Which handgun "changed everything"?

If you thought about today's quintessential handgun design (whether it be Glock, Sig, or whatever suits your fancy), what was the most important handgun that got us to that point? The flintlock pistol, the 1873 SAA, the 1911, or other?
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There's no answer to that question when you try to pick out one firearm in a long list of evolutionary developments since the inception of the firearm.

THE VERY FIRST FIREARM comes closer to answering the question than any other. After that, like all technological things, there was a never ending evolution that continues to this day.
 
I agree with the view that the revolving pistol (revolver) is the quintessential development in modern (+/-150 yrs) times. It created firepower and was the biggest single step since gunpowder.

While autos created faster reloads and somewhat greater capacity, but they did not make the difference that two six shot revolvers over two single shot pistols made...making single shots obsolete overnight. That's the difference....what made what obsolete (in historical terms) overnight.

I do not agree that the Glock, considering that it is a polymer pistol with few groundbreaking design features, or other manufacturing techniques, such as CNS, are a stride nearly as huge. Polymer over steel. Ok, no big. Cost and weight and profit for the manufacturer. Significant enough, of course. But huge in terms of history...no. Beyond, that, they add little to overall design or overall impact. That is, unless your sense of history is the time within your own lifetime. We tend to consider the various little developments of the present much more significant that they probably really are.

I like the notion that Mike Irwin put out with the development and marketing of the relatively cheap, and very much mass produced, top break revolvers in the late 1800's. I wouldn't have thought of that. But it is quite significant. It made the revolver, and thus effective self defense with a repeating handgun, available and legal and acceptable to "everyman", including much of the lower classes. At least those in the US. And not just to those who were willing to spend a month's wages to acquire a Colt, Smith or better known, better made piece as was the case prior to their development.

By 1910, everyone who wanted a repeating handgun had one. How often in history has everyman been armed with something akin to the available technology of the time? Not since well before Ancient Greece, if not earlier. I agree that that is very significant.
 
The Paterson certainly broke new ground. Prior to 1836, the only idea for revolving chambers had been the "pepperbox" types.

While the Paterson had its weaknesses, the next effort, the Whitneyville Walker model certainly formed the mold. Not until the .44 Magnum was produced, was there a more powerful handgun. All Colt revolvers after that, were variations and improvements on the Walker.

Rollin White's patent, and subsequent sale to Smith & Wesson, put them in the driver's seat until 1873. S&W was far more successful in Russia, Japan, and Turkey, than in the U.S. with its 3rd Model. It was a huge success, and provided the capital for S&W to get to a double action design. However, Colt, with their late 1800's invention of the swing-open cylinder revolver, is probably the clear winner of a revolver that changed everything. The break-tops were generally weak because of the barrel/cylinder pivot point. And S&W boldly copied Colt's design.

So, the revolver that changed everything is the Colt Model of 1889, Navy revolver, which was the first swing-out cylinder. It completely changed the game, and led to the Python, the Model 29, the S&W .357 Magnum.
 
From a historic prespective, the Patterson. "God created man, Sam Colt made them equal" ¿remember? :)

From a millitary standpoint, the handgun that "changed everything" was Luger's Pistole Parabellum, if only due to the cartridge it was chambered for, starting 1902. Almost all armies in the world keep using that same cartridge after 110 years.
 
"I do not agree that the Glock, considering that it is a polymer pistol with few groundbreaking design features, or other manufacturing techniques, such as CNS, are a stride nearly as huge."

An object doesn't have to be new and/or innovative to be a game changer.

A good example is Ford's Model T. It really had little to no new technology in it that wasn't being employed by other automakers at the time.

The innovation came in how the Model T was manufactured. Even there the manufacturing steps weren't new. It was how they were arranged.

I think much the same is true of Glock. It took a number of pre-existing technolgies and techniques and arranged them in a game changing and winning fashion.




Does anyone know the answer to this question... I've never adequately answered it for myself...

Colt was always very good at protecting its technology with patents (as was S&W).

Colt brought out the side-swing cylinder in 1889.

Smith & Wesson brought out a very very similar design in 1895-96.

Didn't Colt patent the concept?
 
Change

FN Tactical .45 with the Trijicom RMR sight. This MAY be a "game changer" for the industry. It is so superior a combination that it MAY be that "others must copy or perish". Kinda like Glock's, now many pistols are "Glock like". The FN Trijicon combo is the cats meow and solves most every problem with pistols. Any reasonable pistol shot can make head shots on squirrels at 25 yards from a rest position. The slide on the FN Tactical is machined to accept the Trijicon RMR that weighs approx. 1/2 ounce. Battery last 4 years on continuous "on" 24/7. Mounting and sighting in the RMR is a 5 minute job. The RMR co-witnesses with the excellent iron sights. And in the event of RMR failure it's still a peep sight and you have the irons available. The RMR will withstand about 100,000 "G's" and is military approved and combat tested. The FN pistol comes with threaded barrel and tall iron sights to clear a silencer.

Any old geezer with bi-focals can see the sights perfectly and shoot with both eyes open. Sixteen rounds .45 ammo in a pistol that runs like a chain gun. Very light, ergos exceptional, very low recoil, great mags, great trigger (for a plastic gun). I believe the pistol will shoot thousands of rounds without cleaning and without malfunction. I just fired 800 rounds w/o cleaning and the pistol was still clean and functioning great.

This combo has very quickly become my favorite pistol, and I currently own: Les Baer Mono Heavy, full Custom 10X 1911, H&K Tactical, Beretta, and recently sold off a Springfield Professional and a TRP, S&W .357 Sig. I'm not being vain about the pistols I own. I'm trying to illustrate that the FN is up against some very stiff competition, these are all great pistols, and the FN wins!!! Beg, borrow, rent this combo before you buy your next pistol and you may just take the FN home.
 
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Didn't Colt patent the concept?
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Did Colt originate the swing out cylinder? Google says it's the Iver Johnson Model 1879.
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Some are saying glock. Apart form being lighter than steel pistols what is the big innovation. What does it do better than other pistols.
 
As has been noted previously, it was the first SUCCESSFUL polymer handgun.

Ford's Model T was not the first American automobile, it was the first SUCCESSFUL American automobile.

The result is that, due to the Glock's success, it's become a trendsetter with every other major (and many minor) manufacturer bringing out their own polymer handguns in an effort to capture some of that market share.

In opening up the market for a markedly different frame material, the Glock certainly has changed everything.

If the Glock had flopped as did the HK VP70z, do you think you'd have seen the frenzied rush by other manufacturers?

The answer to that question is a resounding no.
 
Armybrat is correct, IMHO. The Colt Patterson, the first mass produced revolver, followed by the .44 Colt Walker and the revolver that won the West, the 1851 .36 Cap N' Ball Colt Navy, which saw widespread use, almost as popular and useful as the shotgun. The 1851 percussion revolver was used and carried even after the metallic cartridge guns became available (Wild Bill still carried them up until his death in the 1870's). The 1851 Colts were mass produced, heavily advertised and therefore readily available to American's who desired to arm themselves against any threat, real or imagined. Thus, the Colt Percussion revolvers get my vote, as they were the first Mass produced, reliable repeating handguns. :) And no Tupperware parts on those old Colts! :D
 
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Lots of great ideas given so far and even better reasons for the selections.

My votes are: The 1911, perhaps the greatest battle handgun ever developed.

S&W M-39, led the way for U.S. acceptance of the double action auto loader.

S&W 38/44 N frame which allowed Keith, Sharp, and Remington to develop the .357 Magnum round, which IMO is the most versatile handgun round ever developed.
 
I am not having a go at glock i own one. But apart form being lighter than my cz 75 i dont see any advantage. Apart form the use of different materials used in their manufacture semi-auto pistols have changed Little in their function and reliability in the last hundred years, as the 1911 and browning hp ect testify to.
 
Did Colt originate the swing out cylinder? Google says it's the Iver Johnson Model 1879.
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Ahhh, that's what keeps patent attorneys in business!

IMHO, Colt's design would be sufficiently different to get around Iver Johnson's design.
 
I would have to suggest 2 weapons.

Colt's revolver was the first repeating handgun of any sort, if I am not mistaken.

Wasn't the C 93 the first practical auto loader? I would suggest it or the Mauser Broomhandle, whichever was the first to work reasonably well & prove the value of an autoloader.
 
"Colt's revolver was the first repeating handgun of any sort, if I am not mistaken."

I believe the pepperbox type multibarrel repeater came out a number of years before the Paterson.
 
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