No American Pistols at Olympics - Again

M

Matt VDW

New member
Once again, the Olympic pistol events have been shot without any of the competitors (to the best of my knowledge) using an American made pistol. There was not a single American air pistol, free pistol, rapid fire pistol or standard pistol on the line.

I understand the reasons why it doesn't make business sense for an American company to try to break into the highly competitive and unprofitable market for high end target pistols (or rifles or shotguns, for that matter), but it's still a disappointment. And it's not as if American gun companies are dominating other segments of the handgun market, either. The All American 2000 and the Sigma haven't exactly taken the world by storm.

It's a sad day in the land of Sam Colt and John Moses Browning. :(
 
Since Hi Standard bit the bit one, I doubt that you'll ever see an American-made gun in competition again.

Walther, Feinwerkbau, Diana, Hammerli, they own the market, and they're going to keep it.

------------------
Beware the man with the S&W .357 Mag.
Chances are he knows how to use it.
 
I thought High Standard was back in business? I was looking at their website the other day. They do have some nice target pistols on there, but none that look like free pistols. There is probably a reason the European companies dominate. In some countries that may be the only type of shooting sport allowed, while here in the US we have Cowboy Action Shooting, IPSC, Bullseye and lots of other more informal types of shooting (old Macintosh blasting!)

- Makarov
 
Mak,

The Hi Standard that is back in business now is still an unproven entity for the most part.

And, the very nature of the handguns in Olympic shooting has changed significantly. Hi Standard doesn't make anything that would be competitive now, and the Hi Standard of 50 years ago didn't make anything that would be competitive now.

------------------
Beware the man with the S&W .357 Mag.
Chances are he knows how to use it.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by makarov:
...and lots of other more informal types of shooting (old Macintosh blasting!)

- Makarov[/quote]

No Mac blasting allowed. PCs only! :D
 
I don't know, I can hit coke cans at 100 yards with my High Standard. (model 107 military with bull barrel)
 
RCS --

Yes, the old HS pistols were very accurate. That's only part of the picture, though. Such makers as Hammerli, Feinwerkbau, Pardini, Walther and FAS add low bore lines, excellent ergonomic design, sophisticated, adjustable multi-stage trigger mechanisms and anatomical grips to make truly competitive pistols. Meanwhile, from the US makers, we have the S&W 41, essentially unchanged since it was copied from the Walther/Hammerli design of the 1950s, and the reborn High Standard, struggling to produce the same designs as the old High Standard to an acceptable level of quality.

I wish it were otherwise, but it ain't.

-MD
 
Televisions and boxer shorts are mass-produced items; it makes sense to manufacture them outside the US where the labor is cheaper and the lawyers less plentiful.

Target pistols, on the other hand, are finely crafted items made for a small, very selective market that prizes excellence. The fact that they're no longer made in the United States seems to me symptomatic of a deeper malaise, something more cultural than economic.

Grumble, grumble... :(
 
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