Popular Handguns in the late 70s / early 80s
- Thread starter PDS
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44caliberkid
New member
Another vote for K frame Smiths, Model 10, 15, 19, I carried a Python on duty then, but had a 6" Colt Trooper also. Now for something completely different, I bought an H&K P9S in 1978. It was a great gun, but I rarely shot it, preferring 1911's. First time I needed money I sold it first.
S&W 39-2 and 59 9mm's were also popular. Raven and Beretta .25 automatics, and Colt and Smith and Wesson .38 Special or .357 Magnum revolvers. Like Dirty Harry movies? Smith and Wesson model 29 .44 Magnums were popular... never sat on the dealers shelves for long. 
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BUZZER SOUND!!!
Sorry, slightly incorrect...
The .44 Auto Mag (two words) did hit the market in 1970. The .357 Auto Mag several years later, so there were possibly a handful in Midwest, they were and are incredibly rare. And they are RECOIL operated, not gas.
The Desert Eagle in .357 Magnum appeared about 1984 and the .44 Mag version several years after that 88, 89, maybe, I bought mine in Feb 90. The Desert Eagle is gas operated, the Auto Mag is not.
I just want to thank everybody again for all the answers. This is really awesome. Perfect on the "general" as well as "detailed" answers. In writing, more knowledge is always better than less knowledge, and anything not used in one novel is stored in the mental file drawer for later books. Much appreciated, and all of it has been fascinating reading for me. I hope to have more detailed questions for later books. Thanks again,guys.
that would be the saturday night special.
A lot of jennings .25 pocket autos were sold. Many silly german derringers. A double nine by high standard or other cheap makers like HR. A whole lot of blackhawks, not so many 45s.
Smith was the most coveted gun at the time, I believe. so many icons, so few that I remember. Uzi and mac were two of the really coveted gangster guns, and the Bren Ten had a big splash.
A lot of jennings .25 pocket autos were sold. Many silly german derringers. A double nine by high standard or other cheap makers like HR. A whole lot of blackhawks, not so many 45s.
Smith was the most coveted gun at the time, I believe. so many icons, so few that I remember. Uzi and mac were two of the really coveted gangster guns, and the Bren Ten had a big splash.
An author wrote about a stainless steel shell casing once. I've read a lot of goofy stuff that even the biggest dork should know better.
An author should let an expert check her work before she publishes something patently stupid. You seem to be taking that route, checking before making a head spinning error.
An author should let an expert check her work before she publishes something patently stupid. You seem to be taking that route, checking before making a head spinning error.
Growing up in the late 60s and early 70s, I will tell you there were a LOT of surplus guns around, mostly German and Italian and French 32s and 380s and a few 9mms, plus the cheap Rossis, Jennings, FIE and EXCAM guns, and the older cheap cowboy guns, and a lot of older Iver Johnson, H&R and US Cycle Works top breaks. We had older Bulldogs and cheap throwaways like American Arms. Every now and then somebody would dig out Gramma's old Remington derringer or Webley. We always had handguns around, but not very many good ones. Sure, we saw Colts and S&W and Llamas and Stars and P38s, but there were more Glisentis and Walthers and Nambus and other old mitary guns. Later on into the 80s we had Rugers and Dan Wessons, but in the early 70s there were a lot of garbage surplus guns around in various states of operational ability.
You're welcome. They are a rare bird and a particular interest of mine for many years. They are awesome guns though reality is a bit of a disappointment in some ways. The ballistic performance of the .44AMP and the .357AMP are awesome. The guns are very accurate, but reliability is spotty. They simply were not commercially successful enough to stay in production long enough to the bugs worked out.
Mac Bolan's .44 Auto Mag always worked, but that's fiction.
My interest also extends to the other of what I consider "first Gen" magnum semi auto pistols, the Wildey, the LAR Grizzly, the Coonan and the Desert Eagle.
Any of the magnum autos wouldn't be out of place in a novel, (provided it was set after they were introduced) but they're not even remotely common.
Me, I'm still trying to figure out a plausible explanation for a rich guys thug having a nickel plated 1911 on the Titanic in April of 1912....
Schlitz 45
New member
+1 on S&W 59. It was my first legally purchased handgun.
I saw a lot of H&R and Iver Johnson .22 and .32 revolvers among the "lower socioeconomic groups". S&W, Colt and a few Rugers among the middle and upper income groups.
Spanish 9MM semi-autos, European .32 and .380 ACP were fairly common as well. For those that could afford them, Colt Pythons and Diamondbacks and S&W 19s and "K-38s" were well liked.
Spanish 9MM semi-autos, European .32 and .380 ACP were fairly common as well. For those that could afford them, Colt Pythons and Diamondbacks and S&W 19s and "K-38s" were well liked.
zincwarrior
New member
The occasional Walther as well.
Berettas were a big deal after they were adopted by police agencies and then the Army.
