So I had a thought today of what perhaps the top ten ionic fire arms are today for Americans for one reason or another, that everyone should have the chance to fire, even if its just for one day, now while I'm sure everyone will have a slightly modified list here and even on a different given day my list will perhaps change but these I feel are a good solid shoe in on any given day. These weapons will be from the last century, at least actively employed in warfare by us or against us, or in plain civilian life.
Here goes, oh and the one exempting factor. Since Class 3 Firearms are only available to those of us that have done military service or some sorts of police work those fire arms are off of the list, at least if they only come in a Class 3 Variant. Belt fed semi autos Ill include with that as the price range of those systems takes them out of the average shooters availability.
In no particular order...
1. AK 47, or at least the civilian clones there of. It is the weapon nearly everyone pictures from Vietnam forward that defines armed conflict, and the sheer millions of these weapons out there assure that we will continue to see them for some time to come. They define movies and every single bad stereotype out there for Assault Weapons, but the civilian legal versions... (Well at least in -some- states) are quite a bit of fun to shoot, and ammunition is easy to get and cheap.
2. M16/AR15/AR 10, Again the civilian legal variants of these. Soft, easy shooting, reliable now days, and they define the tinker and personalize your rifle like no other. Also the bit of infamy they have as a relic of the Vietnam fielding days adds to the interest or hatred of these weapons. Now days you can have them in nearly any caliber size for any role.
3. .38 special snub nose revolver. What police movie or PI movie made before the 1980's doesn't have one of these in it? Either Bad guy or good guy? These in the Colt, or Smith and Wesson flavor defined concealed carry or back up guns or stereotypically "ladies" guns for decades. Tricky to fire well and master they still should at least be tried by everyone once.
4. Beretta 92/M9. No other pistol has caused so much controversy in the armed services as this weapon. (God did I hate fixing them too) But these seemed to be the weapons that the police took to in the change over from revolvers, and the movies followed suit. Easy shooting and high capacity defining love or hate they heralded a change over in American Military thinking for side arms and the police as well, followed up by...
5. Glock 17. The polymer framed pistol. Initially offered it created a media panic. "OMG plastic gunz with no metal, you cant detect them!!!!11111" it soon found a to this day loyal following with many many police departments. It took a few years but the rest of the public soon took to polymer and the revolution started by Glock continues to this day.
6 1911A1 .45. The Yankee fist as it took to being called, it fought in every conflict for the United States to this day, at least with some special forces, it was brought in to play in the M1911 form for WW1, Modified slightly in time for WW2 where so many were made that they stopped all production after that war, and continued using rebuilt and rebuilt again pistols all the way in to the 90's in some National Guard units, and Still the basic design remains with some Special Forces units in Iraq, and Afghanistan. It is considered the pistol which all other combat designs are still measured against.
7 M1 Garand. The partner to the M1911A1 this was the first seriously fielded successful Semi Automatic Battle rifle. It fought in two wars in general issue, and a limited extent in Vietnam.
These next three are more a basic operating system than anything but they still are iconic in the success of the basic principals of how these work.
8. Pump action Shotgun. There are many many good makers of these shotguns in many different gages. Find one, shoot it.
9. Bolt Action hunting rifles by Browning, Winchester, or Remington. These things still sell tens of thousands a year. These basic actions are the building blocks for custom rifles, super accurate sniper rifle systems and have killed hundreds of thousands of deer every year. Most of these are based off some WW1 or 2 Weapon, Mauser generally but the basic principals of how they work are the same. Every single caliber that you can think of has a Bolt Action chambered for it somewhere.
10. This next one is going to get a dual credit. The Double Action Revolver, made most famous for the .38 Special and .357 Magnum Cambering it is also in damn near every police movie out there till the 80's.
Ill give two honorable mentions.
The Lever action rifle. Its more of a relic of the Western movies, it still lives on, in various forms, by various makes today in the hunting camps around the country.
Smith and Wesson .44 Magnum AKA Dirty Harry Fame. Someone mentions a magnum and that still tends to be what they think of because of the "most powerful hand gun in the world"
No comments:
Post a Comment