Handguns That Will Stand The Test Of Time?

[Phaedrus/69]

What new and current models do you feel will be still offered in the future???

Anything currently being introduced as truly new however - I feel the vast majority if not all new models are the product of ballistic paper-doll motivations and given the changing whims driving them, speaks to realitviely short lives.

Manufacturers no longer have to make the epic commitment to *tool-up* for most modern guns and therefore their own investment in their longevity is waning rapidly.

I think Todd is pretty close to the mark. In the past we had distinct handgun models; the 1911, the BHP, the Colt Trooper, etc. I think in the future it will be more product lines with "model years" like cars, speakers or phones. Whether by design or just luck Glock has been on this train for years with gen after gen of "perfection". Madison Avenue has convinced consumers that the only viable path to satisfaction is to have the latest and greatest. You have an iPhone two gens old? How gauche! How tacky! Are you a poor? With the bulk of the firearm being molded polymer it's pretty easy to make changes, especially with the lower grade of plastics used in most pistols now and the lack of expectation that you'll still be using it in five or ten years. The heart of the gun, provided they're still steel and constructed as we do presently, will maybe stay pretty much the same from gen to gen to manage costs. Even now you can buy custom frames in different shapes, sizes and colors to drop "the gun" or subframe into. This will probably become more popular as time goes by.

So no, outside of the shrinking Fudd Gun World we'll probably see model lines (eg Camaro or Corvette) with model years or manufacturing generations. It seems unlikely that the bigger companies will continue to make the exact same model, unchanged from year to year for decades at a time. People will be chasing the new and guns will become systems/platforms to conform with current fashion trends. This will be especially true for the Tactical Man-bun Squad that seems to drive the industry now.

 

[shafter]

In the handgun world Glock, Ruger, and Smith and Wesson are going strong and will likely continue for decades to come provided legislature or poor business practices ruin them down the road.

 

[PzGren]

CZ75 clones.

 

[Rodfac]

Handguns that HAVE stood the test of time, (and will continue to do so):
S&W Models 27, 19 & 66
Colt (et. al.) 1911
Browning Hi Power
Ruger Single Actions: Single Six, Blackhawk
Colt Single Action Army

Given one choice, and one choice only...Smith Model 66

YMMv Rod

 

[PapaG]

Single Action Army style, 1911, J, K, L Frame, Colt Python, original Dick Spl, and the plastic fantastic G19, Ruger auto. I can do with two of them.

 

[Zendude]

The Beretta 92 / M9 will have a following if for no reason other than so many carried one in the military.

 

[WisBorn]

First of all I would like to thank everyone for their responses.
The time tested options like 1911, SAA, & so on will live on. Some newer options like Glock 17/19 have enough following that they also will live on as will the others listed above.

The question I have is about the hot new offers like the P365 & Hellcat? Will they be replaced??? XDS is a great choice, but would you go Hellcat???

Just a thought...

 

[Ric]

The ones that already have stood the test of time
1911, Hi Power, double action wheelguns with a side swinging cylinder, snubbies of all types, big bore hunting revolvers, Glocks of all stripes

 

[TTv2]

Whatever was used in the military or was so well known during the early days of police semi autos like S&W 59xx series, Glock, maybe Ruger P series.

There's also whatever was famous in movies, I mean, the damn Wildey Magnum is still around because of Death Wish 3 and that movie is 35 years old. Video games will probably have an impact, I remember when I'd play SOCOM Navy SEALs on PS2 20 years ago and it had the Desert Eagle and FN Five-Seven in it. Then Battlefield 1 came out a few years ago and everyone was all into the C96 and the Kolibri, so yeah, video games will have a huge impact.

30 years from now nobody is going to give a crap about the Beretta APX or Kel Tec PF9 or Sig 365.

 

[Demi-human]

Who here hasn’t grown up with Arnold and a Desert Eagle in a movie on the weekend?

I know mine will outlive me by a wide margin, but will the future need the awesomeness of the Screaming Freedom Eagle?

Yes! Obviously, duh.

The future will be in need of big rednecks conking themselves on the skull with a giant fifty caliber revolver too!

The only way to ensure that future generations get to experience all that our awesomeness has to offer today, is to buy up, use up and wear out, all the coolest thing we have. Thereby cementing the manufacturing and supplies chain as well as the cultural tradition.

So, yes, if you don’t go out and buy an Eagle, a BHP, a 1911 or a 500 Smith right now, you are contributing to the down fall of our future’s enjoyment of classic firearms!

Don’t be mediocre, be great! Buy guns!
(Even in the desert sun a Glock has three hundred years of just setting there before it’s pieces. Don’t let the plastic fool you, they are fantastic…
Yuck, did I just say that about a Glock…?)

 

[JCooperfan1911]

Do I even need to say it?

 

[crestoncowboy]

It seems unlikely that the bigger companies will continue to make the exact same model, unchanged from year to year for decades at a time.

Many of the "great unchanged" firearms aren't so unchanged if you go to work on them.....

Just an example is the sig 220. People who say its been unchanged have never had to order parts or fix one.

There is more parts commonality in gen 1-gen 3 Glock than the 220 or most of the "unchanged" guns .

 

[JCooperfan1911]

The 220 is discontinued. At least the basic service variant, Nitron.

 

[GEM]

1. Some kind of SAA revolver
2. A 38/57 Double Action revolver - the Rugers and SW
3. 1911s
4. Glocks and a myraid of derivative, polymer strikes.

 

[joneb]

This baby is timeless!

Only if you have a time machine.

 

[jmorris]

Any design that’s already 100 years old and still being made, is a pretty good indicator.

Think about that for a second, the single action, double action revolvers, 1911’s, and others have been around for 100 years and are not that much different than they were back then.

People were already shooting S&W 38 specials when the Wright brothers flew for the first time, for 120 feet. 44 years later the first super sonic flight occurred. Just 14 years after that the first human went into outer space, the same revolvers were still being made. Fast forward another 60 years with all the other developments with everything else and they are still in production.

Look at other products that are said to have had “long life” in the age of mechanical developments, like the Ford Model T, 19 years and it was done.

 

[ontarget]

Well, after "the squad" succeeds in banning oil production all of the plastic guns will be a thing of the past. That leaves us with what are already known as classics. 1911s, BHPs, etc, and revolvers. And I'm just fine with that.

 

[Phaedrus/69]

Well, after "the squad" succeeds in banning oil production all of the plastic guns will be a thing of the past. That leaves us with what are already known as classics. 1911s, BHPs, etc, and revolvers. And I'm just fine with that.

I think you're attributing a level of omnipotence to those four freshman House members that they don't actually possess! But we can dream, I guess.

 

[ontarget]

I think you're attributing a level of omnipotence to those four freshman House members that they don't actually possess! But we can dream, I guess.

Actually I was going for sarcasm there. Guess I fell a little short.

 

[Phaedrus/69]

I was just jerkin' your chain a little.

 

[huntsman]

Reality is a plastic frames are a lot simpler (cheaper) than forged machined or cast so no matter how distasteful a plastic framed gun is to you wishing for the “old way” isn’t reality.

 

[jar]

Reality is a plastic frames are a lot simpler (cheaper) than forged machined or cast so no matter how distasteful a plastic framed gun is to you wishing for the “old way” isn’t reality.

Fortunately there are still enough "old way" guns out there that will last at least another century so there is no need to accept plastic frames.

 

[huntsman]

I’m keeping my metal frame guns as well but I took OP as what’ll be manufactured in the future not what individual specimens will be left.

As inflation takes hold I’d buy now because a GP for $1500. Seems eventual

 

[jamesbeat]

1911 and Glock, simply because of their ubiquity - there are just so many manufacturers making parts for them.

They are the closest we're going to get to an 'industry standard' gun.

 

[jmorris]

Reality is a plastic frames are a lot simpler (cheaper) than forged machined or cast so no matter how distasteful a plastic framed gun is to you wishing for the “old way” isn’t reality.

I can’t disagree but business also produce what sells. Ruger, Remington, S&W, Sig Sauer, CZ, Dan Wesson are just a few that have wound up coping the 1911 design, despite having designed pistols from scratch that didn’t take its market share.

It’s not even an outlandish claim to say more than 100 different manufacturers have copied the design making their own version of the 1911.

The number of them that still do are a good indication that the old slab of metal hasn’t gone the way of the coach whip just yet.