Why Are New Guns Ugly?

[easyg]

When I was a youngster it was all about the music; guitar riffs, drum solos and the lyrics. There were bands that refused to use synthesizers because they did not consider them musical instruments. Today, it's about videos featuring bling, expensive cars and scantily clad women.

Not true.
Sure if you watch mainstream TV or listen to the top 40 FM stations....they cater to the younger generation when it comes to fashion and quick record sells.
They always have.

But there is still plenty of very good music being made that has nothing to do with "bling" or "expensive cars".



Nothing wrong with scantily clad women though.

 

[Fat Boy]

Just adding my 2 cent's....I consider myself among the older group, if not outright old. As a boy I thought my Dad's Browning A5 was the most beautiful gun I had ever seen, and I was always begging for the opportunity to hold it and shoot it when it came out of the flannel-lined? zipper case for hunting excursions. Blue steel, well-figured wood stocks, gold-plated trigger, vent-rib, even the external, adjustable choke had a mechanical neatness to it that I thought pretty amazing in those early years. Handguns as a young adult were steel, with great options in custom-made wood grips of exotic origins...my nickel-finished S&W model 10 with oversized walnut grips with a leather holster and belt was great...try finding a Glock somewhere in that...

 

[Gryffydd]

Another thing to think about is that there's no reason anybody can't continue to make guns like they used to. Colt could still be making Pythons exactly how they used to. Winchester could still be making guns the way they used to. The problem is, nobody is willing to pay what that costs. Don't blame the manufacturers, blame the customers. They make what we buy. And with guns what we buy are things that will last a lifetime, but balk if they cost more than a week's pay.

A hand fitted Python might have to sell for $2500 in order to make it worth it, but who is going to pay that? Some companies are still making nice guns. Look at Freedom Arms.

One other thing...yes, we have had inflation. Sure, you used to be able to buy a quality rifle for $150. But you're also not getting paid $1.50 an hour any more.

 

[JohnBT]

They said Tenite was durable too. But it wasn't. Time will tell about plastics.

 

[JohnBT]

"A hand fitted Python might have to sell for $2500 in order to make it worth it, but who is going to pay that?"

If it's done right, I might. By right, I mean equal to the best of the Pythons, not just any old average Python. It would be a tossup between the new Python and an X-5 L1 at this point or I could get both. I have an X-5 TAC, but it was only $1350 and doesn't have the adjustable trigger like the L1.

John

 

[Keauxbi]

What it comes down to is would you pay $1000 for a pretty hammer or $50 for a durable ugly one? I'm sure you can find some pretty show piece guns and if you're willing to pay the price people will make them.

 

[NG VI]

Because God loves ugly

 

[MICHAEL T]

Guns today have no soul .Their plastic designed to be made as cheap as possible and max profits . I believe this one of the reason a 1911 is so popular You can customize it, to be you own and not be like every other ugly plastic can't change nothing. I buy old prelock S&W's revolvers and I buy 1911's Only plastic in my house is KelTec I will never own a glock or the copies If one given to me I would trade off the ugly thing . For a metal and wood .
Plastic is for squirt guns.

 

[Gryffydd]

If one given to me I would trade off the ugly thing . For a metal and wood .
Plastic is for squirt guns.

Good. More tools that work for the rest of us. I don't actually own a Glock, but I do have an XD. I don't see what's so wrong with a gun being a tool that does its job well. A Glock is a light, durable, and highly reliable tool.

I appreciate fine guns made of steel and wood, but I haven't let that blind me to the value and purpose in these "ugly, soulless guns".

Do you wear your finest suit to work on your truck or crawl around under your house?

 

[gbw]

I don't see what's so wrong with a gun being a tool that does its job well. A Glock is a light, durable, and highly reliable tool.

No one really said otherwise. They're just ugly - squared, dull, blocky plastic looking things. Put them next to an old Colt auto or S&W revolver. It's chicken salad and chicken sh**. They're both chicken, but they sure ain't the same thing.

I won't argue that we've lost some style, but some things have gotten drastically better.

The point is the sadness of knowing that, through thoughtful use of the new materials and technologies, we could easily have had both.

 

[Gryffydd]

through thoughtful use of the new materials and technologies, we could easily have had both.

Easily, maybe. But not cheaply.

No one really said otherwise.

It sure seemed to me they did. It doesn't sound like these people respect modern guns even as tools.

I refuse to own one 'cause they is ugly and life is too short to shoot ugly guns.

Ruger can go to hell. I won't even touch an SR9. It's a joke of a fullsize handgun. The commercials for it try SO hard to win over the gun crowd with it, saying its part of Ruger's HARD-R line of firearms. There is nothing hard about that gun. it's an injection-molded sissypistol.

not be like every other ugly plastic can't change nothing...Plastic is for squirt guns.

 

[nelsonal]

All that steel didn't necessarily mean you were safer though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joMK1WZjP7g

 

[MCgunner]

All the anti-polymer comments show my why firearms technology advances so slowly. I'm open to "new". I like the LCR, don't need one, but like its design. Polymer has advantages. Might not be much to look at, but all the bad guy sees is the business end. Those little hollow points look just as nasty from that view in a LCR as they do in a 642. If you prefer the traditional, that's certainly available. If you think a 13 ounce +P rated high quality revolver for under 500 bucks is desirable and don't mind the look or even think it looks good, that's your choice. I hang on to my "traditional" alloy Taurus ultralite because it gets the job done and I don't go out and buy every whiz ban new gun that comes along just cause the mags are yappin' about how great it is. If it works, why fix it? If I needed a new .38, I really like the LCR from what I've seen and read about it.

 

[easyg]

Guns today have no soul.

Guns never had soul....they are, and have always been, just tools to accomplish a task.


Only the wealthy ever really cared how "pretty" a gun was.
The poor and the working middle-class sought out durable and reliable firearms, regardless of looks.
It was true in the pioneer days and it's true now.

 

[MCgunner]

Only the wealthy ever really cared how "pretty" a gun was.
The poor and the working middle-class sought out durable and reliable firearms, regardless of looks.
It was true in the pioneer days and it's true now.

I guess that's my problem. I'm PWT. I do appreciate a finely adorned and made SxS shotgun, a case of champagne tastes with a beer pocket book.

 

[Weevil]

Man some of you old fuddy-duddies need to step into the new millenium!


Styles change, do you still wear skinny ties and John Deere ball caps?




I like the look of some of the new designs.

 

[JellyJar]

SD is not a beauty contest!!!

Who cares what it looks like as long as you have it when you need it and it goes bang, on target every time you pull the trigger.

 

[heron]

MCgunner, what is that thing -- and how does it work?

 

[JohnBT]

"Who cares what it looks like"

Who cares? Many folks. They care about their dogs, guns, wives, boat, house, etc.


"The poor and the working middle-class sought out durable and reliable firearms, regardless of looks."

Well yeah, that's what we could afford, that's why we sought them out. We wanted better looking guns, better quality guns, but we got what we could pay for - in cash. Usually a shotgun and a rifle. Just a shotgun if money was tighter than usual. We drove Chevys too, but would have liked a Caddy or a big Buick. My father bought a new '59 Chevy when I was a kid. Nice car, black, no AC. Baltimore is hot in the summer, but that was what was in the budget.

Tomorrow's topic: Why clothes from K-Mart are just as good as anything out there. It doesn't matter what they look like or how they fit. Right?

Wanna see the pics of the Guerini 28 ga. O/U he bought when he was in his 80s? You tell him an 870 Express or Huglu SxS would have done the same thing. He'll laugh at you.

 

[JohnBT]

"I like the look of some of the new designs."

What kind of gun is that, I can't quite make out the writing on it.


It's not that I hate black guns or anything, I even have an FNP-45 USG and a Sig X-5 TAC TB like this.

 

[inSight-NEO]

I guess it all depends on what you view as "ugly." To many, the modern [read "high tech"] look of many current weapons is a turn off. So be it.

Personally, I think such weapons look as they should...all about purpose and without frills (Sig Sauer, for instance). This type of look happens to be my preference.

Sure, polished this and stainless that, along with fancy wood trim and whatnot, may look nice..but, this means nothing to me in the long run. Unless, of course, we are talking about collectibles ("safe queens").

I am all about weapons that can handle the daily wear and tear and yet remain reliable..all while not having to worry about blemishing the weapons "movie star" looks; the word "utilitarian" comes to mind.

Would I own a "pretty" weapon? Sure. Would I feel like subjecting it to the rigors of daily wear and tear? Probably not. Hence, it would probably become a safe queen. Whats the use in that?

 

[Weevil]

What kind of gun is that, I can't quite make out the writing on it.

Well they're sure not shy about letting you know what it is!


It all part of the new style and it obviously sells or they wouldn't do it.




Hey at least people don't have to ask what it is when you show it off.

 

[GunsBeerFreedom]

I like my guns like I like my metal; Black, heavy, and timeless. And by timeless, I mean will work forever.

 

[Lakeshore]

For me things headed downhill aesthetically when they began putting accessory rails on handguns. That is a big issue for me, I won't buy any gun with a rail. I know they serve a practical role for some people and I respect that. But the subject of the thread is ugly guns, and imho railed guns ar butt ugly.

 

[Shadow 7D]

When it went form form following function, to best form for the function, to just function,

THEN we have the TACTIKOOL, next you will see handguns with quad rails and BIS, on the other hand, there are some really pretty cowboy pistols coming out these days.