Classic handgun appearance

the only true reason the ppk has iconic status is that it was used in a successful movie series about a spy called james bond. its not like it was or is quintisential for any one thing.
the luger is an icon for the ergonomics, the shootability of it, the balance, the features, the loving precision it took to make.

now in this pairing, the snubnose is the icon. every country has produced a variation on the theme, the theme is well as old as repeating handguns. it comes down to basically what do you like more?

the grizzled man in a vest and fedora drinking warm beer with his rueben while cleaning in snub, or a pretty boy with a little semi automatic who spends more money in a month on manicures and hair products then he did on the gun?
 
While I like the appearance of the Walther PPK only next to the Mauser HSC I am a revolver guy at heart and the 6 shot snubby holds the sweet spot in my heart and gets the vote on this one.
 
PPK all the way............

And I will be nitpicky and point out that a lot of pics in this thread are PPK/S....but still a mighty handsome gun. Here is the real thing in all its' beauty. And while this is a thread stictly on how a gun looks, I noticed some comparing shooting characteristics and I will throw this in - my several PPK's are WAY more accurate than my several snubbies....

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J
 
To me, even after growing up with Sean Connery as James Bond (still the ONLY Bond in my book), the classic snubby has the more pleasing profile. It just looks and feels like it was make for a specific purpose, scaring the bad guys!
 
You do have to include a Broomhandle Mauser in with the lot, even though 90 some percent of the folks don't know what it is, it is still ingrained into our collective imagery. The first time I ever saw the movie, all those years ago, I knew what it was, even though it had been doctored up a little.

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drcook said:
You do have to include a Broomhandle Mauser in with the lot, even though 90 some percent of the folks don't know what it is, it is still ingrained into our collective imagery.
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I'm going to have to disagree with this one, too. If 90 percent of people (and I think that's a low estimate) DON'T know what it is, how can it be ingrained in our collective unconscious? I do know what it is, and I recognize it when I see one, but I by no means think of it as "iconic" or "classic." I think of it as weird, ugly, and something to be avoided if at all possible.
 
I also have both and love them both, and carry them both, but, I can't picture Lenny on Law and Order carrying a Walther PPK!! He carries a snubbie in a OWB holster. I think the snubbie is more recognizable than a PPK to the average citizen, but I think the P08 Luger has more world wide recognition than any other pistol.
 
Also, "iconic" doesn't have to have a positive connotation. Someone can acknowledge that the 55-57 Chevy Bel Air is an iconic design, even if he thinks it was the ugliest thing ever to roll out of Detroit.
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I quite agree. My first thought on that post was that even though the poster doesn't like the PPK or think it is a truly "iconic" firearm, that poster has seen them, maybe hundreds of them, could pick them out of a lineup, and probably has even handled them in person.

how else would you define an iconic handgun, besides to say that a vast majority would recognize by sight?

I'm not saying that otis, the village idiot could stand up in a theater and yell "HEY, THAT'S A WALTHER JUST LIKE MY DAD BROUGHT HOME AFTER THE WAR!" but even otis, the village idiot, has seen them and would maybe say "hey, that's 007's gun."
 
[a handgun] that is readily recognized and generally represents an object or concept with great cultural significance to a wide cultural group.
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That defines iconic.

Again, I believe that nearly every person has seen a broomhandle at some time in their lives. The broomhandle mauser/starwars blaster is known by millions of starwars fans. It's better known at this point than any handgun in history. Don't kid yourselves. Show them a broomhandle, and in my experience, some of them ask "what happened to that blaster?

Nearly everyone recognizes the 1911, the "cowboy" colt, the "cowboy" winchester, the luger, the "blaster"/broomhandle, even the "coach gun." I figure that a huge number of people who don't even shoot would know a glock if they saw it.

Recognition and appreciation as a representative of a group, for example, "famous pistols," is what makes something Iconic.

The walther without a shadow of a doubt is an iconic handgun. I knew about them long before I knew about james bond.

So is the snub nose revolver, but in a more generic sense.
 
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Two favorites here. Colt SA 5 1/2 and the PPK. Carried the PPK on my ankle every day of my LE career and the SA on my duty belt whenever I could get away with it...
 
I actually really like both, and have just bought my first snub: an Astra.

As it happens another shop has an Astra Constable: a PPK type blow back. To this day, that little Astra and the Sig 232 are two models I have seen in the flesh that I can't get enough of.

.380ACP is the main reason I've not taken the plunge on that little Astra!!

So I expect I'd feel the same about the PPK if I ever saw it in the flesh!
 
briandg said:
Again, I believe that nearly every person has seen a broomhandle at some time in their lives.
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I respectfully disagree. I can virtually guarantee that at least 75 percent of the people I know have never seen one. I'm 68 years old and I had never seen one until a few (less than ten) years ago.
 
The broomhandle mauser/starwars blaster is known by millions of starwars fans. It's better known at this point than any handgun in history. Don't kid yourselves.
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Hehe. I don't even know where to start on this one. Better known than any handgun in history? Just because one movie series featured it? I would like to think you are using hyperbole.

J
 
It's better known at this point than any handgun in history. Don't kid yourselves.
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You're making an assumption that may not be valid.

Best known guns are things like the Colt SA, Winchester levers, Walther PPK
 
I'm 68 years old and I had never seen one until a few (less than ten) years ago.
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Are you seriously telling me that in all of your life, you never saw even a picture of one of them in a magazine? I don't know how you managed to do that.


If you are going to demand that whoever sees it would be able to say, "oh, look, it's that broomhandle mauser pistol" I'd actually agree with you.

You have an entire generation of kids that have grown up without seeing cowboy movies. when they did see cowboy movies, like unforgiven, have you noticed that the colt peacemaker isn't being used that much? I see scovilles, lemats, navy revolvers, etc, and even a remington rolling block pistol.

My daughter's fiance doesn't know crap about handguns. But, as I said in that post, if I showed him a broomhandle, he'd recognize it.

Every shooter as old as I am or even younger has seen the thing. then, millions of people have seen it in movies, and millions more have seen it modified for the star wars.
 
In the household we have a Colt Det Spec, J frame S&W, and the (S&W ver) PPK/S, as the smallest of the breed in the house....

The PPKs is easier to shoot and quite accurate, less blast at indoor ranges (no cyl gap) and for a small weapon looks and feels in hand like a classic with a certain "panache". S&W adding a bit more beavertail than earlier versions, I have had no slide bite and the function regardless of ammo used so far has been flawless.

The snubbies have their own "character" and feel of concealable detective wheel guns from the 60s-70s. Accuracy is fine as long as you don't push the limit distance wise with the stubby barrel length and fixed sights.
 

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