Put your favorite manufacturers on a shelf. :)

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So are we just judging these on looks or function?

If I have a ruger p89 that never fails and is accurate is it still junk? What if my Kimber can't feed 3 mags in a row without jamming? is it still great?

Is spending 2500 on a S&W 1911 make it more reliable than a 600 buck G21?

What the OP claims are top shelf, I'd never dream of carrying, my EDC is a cheap poly M&P it's gets beat up and I don't mind. Will it be around for me to hand down to my son? Probably not...but I count it as top shelf, because it's there for me not in the safe, with my real dear to my heart top shelf collectors.

Maybe we should have collectors rankings, and carry rankings.
 
I would carry a NIB hi-point before a NIB Taurus. I don't see how you can put a company plagued with the QC problems Taurus has been anywhere but the bottom.
 
Tell me about Rohrbaugh

I haven't seen a single word about Rohrbaugh in this thread except for Penguinplayboy's original list and one repeat list from him, indicating that he considers them the top of the top of manufacturers. I'd like to hear a lot more about this manufacturer; they don't appear to produce and sell in high volumes and don't get mentioned much.

This is why I want to know. I currently own only one gun, an S&W Model 60 revolver with a 3" barrel, chambered for .357 magnum. It is great gun if you have only one; it handles well for a .357 snubby, meaning that it is controllable by a woman of average build and strength when shooting full-bore .357 loads rather than being easy or precisely fun to shoot with those loads. It is also large enough and heavy enough that it is a bit tricky to conceal in the summer when I'm wearing or swimming gear.

I've shot other, lighter revolvers such as S&W airweights and Ruger LCR, and really don't like the way that they kick with .357 ammunition. Other more concealable revolvers seem to use significantly less powerful ammunition, and I'd rather not go below .38 +P for self defense purposes, which is why I carry. (I don't hunt.)

So I'm considering getting a lightweight, (more) concealable semiautomatic to add to my current "collection". Rohrbaugh makes a semiautomatic that weighs about half what my revolver weighs, is a tiny little thing that should be very easily concealable, shoots similarly effective ammunition (9 mm), and has a magazine of 6 rounds. If it really is as good as Penguinplayboy seems to think, it's probably the gun I want. But they run about $1,200, so I'm not going to buy one til I've thoroughly checked it out, and perhaps rented one I can shoot at the range to see how it feels.

So anybody who owns one of these guns and has shot it enough to know how it handles, please tell me anything you think I should know before shelling out this kind of money. Thanks!
 
How did Para Ordnance get so high on the list? They're average at best.

Both Walther polymers and Magnum Research autos should be placed higher, IMO.
 
CZ: Good solid guns but nothing too get too excited about. They make some great Browning HP clones.
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Jdubb750 beat me to it, but CZ has never made a Browning HP clone. Were you thinking, perhaps, of FEG??

Also, your "fifth shelf" choices shouldn't even be on the list; They should be in the garbage with all the rest of the pot metal crap.
 
Smirnoff is the top vodka in taste tests, however, the others are marketed better. However, that doesn't necessarily translate over to handguns. Once you take one out and shoot it, if it is reliable and accurate: you can measure where it fits in the great scheme of things.

Wilson is top shelf. AS are some of the Sig offerings.
Sig_P220_and_P226_X_sixes1.jpg

These Sig X-6 Mastershop series are as good as anything produced anywhere.

FN makes some great products and I'd go 2nd tier for most of them, including the awesome Browning Hi power they make. It's a close horse race between top and 2nd shelf, and the FN made Brownings perform almost as well as any top shelf pistol. The groups form my FN Hi Power and the Wilson are very close together, despite the 1" at 25 year guarantee that Wilson makes.
 
Is this thread about Pistol, Revolver, Rifle, or Shotgun? Some Mfg's make all and some one. One Mfg might make the best Pistol, another the best Revolver and Etc. Which Mfg is best? The one that makes the best Pistol, or the one that makes the best Revolver? Looks like just personal preferences to me which don't mean anything about actual quality.
 
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It is kind of cool to see this thread revived. I look back now over a year later to see if I would change any of my previous choices. I would not. The only addition I would make is to add Kahr Polymers to the 2nd shelf. All of mine have been flawless and are very nicely finished as well.
 
Sig_P220_and_P226_X_sixes1.jpg


I'm currently on my "simplified practical self defense pistol collection & spend money on ammo/training" kick, but damn, I want one of those! My first love was bullseye shooting, and I'd love to have one of those to facilitate my "weakness" for striving for one hole groups at 25 feet.

Re: the list, I'd add the following to the top shelf guns:

Pistol Dynamics
Wilson Combat
Sphinx
Springfield Armory Pro Series
..and a few others that don't come to mind right now :o


and also obviously custom houses like:
Heirloom Precision
Cylinder and Slide
Novak
 
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