I share the nostalgia for out-of-production metal-framed pistols. Aside from high-end 1911s and European target pistols, it's about the only kind of semi-auto I'm interested in buying these days.
Independent George said:
As much as I love steel for the feel of it, plastic is not a fad. It's a significant advance that reduces weight, cost, and maintenance...
It definitely has its advantages in certain applications, and I agree that it's not going anywhere, but plastic has its disadvantages in certain applications as well. It's not an unambiguously better material for a pistol frame.
Independent George said:
I can easily imagine polymer or composite slides in the future, along with ceramic internals.
Don't count on any of that.
rt11002003 said:
OP,How reliable is the info that Brigadier is being brought back?
100%.
It's already back. And the thanks goes entirely to Bill Wilson, who got Beretta to bring back the Brigadier slide for the gun he collaborated with Beretta in designing and producing. (The 92 is his second-favorite pistol platform after the 1911, and Wilson Combat is heavily involved with the platform now.) Having recognized your love of higher-end pistols, you really ought to look into getting one of the
Wilson/Beretta 92G Brigadier Tacticals. Standard Berettas are great guns, but these are tremendous. There's not a better value in the semi-auto world for $1,200, in my opinion. You'll be hard-pressed to find anything but enthusiastic reviews on them, even from long-time 1911 devotees who never considered buying a Beretta until Bill Wilson started talking about how much he loves the guns.
ninjarealist said:
I would love to buy one of the P210 reissues but, just like the originals, they're extremely expensive. Like $3,000 seems to be the absolute low end, and that's far more than I'm willing to pay for any gun at this point.
I guess real quality can't come cheap. It's far more than I'm willing to pay but I can't call it overpriced because, wow, what a beautiful gun. I guess I've always liked most of SIGs metal guns although I don't own one and I'm far from a SIG fanboy. But the 210 is the one SIG pistol that I have to admit makes me feel like a geek.
I've never had the privilege of shooting a SIG 210, so I don't know how nice it is to actually shoot, but they're truly gorgeous pistols and all the examples I've seen on Gunbroker just ooze quality and patient craftsmanship. Aesthetically, I have to say that it's one of the best-looking guns ever made.
I don't expect the prices to ever come down
The Swiss SIG P210 shoots every bit as well as you're imagining. It's the finest production pistol ever made, hands down. The quality of the materials and the precision with which the gun is constructed is only matched -- if at all -- by the very highest-end custom 1911s produced today. And even then, the P210 is a far more rugged design.
The new P210s, the Legend from SIG Sauer (as opposed to SIG, which no longer exists), is an excellent gun, but it gives up a fair amount to the old Swiss guns in the aforementioned categories -- even more so now that the new ones are now all being made from stainless rather than carbon steel, which was a very unfortunate decision.
I don't know how much you're ultimately willing to spend, but you can get a Swiss P210-2 or matte-blued P49 (identical, except the latter was military issue; the former will have serial numbers beginning in "P," and the ones for the latter will begin in "A") for a lot less than $3,000 these days with some patience and diligent searching. The military guns often come with a decent amount of finish wear, but they're in great shooting shape (unless abused by a private buyer afterward), and build quality on these is equal to any other of the Swiss versions. Supplies are a bit depleted at the moment, for some reason, but that comes and goes. I'll PM you some info about some good deals currently.