Which handgun "changed everything"?

Oh, and if you want to discuss metallic cartridges....

BRING IT!

That's my wheelhouse. :D


I didn't lump the solid frame revolvers in there, but probably should. They don't seem to have been made in nearly the numbers as the breaktops given the relative number of each that you see today.

My one great grandfather owned an H&R .32 S&W breaktop that was his "cowboy gun." He was a ranchhand in South Dakota at the end of the 19th century.

One of my other great grandfathers owned a solid frame US Revolver Company (Iver Johnson) .32 S&W that he carried while a track gang foreman (rough people worked the trackgangs) for the PRR.

I've got both of them
 
The handgun that actually DID change everything regarding the use, deployment, view, desire to own, and viability of the handgun to do the things we use them for today as opposed to what came before is the Colt Patterson. There really isn't anything else that can be compared as a watershed design.
 
No votes for the 1911?

I guess changing everything isn't the same as hasn't changed.

(Be prepared for the wheelees to start rotating their cylinders!)

The jumps would be matchlock, flintlock, percussion, rotating cylinder, pin/self contained cartridge, auto and poly (and probably several more steps I'm overlooking.)
 
"The jumps would be matchlock, flintlock, percussion, rotating cylinder, pin/self contained cartridge, auto and poly (and probably several more steps I'm overlooking.)"

That would be more of the technical approach.

But, the original question is far more encompassing than a strictly technical approach, which is why I answered as I did.
 
Can you imagine encountering the first revolver in the mid 19th century? Part of the Indian tactics back in the day was to wait for the first volley from their opponents then rush in for the kill. They must have been shocked when a Texas Ranger kept shooting without loading.
I vote for the first SA percussion revolvers.
 
None of them changed everything and the ones that were groundbreaking were often not followed by any imitators for many years, for various reasons. Also, many of these things overlapped. For instance, while the wheellock was an advanced firearm, matchlocks continued in use for the entire period because of the relative expense of the wheellock. Then came the flintlock.

The Colt Patterson was groundbreaking but there had already been revolving, repeating firearms. But others soon followed, including metallic cartridges. But the widespread use of metallic cartridges was delayed because of mostly patent protection issues for nearly another 20 years.

The Mauser C96 automatic pistol was also groundbreaking, if not exactly revolutionary. Again, it was not the first, but it probably did more to popularize the automatic pistol for military use than all of those .32 automatics that were introduced within the next few years, none of which shared any design features with the C96. However, withing the next few years came the Luger and then the 1911 Colt .45 automatic. In contrast, the Browning Hi-Power was not followed by another high capacity for nearly another 50 years.
 
If you're going at it from a technical standpoint, I'd have to say that the Glock did "change everything."

While HK introduced the first polymer frame handgun, it sank like a stone and the concept didn't go anywhere for some years.

But, in a very short period of time after Glock hit the market and proved the concept of polymer, just about everyone was rushing to get a polymer handgun to market.
 
In recent history, the Glock did change everything. HK and others tried to make the plastic gun but Glock got it right.

Every manufacturer raced to copy it, patent lawsuits flew, and an enormous amount of tupperware got sold to military, LE, and civilians. Along the way it became a cultural icon...
 
300px-FN_Model_1910_IMG_3065.jpg


2damnold4this,

You pegged it. Handguns have come and gone over the years, but probably none changed the world as much as the Model 1910 Browning .32 ACP, Serial No. 190704 which Gavrilo Princip used in 1914 to ignite WW I.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FN_Model_1910
 
You have to go by era. Otherwise it’s the first guy who threw a rock.

First good single shot black powder pistol (will take someone word as to what it was)

Self Loading cartridge (ditto)

First good revolver (ditto) Anything after that was a refinement, some exceptional (anyone ever shoot a Colt Python? sweet and smooth though I prefer the S&W latch by far)

1911 Semi Auto. It opened up the modern era, freed us up for all that followed. Set the stage for having to be reliable, more rounds than a revolver could ever hold. The res is refinement, including Glock who borrowed their composite material idea form HK, but did it right.
I will give Glock the award for not so much the next step, but making it successful while not inventing anything (not just the composite but also the striker fired). Even if you do not like it (which I do not) I will give them full credit for having a very good working reliable semi auto with the marketing to make it successful. None of the mainline gun manufactures who should have been able to do that with both CNC machines tied behind their backs failed to make that leap.
 
I would say the obvious choice would be the very first "hand cannon." It's right up there with the invention of the wheel.
 
I have to agree with Mike Irwin's post.
The early metallic cartridge handguns which were in the greatest numbers and of sufficient power, really deserve the appellation "The Great Equalizer".
The 1873 Colt SAA (sometimes called the Great Equalizer) was an "evolutionary" step, but was expensive compared to the handguns Mike Irwin referred to.
 
Smith & Wesson M&P 38 special. Once introduced, this model served so many police departments in so many countries and so many armies, it must be included IMHO.
Click to expand...
Although I love the .38 M&P, I disagree.

Colt introduced the M1889 double-action swing-out-cylinder revolver 7 years before S&W introduced one, and followed it only 3 years later with the M1892, which was adopted by the US military. S&W started out by playing catch-up and eventually overtook Colt, but didn't really dominate the LE market until after WWII.
Hum... I have some trouble giving the 1911 that.
Click to expand...
Same here. Earlier guns did the same thing the M1911 did, and its design was an evolution of earlier Browning concepts. I'd argue that the Walther PP, BHP, and Glock 17 were larger leaps forward in firearms design.
 
for me the bigest changes would be Colt's revolving cylinder, Smith's bored through cylinder and then later swing out cylinder and Browning's tilting barrel and recipricating slide.
most every gun today still uses these designs.
 
1forken-031366.jpg

1851 Colt Like Hal said....Perfect !!!!:) they where alot more 1851 conversions ..before the 1873 Colts
 
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