Scary looking gun

[rocinante]

I have two pistols. A S&W 9mm 915 that has the basic american 1911 look and a Walther P38. I asked my wife which one was scarier looking and she said S&W. Isn't my P38 scary too?? I think because it looks so different from what she sees in the movies and because it is IMHO kind of pretty.

Really one of the best uses of a gun is for intimidation be it offensive or defensive? Are some guns just scarier looking? Is a revolver more frightening than an automatic? Just curious and asking opinions.

 

[fattsgalore]

Pull out a D.E. or some magnum revolver and you'll get that bad attention you want.

 

[Biggums]

Scary

Looking at the business end of a 1911 .45 is one scary deal. Especially the new chrome barrel tips. They make the .45 look like a 50 cal.

 

[FieroCDSP]

It's not the gun I'd be looking at, it's the eyes of the person behind it. Caliber means didley without resolve to use it. Once the decision is made, there's little difference between 380ACP and 50AE. As for scary...the Jennings guns. I'd be afraid the moron holding it would actually try to use it and it would go up like a grenade, killing everyone around.

 

[Coronach]

The purpose of a defensive gun is not to be scary-looking. On the list of all possible considerations, "scary looking" should be pretty close to the bottom.

Mike

 

[Majic]

Really one of the best uses of a gun is for intimidation be it offensive or defensive?

Sorry but you don't expose a handgun to try to scare someone. Intimidation should never be on your mind.

 

[jwerlc]

The purpose of a defensive gun is not to be scary-looking. On the list of all possible considerations, "scary looking" should be pretty close to the bottom.

+1
If you pull a gun to scare someone, you're looking at a lawsuit at the very least, more likely, it'll get yanked out of your hand and used on you...

 

[jeffkirchner]

rocinante said, "Really one of the best uses of a gun is for intimidation be it offensive or defensive?"

I don't think a law-abiding citizen would think like that. The best uses of a gun are these:

1. To protect innocent people from an attack by a violent criminal, or an animal
2. Hunting
3. Target practice

But, on a lighter note, scary looking to one person might be tacticool to another.

 

[grimjaw]

Every time I see a frame-mounted lock on a Smith and Wesson revolver, I think it's scary. Does that count?

jm

 

[peacemaker45]

I've never noticed a lot of difference between handguns, scare factor wise, with the possible exception of a cocked and locked 1911, something about that hammer. No matter how many times I explained it, it still freaked my last girlfriend out. And she liked guns.

Where I have noticed a major difference is long guns. If you've got a window mount gunrack in a pickup, you may have noticed the same: If you've got an AR, AK, or pump shottie, you get nine kinds of strange looks. OTOH, lever actions and double barrels are "friendly guns." Tote a levergun that way, and you start feeling like a rockstar, surrounded by adoring groupies. An 1866 with brass tacks gracing the stock is probably the alltime winner, that way.