Quality of pistols have gone up comparing to old days

[Michigander08]

This commenter from the internet is right.
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Do we over-focus on details that may not matter that much when a pistol is used for self-defense. If you judge the trigger of pistols with snap-caps, slowly dry firing, feeling each scrape of friction, listening for and measuring reset, you can create a comparative rating for a bunch of pistols. I am asking if those are meaningful details.

When I do training and drill exercises using my Shield 1st generation, its trigger performance in dynamic action is flawless. The trigger does exactly what I need when firing on a target. I don’t feel friction, or creep, and I don’t care about audible reset. No, in action as near as I have gotten to actual conflict, this little pistol is 10/10.

I think my Shield mags hold 8 rounds. That is plenty of ammo, I don’t feel I am half-cocked. A few more rounds might make training better, but I don’t feel additional rounds is as important as gun journals seem to.

 

[Michigander08]

I think the reviewers who focus on the reset of the trigger are so silly. Real world use of the pistol is that you just pull the trigger. You don't baby the trigger slowly to reset and pull again! These civies are so funny.

 

[Squaregrouper]

I think the reviewers who focus on the reset of the trigger are so silly. Real world use of the pistol is that you just pull the trigger. You don't baby the trigger slowly to reset and pull again! These civies are so funny.

Precision rifle trigger reset matters to me. Pistols hitting center mass are all I need.

 

[RFBfromDE]

I think the reviewers who focus on the reset of the trigger are so silly. Real world use of the pistol is that you just pull the trigger. You don't baby the trigger slowly to reset and pull again! These civies are so funny.

This is a result of having so many good options.

It requires that much minutia to quantify the differences.

 

[Threeband]

I just want the frizzen to spark reliably.

 

[Biggfoot44]

While I Grok the first post , I see no discussion of quality of pistols from different eras ?

 

[WatTyler]

While I Grok the first post , I see no discussion of quality of pistols from different eras ?

Then it's not just me then.

 

[Michigander08]

While I Grok the first post , I see no discussion of quality of pistols from different eras ?

I wasn't alive then to know how good they were.

 

[Biggfoot44]

I wasn't alive then when mfg , but I know the quality and shooting charistics of Long Action S&W , pre WWII 1911 , S&W I Frames , 3rd Mdl Topbreak , etc .

 

[python]

So are we talking about quality or triggers?

 

[slsc98]

Just talkin‘...

And one comment instantaneously brought this to mind:

 

[River02]

Yeah--I was hoping for more discussion of the topic. All of my experience w/handguns is pretty recent. Oldest pistol I ever shot was a Korean War era 1911 in Officer basic 1992---it had the rattles. Having said that... I shot Expert Marksman w/it during qualification. I was issued a .38 (don't remember if it was a Colt or S&W--whatever the USAF was issuing to Air Crews in the 80's) on my way to the desert for the first Gulf war, qualified with it only ever firing 25 rounds. Then the Baretta M9...never felt comfortable in my hands but... never had any functional problems on the range or while deployed. All the pistols I personally own were manufactured in this century. So, I'm interested...

 

[dist1646]

Yeah--I was hoping for more discussion of the topic. All of my experience w/handguns is pretty recent. Oldest pistol I ever shot was a Korean War era 1911 in Officer basic 1992---it had the rattles. Having said that... I shot Expert Marksman w/it during qualification. I was issued a .38 (don't remember if it was a Colt or S&W--whatever the USAF was issuing to Air Crews in the 80's) on my way to the desert for the first Gulf war, qualified with it only ever firing 25 rounds. Then the Baretta M9...never felt comfortable in my hands but... never had any functional problems on the range or while deployed. All the pistols I personally own were manufactured in this century. So, I'm interested...

Expert Marksman? I knew that must have been an Air Force thing as soon as I read it. Lol!

 

[River02]

Expert Marksman? I knew that must have been an Air Force thing as soon as I read it. Lol!

Yeah...um no. actually it was/is? an Army thing. Army marksmanship qualification badge--qualified as expert---

 

[dist1646]

Yeah...um no. actually it was/is? an Army thing. Army marksmanship qualification badge--qualified as expert---

View attachment 394310

Actually, there is no expert marksman classification. It is either expert, sharpshooter or marksman. They are not combined. I qualified expert with every weapon they gave me.

 

[Huckleberry]

While I Grok the first post , I see no discussion of quality of pistols from different eras ?

Grok? or Grock?

Are you a Stranger from a Strange Land?

If you are then Valentine Michael Smith Approves

 

[Doco Overboard]

One of those early 20th century smiths are probably one of the finest made handguns of any sort I ever worked on.
K frame I think and not the ones with the coil springs in the lock mechanism like the later victory models.
With the side-plate off, you can watch the mechanism, see it work and still not understand the geometry as you look at it.
As a matter of fact, one could very hardly discern the side plate from the rest of the frame when its together before you even get to the works.
You can feel the mainspring bounce and flex when its fingered and the internals all move together initiating the next sequence of movement like a watch movement.
I dont know if they're good self defense guns or not but they sure are a nice piece of kit if you get a chance to mess with one.

 

[erwos]

Trigger doesn't matter = I don't do enough difficult shooting on a timer.

Push yourself hard enough, and eventually you'll discover it matters.

 

[clandestine]

Nope

 

[Brent]

Precision rifle trigger reset matters to me. Pistols hitting center mass are all I need.

While totally agree, I also think of caveats -

What if the rapidly approaching aggressor isn’t responding to the neat holes I am poking in their lungs. They’re juiced up. It’s nice to train with small pasties on various body parts. Might need to destroy a hip to prevent an advance.


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