micromontenegro
New member
I like beautiful tools. Being useful and rugged does not imply being ugly.
Pretty gun mind state
- Thread starter militant
- Start date
"Pretty" guns - whether pistols, rifles or shotguns - tend to be safe queens, taken out only for private drool sessions or to be photographed and uploaded to Photobucket, or some such similar site, for the purpose of facilitating an internet or social-media drool session.
Then there are working guns. While these may come out of the box being "pretty," over time they get shot, bumped, hit, rubbed hard, shot a lot more, dropped, mishandled, cleaned badly and intermittently, etc., not to mention getting banged-against in the safe by the resident safe queens and not in a good way.
You can have guns that are working guns, or you can have guns that are pretty safe queens. But none of your guns will be both, at least over time.
Word ...
Then there are working guns. While these may come out of the box being "pretty," over time they get shot, bumped, hit, rubbed hard, shot a lot more, dropped, mishandled, cleaned badly and intermittently, etc., not to mention getting banged-against in the safe by the resident safe queens and not in a good way.
You can have guns that are working guns, or you can have guns that are pretty safe queens. But none of your guns will be both, at least over time.
Word ...
buckhorn_cortez
New member
Sounds like pure speculation and projection on your part. Since no one has defined "pretty," I'm not sure how you can arrive at your conclusions. Do pretty guns have engraving? Are they blued guns? Hard chromed? Two-tone? Just what exactly is a "pretty gun"?
The prettiest (I guess) gun that I have has had a 78 year old lady look at it and say, "My goodness it looks like a piece of jewelry." I shoot it 300 - 500 rounds two to three times a month.
I just call it - "aesthetically pleasing" and don't think of it past that point.
"Word... x2..."
Beauty is what appeals to your eye...Some guns are tools, some are toys, some are collectors.
I traded a P229 Iraqi Freedom edition a few months ago because I just didn't have a use for a modern collectors pistol. Pretty pistol, but not pretty enough for me to keep, and too pretty to shoot...so it went away.
But there are several pistols out there that I would buy just to look at and never shoot.
I find a worn blued pistol of any type beautiful in form and function, only because I love true bluing and I love shooting.
I traded a P229 Iraqi Freedom edition a few months ago because I just didn't have a use for a modern collectors pistol. Pretty pistol, but not pretty enough for me to keep, and too pretty to shoot...so it went away.
But there are several pistols out there that I would buy just to look at and never shoot.
I find a worn blued pistol of any type beautiful in form and function, only because I love true bluing and I love shooting.
I like pretty guns. I don't own anything fancy. I wouldn't mind having some nice engraved handguns or even something a little more gaudy. I would shoot them, perhaps , a bit more sparingly than "normal" guns. I don't like guns that are ugly, out of the box. That includes almost every plastic striker fired handgun I've ever seen. I don't need a gun to be pristine but I do need to have it age gracefully. I've seen some pictures of poly coated guns that are a real pealing mess. Maybe they work fine as a tool, but there are always guns that would work as well, and look good doing it.
Great design tends to evidence itself in both function and appearance. I suspect it's because a great designer has the skill and taste to address both equivalently.
Just looking at the 1911, the H&K USP, S&W 29, Python, the Winchester 94 lever action and the often maligned Glock which was a breakthrough in form follows function. They are all mechanically brilliant, visually compelling and some are very easy on the eyes.
Whether new or worn (though some age better than others) they all reflect that there was significant thought and skill that contributed to the appearance as well as function of the firearm.
I suspect that, unlike computers and cell phones which are now just slabs of glass and plastic, that many of us like to collect firearms.
B
Just looking at the 1911, the H&K USP, S&W 29, Python, the Winchester 94 lever action and the often maligned Glock which was a breakthrough in form follows function. They are all mechanically brilliant, visually compelling and some are very easy on the eyes.
Whether new or worn (though some age better than others) they all reflect that there was significant thought and skill that contributed to the appearance as well as function of the firearm.
I suspect that, unlike computers and cell phones which are now just slabs of glass and plastic, that many of us like to collect firearms.
B
Jbar4Ranch
New member
The dings, dents, wear, and scratches on my "pretty guns" tell a story, stories that bring back fond memories of times & places gone by and friends passed on, and I certainly wouldn't trade the stories of those dings and dents for the pristine guns they were when I bought them or received them back from the engraver.