The 'AK-47' of handguns

Untill the last 30 years the 1911 wasn't even close to being considered a reliable handgun.
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Tell that to all of G.I.'s who served in WWI, WWII, the Korean War, and Vietnam. Their "unreliable" 1911's seemed to work just fine through frozen forests, muddy jungles, sandy beaches, and just about any other environment you can think of.

The opposite is true. The 1911 gained a reputation as unreliable within the last 30 years, due to the huge number manufacturer's who entered the market and thought they would "improve upon" the original specs.
 
lol it was a ways back but I cant believe someone said S&W sigma rofl. I dont own one but if I had to buy one guy to rely on for a long ass time I would get a glock hands down with its simple design and I have never had a problem with limp wristing a glock rofl or any gun. Also it would be a gen 3 not a big fan of the 4 yet which is where the limp wristing problems came with the bigger spring. its a double spring I believe. I know revolvers are really reliable I just dont like them and the low number of rounds but thats just me to each his own. I like 10 rounds of 45 even if I don't need em all.
 
Ruger GP100

For all around rugged design and reliability I'd say Ruger GP100,or really any of the Ruger DA revolvers-the "SIX" series are really my favorites.SP101 also.
They won't win any prizes for design esthetics,but they go bang all the time.
For semiautos,the Browning HP 35 Mark IIIS.Totally easy disassembly/reassembly to boot.
 
AK 47 of handguns

To me that would have to be a Glock. .45acp, .40S&W, 10mm, or .357Sig. Mine are .357Sigs and they are indestructible. Look at how many "wannabees" there are. S&W Sigma and the SA XDs, et al... I know of a few spare parts/springs to carry close by in case of breakage but the same holds true for the AK variants. No revolver on earth and not many 1911s can take the mud and dirty crap you can give a Glock and keep running. Glocks can and do every day.
 
I still think the essence and reason for success of the AK is maximum caliber with maximum cheapness. All calibers under 9mm are disqualified as are all pricey plastic hi tech toys. This leads us back to the baby doll of crude wartime production full caliber disposeable pistols, the P38.
 
Cheap or rugged?

I dunno about the plastic stuff being pricey or a toy. To me one of the hallmarks of the AK system is ruggedness. Dunk 'em, drop "em, run over "em and they still keep running. Glocks can take it and keep going too. There is a lot to be said for a P-38, but the only one I ever handled had the crappiest action I'd seen. And I would hesitate to dunk it in mud and try to make it go without a thorough cleaning. One thing about an Ak is that the action is always smooth; thanks in large part to the design and the twisted music wire coil springs.
 
You don't need an injection molding machine to make AKs. You need one to make toys. Toys are cheap. If half of your Glock was made by a machine used to make toys shouldn't it cost half as much as an all metal gun? Don't get me wrong, I have plastic frame guns but they're all 22s although I had a Grendal P10 380 that I liked back in my popgun phase. My dog like to chew plastic so I keep those guns out of reach, not a problem with metal guns.
 
And by the way, mud has NOTHING to do with it. Soldiers are trained to not drop thier guns in the mud and I've been shooting for 3&1/2 decades without dropping a gun in the mud. Plus, I live in Florida and there is no dirt here so I don't even have mud. Enough with the mud. Sorry, I just had to get that out of my system.:D
 
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Really?

Soldiers are certainly not trained to never drop their guns in the mud. Obviously you cannot train someone to avoid things which you cannot guarantee will never occur. Some phases of combat training encompass the certainty that your weapon will get fouled.
I have been shooting for a few years myself. In the course of 40 years since I went into law enforcement I dropped a 12 ga 870 in the mud once when things were tight. I saw another officer drop a sweet little S&W M-27 in a deep puddle of water when a pair of bank robbers were shooting at him and watched my Lieutenant drop his 1911 in a pool of water while we were running after two morons who were on the roof of a drug store at 0:dark:30. I also helped an Officer who had dropped a 1911 out of his shoulder holster while we were running a thief through a gully in heavy brush. He didn't even know he had dropped it until he needed it and it wasn't there. Not many. BUT! It can and does happen. If you have been carrying and shooting for 35 years and have had no drops or mishaps you have had a wonderful life indeed. Almost too good to be true. How much of your "shooting" in your life was under high stress? I've never seen one dropped on the range, either.Not sure where you live in Florida but there is dirt there.
No, you don't need an injection molding machine to make an AK. However, you do need a metal assembly area including a stamping press or machining tooling. What's your point? You aren't going to be making either in the field. You aren't going to make anything you need in the way of firearms.
I had a good laugh over your comment about plastic framed guns being chewed on by dogs. And how it isn't a problem with metal framed guns...and you keep the plastic ones out of reach. Does that mean you leave your metal guns lying around so the dogs could chew 'em if they wanted to?
Grendel?? I had one of those once. Blind magazine so you had to strip the rounds in from the top. No comparison with a Glock or any other plastic framed gun. :rolleyes:
 
The AK47 of Handguns

I would say a USP45 or The Series of glocks. I dont like glocks at all. but they rarely jam, they can shoot underwater or in dirt, and you can run them over with a car and it will still work. so the glock is durable. the USP45 is just as durable, but it has been rumored to shoot thousands of rounds without jamming. So i don't know for sure. But take your choice.
 
My 2 cents

Beretta 92/96. Especially the hammerless LEO versions (no safety, DAO).

Heavy, sturdy, indestructible. Drop it in mud, drag it in sand, it fires.
 
My point Frosty was simply that you can make an AK in a mud hut ( there's that mud again) in Dirkadirkastan without the molding and investment casting equipment and that should figure into it somewhere. The AK requires only basic machinary to make. By the way, I just bought a late 80s Norinco Takamarof in 9mm for 125 bucks. I now vote for the Norinco.;)
 
Vote Norinco

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The AK's soulmate. Or the P38
 
I think your findings are way too preliminary. You sound new to this game. Do a little searching around (doesn't take long) and look at any 1911 thread/review/range/etc.. compared to any Glock thread. 1911's are 10x's as finicky as any Glock model.

Glocks work, plain and simple. Some cheap 1911's do, some $3,000 1911's are jamomatics, and vice versa. The Glock ''limp-wristing'' thing is a common cop-out as to why a Glock jams...nobody knows...so ya have to blame it on something. Everybody makes a lemon.

Glocks tend to go in extremes: they work or they don't. The majority of 1911's have the infamous break-in period and either work, don't work, or work at random. There's no telling what you'll get. The bottom line here is that the AR-15 and 1911 go to bed in one room, and the AK-47/Glock make babies in another room. That's just how it is.
 
Tough call: I vote Glock or Ruger P-series.

both are rugged and reliable. I think Rugers and Glocks are closer in price than they used to be, now.

The only problem is that they are both too accurate to be the AK-47 of handguns. :D

So, I revise my vote either to Makorov (wait, those are accurate too) or Tokarev.
 
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