and an 870 with wood stocks. But all of the go-to guns that I've purchased use plastic either for stocks on long guns or frames on handguns. I don't own a single metal framed handgun anymore. Don't want one for the same reason I don't want a wooden boat anymore.

 

Handguns are tools be they plastic or metal.

 

Yes.

I am more sentimental about blue steel and walnut handguns than black plastic. Mine aren't just tools, some are veritable pieces of fine craftsmanship and maybe even fall into the realm of art. And the family experiences and memories associated with some cannot be pooh-poohed as "they're only tools."

Same as I'll keep the Shimano Stella reel and sell a Zebco 33 at a garage sale.

 

I understand. There's a sense of permanence in steel guns and a hint of nerf gun to polymer. With that said, there are steel guns that I consider complete throw aways that don't compare to the cheapest polymer guns ever made. I'd like to say that I'm not sentimental about firearms but that's not entirely true. The 3 pistols that get carried are polymer framed and they are 100% business, I don't care if they get scratched , I don't care if they end up in an evidence locker forever (assuming I can get another just the same), there is no attachment . if someone were to tell me my freedom arms revolver is to be destroyed but I'll get another, I'd be sad to see such a wonderful piece of hardware ruined- regardless if I'll get a replacement or not. Same with a couple rifles I own, I'd never want them out of my care because they're special to me. Plastic most often has no "soul" , there are exceptions but they're rare. My g30 is an exception just because that guns gone everywhere with me since 2012 and it's been a utterly reliable and perfect weapon for me. I could easily grab another g30 if I needed to but mine is an old friend of trust before pretty much any other , I don't have that relationship with many other guns.

 

I have a very solid well made stainless steel cooking spoon I am quite fond of and a spatula to match. Both have nice hardwood handles. I have cooked many delicious meals with them and my cast iron pans and dutch ovens. These all have soul.

On the other hand their cheap less capable and ugly plastic and teflon counterparts that have been replaced many a time due to wear, meltage or breakage never really speak to me like the others do. Guns are the same way, though I have never melted one.

 

Not sure sentimental is the word but attachment to, yes.

3C

 

I only have two plastic guns, a Sig P365 and a third generation Glock 17. Every thing else in the gun safe is steel, aluminum and wood. The plastic guns will never have any real staying power. They are just tools.

 

Beautiful, isn't she? An engineering marvel, simple and reliable. And with care and proper maintenance, my kids will be able to shoot and enjoy it long after I'm gone while bemoaning the soulless modern guns that their peers like. Kind of like a S&W M10 38sp was back in the 60's and 70's.

 

I've never had a moment's regret about selling any of the polymer guns I've had. I sure can't say the same for a lot of the metal ones.

 

I’d say yes. While I recognize the utility of modern, polymer firearms, I still like the feel and aesthetic of steel and wood type firearms.

 

Lol no, I have a Glock 19. I bought it for function.

A “beauty” glocks are not. Even 5 beers won’t make them so.

 

Definition of mettle
1a: vigor and strength of spirit or temperament (see TEMPERAMENT sense 1a)
b: staying quality : STAMINA
equipment that proved its mettle
proved his mettle in battle
2: quality of temperament or disposition
gentlemen of brave mettle— William Shakespeare

 

Not gonna lie lol…when I was like 12 I saw an OD Glock with a silver slide at a pawnshop and I thought it was the coolest looking gun I’d ever seen at the time. I’m 29 in a month though so it’s been while but I still want one like that eventually. In all fairness though, polymer guns are a lot more common these days…even compared to just the mid 2000’s. It probably wouldn’t stand out in the case the same way as it did back then.

 

Don't get me wrong, I think Glocks are good guns. For some reason I like the way the baby Glocks look.

 

"Do you feel more sentimental towards metal guns?"
I'd say Yes. There is an inherent quality about their construction that isn't in molded plastic. The question on hand isn't whether or not polymer guns work better or worse than metal.

Asking this question in a reverse way (and I'm genuinely curious), are there any older or discontinued polymer guns that are considered classic and collectable?

 

Oops, I should have known the spelling was off.

 

I prefer real steel firearms with wooden stocks or grips.
I own exactly one synthetic stocked rifle for hunting in bad weather and one plastic S&W M&P40 that I bought to test the .40S&W cartridge and when choosing which firearm to get the plastic M&P seemed a good option. It has proven to be reliable, accurate and all in all, a fine firearm. Having said that...I have absolutely no interest in acquiring another plastic handgun. Likewise, despite using my synthetic stocked Savage 7mmMagnum rifle in poor weather conditions for over 20 years, I have no interest in acquiring another synthetic stocked rifle despite the Savages' propensity to punch sub one inch groups at 100yds with Winchester Supreme Ballistic Tip factory ammunition.
I have bought several rifles since acquiring the Savage and every one has been blued steel and wood stocked with most of them being Sako rifles.

To complete my thoughts on plastic handguns, I typically buy several handguns every year and they are always steel whether semi automatics (1911s)or revolvers (which are generally Ruger BlackHawks, N frame S&W, Dan Wessons and SAA clones from Uberti and Pietta).
Plastic guns just don't elicit the pride of ownership that steel firearms do at least for me. I do notice when interacting with other shooters at the gun clubs, that they are always interested in the steel revolvers my son and I are shooting and never the polymer handguns that he and I have. I get constant requests to shoot my Dan Wessons, Virginian Dragoons, Schofield or Remington 1875 revolvers but nobody has ever asked to shoot my M&P.

 

I knew what you meant anyway.