What Is Your Most Unpretentious Handgun?

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mk70ss

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I have Wilson Combat guns, Colt Pythons, and some rare, mint S&W revolvers. But one of my favorite guns and most used ( I carry it when I walk my pugs due to tons of coyotes in my neck of the woods) is a 1970’s Charter Arms Pathfinder 3 inch .22 revolver. Blueing is worn, but it still works just fine. Like an old friend to me. What are your favorites that are just pedestrian, plain old good guns??
 
I think all of mine are good guns, but unpretentious. My most unpretentious might be an old J. Stevens "Tip-Up" model.
 

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I suppose that would be my Smith & Wesson Sigma SW40VE...

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It may be a Smith & Wesson, but it sure isn't fancy nor is it pretentious... It's a pretty blatant derivative of a Glock, so much so that the original Gen 1 Sigma SW40F (mine is a Gen 3) was similar enough to a Glock that they actually filed a lawsuit against S&W over it which ended up settled out of court. Nothing pretentious about that, in fact it's pretty darn humble if anything for Smith & Wesson to so blatantly copy another company's design, especially one so plain and utilitarian as a Glock.
 
S&W model 10, 4" heavy barrel .38, a LEO trade in I hand picked from a box full of them 3 decades ago. A friend reblued it as it was pretty worn. Shoots to point of aim with 158 RN or 148 wadcutters. Canoe trips, hiking, small game hunting, CCW, was also my truck gun for years. Nothing special, just an old school Sheriff's Department revolver from a bygone era. Original grips are all banged up, but with a Tyler T-grip, they work great and I like the dings.

One memorable event; Camping within a mile of the Canadian border in Northern Maine in the early 90's, late at night, campfire going. Wolves began howling in the distance from the Quebec side of the border. Not coyotes... Wolves. If you ever heard them, you can easily tell the difference. Sends sharp primal chills down your spine to hear wolves deep in the woods, especially at night far from civilization.

I slipped that S&W from its holster and kept it close. That old S&W .38 loaded with Nyclads provided me with quite a bit of comfort under the amber glow of the campfire. Without it, I doubt I would have been able to go to sleep under the stars. Good memories. Damn good gun. Isn't going anywhere. ;)
 
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mk70ss said:
I have Wilson Combat guns, Colt Pythons, and some rare, mint S&W revolvers. But one of my favorite guns and most used ( I carry it when I walk my pugs due to tons of coyotes in my neck of the woods) is a 1970’s Charter Arms Pathfinder 3 inch .22 revolver. Blueing is worn, but it still works just fine. Like an old friend to me. What are your favorites that are just pedestrian, plain old good guns??
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"Unpretentious"? Probably my Taurus 605. 12 years of on and off carry have left it with a lot of scrapes and wear polished spots, that I'm not going to do a thing about.
 
Bersa Thunder .380.

High quality at low price. Simple blowback design, very accurate for its short sight radius, excellent trigger and control group. All metal construction.

The only downside is it throws perfectly good brass in to the field. For not a revolver, still an outstanding pistol even at twice the price.
 
Twenty-five or so years ago I went to a gun show determined to buy a Blackhawk .357. I walked in and right there in front of me was a man who looked to be around 70 and looked like he had just stepped off his tractor to come to town for the gun show. He had a Blackhawk .357 in his hand and was looking around, trying to figure out which way to go. I spoke to him and he was selling the gun. He needed money for something. The Blackhawk's finish was worn here and there and one of the grips was cracked. It looked like it had ridden at lot of miles on the floorboard of some truck. The thing that really caught my eye was the sights. The rear sight was missing and the front sight was filed down very short. There was a shallow groove in the top strap that looked like it might act as the rear sight. I asked about it and the old guy mumbled something about his son messing with it. I figured I could get new sights, and it had the 4 5/8" barrel I wanted, so I bought it. I wish I could remember what I paid for it, but it was a good price for both of us.

Before looking for sights for it, I took it to the range just to make sure it worked. It was one of the most accurate handguns I've ever shot. I tried different ammo, in .38 and .357, and for a fixed sight handgun, it was fun to shoot with all of them.

So 25 or so years later, I haven't changed anything but the grips. It is unpretentious in the extreme. I wouldn't hesitate to throw it under the seat of a truck and let it bounce around there for a while, knowing that it will put a bullet in what I want to put a bullet in if I had to put a bullet in something.
 
Everything posted so far sounds about perfect. the right tool matched to the right person, for the right job.
 
I’ve had an old bolt action Kessler-Westchester 12 gauge “Bill Cody Model” for almost 50 years & it was old when I traded a guitar for it. A true beater of a gun that has dropped a ton of game- no pretension just function.
 
S&W 442 in basic black and some nice scratches from being dropped once. I don't pocket carry much, but when I do this works fine in a basic Uncle Mikes pocket holster. Not the most fun to shoot or the most accurate gun I have, but it can hit center mass consistently at a reasonable range.
 
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Years ago when the original Ruger LCP came out the guys in my hunting lease chipped in and bought me one, it's cheap gun that malfunctions if it's shot and then not cleaned everytime but it's small enough to go anywhere so it's useful.
 
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