No creativity in the firearms industry?

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Nolo

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Well, not really absolute zero (after all, we do have the Grendel and the Masada among others), but it sure seems like the firearms industry's biggest shortcoming is that of marketing creativity.
I mean, look at your favorite cartridge, for instance (unless your favorite cartridge happens to be the 6.5 Grendel, .50 Beowulf, .221 Fireball or... See? That's how bad it is! I can only name three creatively named cartridges off the top of my head!).
Does it have a creative name?
If it's mine (.303 Enfield-early round nose, among a couple of other cartridges.) it sure doesn't.
7.62x51 NATO.
7.62x54R.
.45 ACP.
.25 ACP.
10mm Auto.
6.8 SPC.
9mm Parabellum (okay, I gotta give this one some kudos. It's at least a creative motto, even if it is still just a manufacturer's stamp).
7mm-08.
.50 BMG.
See? Endless drivel!
Totally devoid of care for what represents the cartridge: it's name!
(As a sidenote, it seems that Bill Alexander, J.D. Jones and the Magpul team have got the creative gene. They've actually stepped on my toes more than once)
I haven't even gotten into the firearms themselves yet, either!
I don't claim to always develop practical or useful cartridges, but bygum, they have good names!
Let's look at a few:
.338 Banshee.
.216 Tempest.
.276 Orion.
20 Gauge Bullslayer.
.312 Peregrine.
.280 British Revisited (okay, that's a joke. Ha-ha. I haven't given it a name yet, alright?)
5.85 Spitfire.
Get the picture?

Now.
When you get into rifles, it's almost as bad.
I mean, you get guns like the Ruger Frontier. Good name. Solid rifle.
But then you have guns like the M1A. I mean, come on! You've got an awesome rifle right there. Why not name it something cool?

I ran into a similar problem after I finished work at my old job (which was a better job than I'll probably have for a few years. :(). They were going to name a new military product.
They asked all the employees to submit names for consideration (I was also included in this, as my father works at the company and the guys at the work liked me enough to remember the lowly but gregarious intern.)
Oh.
Alright, well I thought the product was still confidential, but I guess it ain't anymore (i.e., they released it).
Anyway, it was an EOD robot. Big ole' burly thing, and a real marvel of engineering.
Guess what two names it came down to?
"Warrior" and "Linebacker".
Oh, please! "Warrior"? Like half the things in the military are already named that.
And "Linebacker", not matter how much it fits the mission of the robot (to be behind troop lines, carrying supplies and sheize), still sounds silly.
I forgot what name I submitted (I think it was "Cougar"), but it sure was better than those two!

Anyway. Rifles also have the same problem (though I think ammo has it worse). AK-47. Well, now it's practically got an aura all it's own, but when it was first built, I bet it was pretty boring. So? You named the weapon after the designer and year, like every other country in the world.
Well, except Israel. They know what they're doing.
Admittedly, the Russians tried to make it better when they marketed the AK commercially (I'm talking about the Saiga and Vepr, of course), but the actual animal saiga looks like an overgrown capybara and I have no idea what "vepr" means.
"Saiga" sounds dead cool, though. Even if every time I hear it, I think of a mutant pronghorn-capybara lovechild (thank you, Google Image Search, for ruining a perfectly good name)...
I mean, after the whole "what calibers should be added to the AK's repertoire" thread, I decided to file an idea I'd been having for a line of AK-based rifles in various calibers (including, interestingly, .500 S&W Magnum).
Guess what names I picked out?
Hell, I'll just give you the list. And yes, there is a running theme, for the less perceptive of you:
"Viper"
"Warthog"
"Mako"
"Blackhawk"
"Gyrfalcon"
"Wolverine"
"Timberwolf"
"Rhino"
"Scorpion"
"Black Widow"
"Panther"
"Barracuda"
"Orca"
"Kodiak"
"Jaguar"
"Hyena"

Notice how they're all animal names. Yes it fits a theme, but more importantly, animals immediately evoke an image in your mind.
Panther.
What did you just think of?
Why a big, black, mean cat, of course!
Well, ain't that just a dandy image for a cool, black rifle like the AK?
(Yeah, I know most of the animals there are black. So is the AK. Bite me, as my English teacher would say.)
But it goes even deeper.
While I won't reveal all the calibers they would come in (I actually do intend to make a line of rifles at least roughly based on these someday), I will tell you that each animal fits the caliber the weapon is chambered for.
For instance: Is the caliber devastating at short ranges, but loses steam after 200 yards? Well, then pick one of the stalking animals (like the panther)!
Is the caliber just full of brute force? Well then maybe you should name the rifle the Rhino!
Since everybody already knows I want an AK in .500 S&W desperately, I'll give you the full description (which ain't much, most of it's in my head):
Warthog - .500 S&W Magnum
Click to expand...
Ain't that just a stunningly appropriate name?

Anyway.
Well, I think I've about run out of steam in this rant.
Now I'm just thoroughly perturbed.
Thanks to all that listen. I look forward to reading your comments later.
Ciao.
 
I agree with you on the M1A name. I never did like how military stuck to a bunch of numbers and letters. M4 is newer, but M16 gets the higher number. When you say M1, do you mean the rifle or the Thompson? A long time ago, I would mix up MG42 and a M249. They're both machine guns with an "M" and a "4" and a "2" in them. But I can remember now, but it just takes longer to memorize them, when it should just be intuitive and specific. Granted, the M249 has the name "SAW," but it conjures up the image of sawing through enemy ranks with it not "Squad Automatic Weapon." And it's not an animal name.

Anyway, alphanumeric identifications became very popular in the automotive industry as well. While the RX-7 was already hip to it. The beloved Integra turned into the RSX in the States, despite still being sold under the name Integra in Japan. Mazda sold a 323, changed it to Protege, then decided to go back to numbers and call it a Mazda3. Ford just made a car called the Five Hundred. There's Evo VIII, 350z, G35, X5, 330i, SLK350, xB, xA, tC, TSX, RL, TL, H2, H3, FJ. IS250, GS400...they do this to appeal to people. It sounds cool and high tech, like "The Blendmaster 9000 Turbo." Naming something easier to remember seems to be reserved for practical and common folk. The poor, unsophisticated types that can only remember the names of boring cars like Civic and Corolla, are what those names are geared toward. Most things never happen unless money is involved. In this case, I would say it's just marketing that names are this way.

When defense contractors are trying to win a contract, they will make it sound as advanced and as high tech as possible to show off their engineering. A biochemist who wants to get financial backing won't present his cure as "Dr. Bob's Monday Mix" or "The Flu-buster." To look professional he'll have to call it "Compound X-735, Variant C" or something fancy like that.

Ok I actually have no idea where I'm rambling on with this, but I thought someone should add to the thread.
 
I actually like "dry" names for cartridges and firearms. I cringe slightly at "Colt King Cobra" or Kiddie Kool Lazor Muscle Power.

No disrespect to Colt or anything, it's probably a great gun. But I'd stop at the likes of Anaconda, that's far enough and still tasteful.

I prefer the sober, technical aura around a S&W 686/Colt Python in .357 Magnum, a Beretta 92FS in 9x19 or an M240G in 7.62x51.
 
Well you know the King Cobra is actually a real snake, right?
I mean, I think it was just Colt saying "we've got this line of revolvers. The first one was named after a snake, what are we gonna do for the second and third? Hey! Why don't we also name them after powerful snakes!?"
Names that share something (all being snakes, etc.) connect products, making them a "line".
 
Yeah that idea of a line is neat and maybe it wasn't the best example. But wouldn't a simple "Cobra" have sufficed? Colt Python, Cobra and Anaconda.
 
Trust me, the King Cobra is far cooler than a simple cobra.
You know the King Cobra actually eats other cobras?
That's why it's the king!
I think it's also the largest cobra, but I'm not sure.
 
Ohhh... Cool Idea. Here you go:

Manly names, for the tacticool stuff:

Ruger Skull Blaster

S&W Disembowler

Sig SEAL Special

Lorcin Stalker

H&K Wallet Killer

To appeal to the dainty women's market:

Walther Bon-Bon
Colt Tea Cup
Obsession by Smith and Wesson

For the gangstas:

Colt Ghetto Blaster

S&W ATM- just pull this out, withdraw cash
 
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My favorite weapons are not without creativity...well mostly in design. I have a PS-90, where not that all creative of a name its a very creative design of a weapon. The Five-seveN is the pistol that goes along with the PS-90 or P-90 and that has somewhat of a creative name along with a creative design. I guess whats in a name, designation of what to call something. I guess that its good for me to name things the way they do I am just glad they have creativity in design and are still designing new things.



Clerihew
 
I don't care what it is called, as long as it goes bang when I pull the trigger.

Although, just to make the antis go nuts, wouldn't it be funny to have the 223 hamster, 22 sowbug, 44 mag puppy. :D
 
Firearms buyers tend to be very conservative, and because of this the companies that try to inovate often reach out and come back with a bloody stump. Ruger became one of the largest commercial gunmakers in the world by making modern products on the inside, but having the "look" of older classics. At the present time Colt's line-up consists of two models dating from 1873 and 1911. I have a Smith & Wesson Military & Police revolver that is 107 years old, but you could, by the looks, think it was made last week.

As for the names. I think some of them must be dreamed up by a teen that spends way too much time playing video games, or a geek on Madison Ave. working for an advertising agency in New York City who never touched a firearm during his/her entire life.

Obviously the military services aren't interested in tactical-cool names either.

I think you're pushing a lost cause... :D
 
You are right. Those names are boring unlike "577 Snyder" or
"Colt Pocket Python Revolver chambered in Super-X .99 Colt Metal Piercing"
 
:D:D If it means that much to you then name your own guns, geez:banghead: Or you could tell us what you own and we can name them for you:neener:

jj
 
I've got a few, Ruger's "Alaskan", NAA's "Black Widow," etc. The manufacturers could start an entire line of state-named sidearms. 500 magnums called the "Texan," for example, or rename the Lorcin as the "Californian." Come up with a few caliber/state name. Let's start with the New York or Illinois.
 
When you've got guns that can outshoot 98% of the people outhere, how creative do you want them to be?

I think more appropriate names should be:

1. Missed by a mile .308
2. Broad side of a barn .223
3. 5" group at 100yds 7.62x39
4. Couldn't hit a target to save my life .22

Names like M1A, 1911 and the such keep things to the point and simple, after all they are tools, not pets.

But then I still prefer real women to Japanese cartoons and don't dress in black in front of the mirror.
 
(U.S.) Military 'M' designations stand for 'model'; as in the rifle, model 1; the carbine, model 1 or the rifle, model 16, subvariant A4. The M4 is newer than the M16, but it was the fourth major carbine adopted, whereas the M16 was the 16th major rifle type investigated/acquired. (And yes, there was an XM15 rifle!) Of course, at some point between the world wars, the M designations were changed from year of adoption to the current version.
 
#1 a lot of those boring names are useful, the additional numbers aren't chosen by chance, they contain valuable information, such as parentage, case loading information, year of manufacture, or inventor's name. It is certainly better than randomly grabbed emotional drivel term. After all, isn't that what we complain about when the media does it for us, calling things assualt rifles, cop killer bullets, street sweepers, weapons of mass destruction, and the like

#2 Look at the lazzeroni line of cartridges, there's a guy whose naming scheme you should like.

#3 Some chamberings have good names, they were simply lost when they were converted to metric/NATO designation

#4 good ammo should MAKE the name, not the name make the ammo. Magnum was just another term like swift, express, ideal, etc. But certain cartridges have elevated names and numbers to mean something. 357 carries some of that magic ring as does 30 'ot six', or famous makers like Jeffries, Rigby, and Holland&Holland. I think that is the best option, when a name is chosen for some logical reason and rises above the fray, on the legacy of a great cartridge.
 
I prefer the numbers and letters, as they allow for an easy-to-follow technological progression from one series/item to the next. Perhaps that's why they use it, so they don't have to come up with more bogus snake names to get people confused? Simple monikers, sure--but calling something the archaeopteryx just because it sounds cool, and is a "chicken gun" instead of a mouse gun, or whatnot, only allows for so much room for different designations that refer to a specific type of the firearm (along the lines of a 66-1, M4A3, or what have you).

Call me old fashioned, but since shooting's already a game of numbers anyhow, I think it a good idea to stick with 'em.

Besides, I'd rather see originality in designs than names. It seems that the Masada and that Kel-Tec .308 Bullpup are the only things that are coming out that I can honestly say I consider to be "innovative," rather than just another hum-drum update of the AR or Mauser 98 action.
 
Firearms and cartridges generate reputations for themselves. That is what makes them cool, or not-so-cool.


The coolest caliber that I can think of is .338 Lapua Magnum. It's not named something silly to sound cool, but the cartridge is very potent and very accurate, and chambered only in a finite number of high-end rifles. These facts are what make it cool, not its name.


Though I think .300 Whisper is cool too. :)
 
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