Getting Sick of Guys With Plastic Pistols...

....Yes, guns are tools. So are automobiles. So, why are we not driving econoboxes to work, the beach, etc? A Fiat 500 is certainly as good a tool as my RAV4. Personally, I'd rather have something else than the Toyota, but why, if it's just a tool?

I wish you hadn't gone there. I'll tell you why you might want something else. Imagine your Rav4 is four days old and you and are spouse are enjoying a day without the kids, sitting at a traffic light, when Bham! A 20something slams into you with his 94' Accord, doing maybe 25mph, because he was texting. Sure, your Rav4 is good enough to chase down the 20something, as he flees the scene, and you can hold him, as your spouse talks the police in to the alley behind the post office. But days, weeks, months, even years go by and still, your hip continues to hurt.

Every Black Friday you remember how insignificant the hit was, then you rub your hip and also recall how your wife said, "It's Black Friday, take the company Explorer and not your new Rav4. you're going to get dinged with all of the mad shopping carts." then you go on with your day. It's then that you realize your Rav4 is a Camry in wolf's clothing.

I had a company vehicle. My position changed and they took my Ford Explorer. I wanted a Ridgeline, but my wife already had a Pilot and it seemed silly to have two trucks, so I bought the Rav4 because it made "sense". After the incident, not so much. My wife is also used to truck and commented that the Rav4 felt like a tin can and she never felt safe in it. Rational or not, she feels safer in her Pilot. The week after it was repaired, I traded the Rav4 in and bought the Ridgeline I should have gotten in the first place.

This is NOT a condemnation of the Rav4. That vehicle offers a lot for its size and price range, but it's just not for me anymore. It might make sense you younger, more limber folks, but I don't have 3 decades left to fully recover from soft tissue injuries.

My position changed again and I was given a 2013 Explorer. Imagine you're driving down the road in your 2013 Explorer, on a beautiful day, and an enormous tree, large enough to cover five lines of traffic, falls on top of you in your Explorer, totaling the truck, but not you. A passerby opens the hatch and you crawl out with soft tissue injuries. I'm now driving a 2017 Explorer... If they take my Explorer, I'll get a Ridgeline and happily pay through the nose for gas.

The tree confirmed what I had suspected all along. I had the right tool for the job, sitting in my driveway, but drove the Rav4 that day and have been paying for it ever since, all be it a modest price.

PS - I guess is you've only been hit in a vehicle three times in four decades, then perhaps even a motorcycle makes sense. Of course, the older you get, the harder it is to bounce back from those fender benders ; )

PSS: this is also not a condemnation of any plastic gun. Different circumstances call for different tools. It's that simple. We all want the tool that we're most efficient with and even "like" better and it doesn't matter what material it's made of or what it costs, if it works for us. We went to the movies yesterday. it's warm and I don't like using a hip holster, since I'm seated most of the time. I picked up a relatively inexpensive Vega (Miami Classic) holster into which I shoved a shrouded hammer Colt Detective Special, which I overpaid for, and enjoyed the movie. Honestly, the holster might be harder to replace than the Colt. They don't take holsters as evidence do they!?!?!?
 
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I have always loved the steel pistols and revolvers from Smith and others. I recently picked up a Shift&W 686. Only recently have I picked up a polymer pistol. It is more convenient to carry. But to me, it is nothing more than a tool, not unlike a screwdriver or wrench. It sits in a drawer until it is needed.
 
I don't want to get hung up on vehicles, but since josywales said "My position changed again and I was given a 2013 Explorer. Imagine you're driving down the road in your 2013 Explorer, on a beautiful day, and an enormous tree, large enough to cover five lines of traffic, falls on top of you in your Explorer, totaling the truck, but not you. A passerby opens the hatch and you crawl out with soft tissue injuries. I'm now driving a 2017 Explorer... If they take my Explorer, I'll get a Ridgeline and happily pay through the nose for gas," this is what I'm thinking of replacing my RAV4. I found it between Houston and Austin and I reckon it fits in with schoolmarm persona. Along with my gen 2 and gen 3 9mm Smiths.
 

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I don't want to get hung up on vehicles, but since josywales said "My position changed again and I was given a 2013 Explorer. Imagine you're driving down the road in your 2013 Explorer, on a beautiful day, and an enormous tree, large enough to cover five lines of traffic, falls on top of you in your Explorer, totaling the truck, but not you. A passerby opens the hatch and you crawl out with soft tissue injuries. I'm now driving a 2017 Explorer... If they take my Explorer, I'll get a Ridgeline and happily pay through the nose for gas," this is what I'm thinking of replacing my RAV4. I found it between Houston and Austin and I reckon it fits in with schoolmarm persona. Along with my gen 2 and gen 3 9mm Smiths.

Now you're cooking with gas. Slap a Gen 3 9mm in a Miami Classic and hoowah!
 
The problem is that you nuts think of handguns as pieces of art instead of the tools they are. You have a problem. :D

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Yes, I do have a problem -- Stage 27 P&R Disorder.
 
My time expended, and out-of-pocket costs paid, saved your life, and I am very, very happy about that.
I'm translating this to mean "I am very happy to have collected a substantial portion of the settlement". Lawyers don't do anything for free. GARY
 
Has anyone ever considered some people just might find a Glock or similar pistol aesthetically appealing? I live in a mid-century modern(an Eichler). A lot of folks don't care for this type of architecture, but I find them to be works of art. When an earthquake took out my radiant floor heat a few years ago, instead of busting out the concrete floor searching for the leak, I opted to ditch the boiler system altogether and put in exposed spiral ductwork and I absolutely love the look. I'm also fond of late 60's/early 70's muscle cars, but when they came out, many older folks found them to plain and visually unappealing. A lot of this stuff is subjective and generational.
 
I totally agree, plastic pistols are the best.They have superior engineering and materials, drop dead sexy appearance, are more accurate, and will make even a mediocre shot perform like Jerry Miculek. They are just plain cool.

Disclaimer: please let's all spread the word via social media, forums, bumper stickers, etc. Talk it up! In no time your local LGS will have an overabundance of trade-ins of classic blued carbon steel pistols, color case hardened triggers and hammers and beautifully shaped checkered wooden stocks. The influx will drive prices down and decrease interest in these ancient, dinosaur relics. It will be a buyers market. Let's do it!
 
The problem is that you nuts think of handguns as pieces of art instead of the tools they are. You have a problem. :D

The day you spring for a nice older revolver , semi custom 1911 or an IMI plated Desert Eagle , you might understand the quality and workmanship so many here are passionate about.Until then enjoy what you have.
 
Haha! You make a great point. Perhaps I'll start selling them off when I reach your age. Since I don't plan on having kids myself, I honestly have no clue who I'd leave them to.
At my age, it's probably a good idea to sell them and get plastic pistols. That way, you'll have something to gnaw on when your teeth begin aching and bleeding! At my age I shake so much my Ruger Single-Six went full auto on me one day at the range! At my age I...I...forgot what I was going to say. :cool:

Funny how the polymer gun folks never say anything about people owning metal guns(with plastic grips :D )until provoked.:rolleyes:
Grips can be changed. Frames and parts not so much. Besides, a gun can still be beautiful with plastic grips. There are no beautiful plastic guns. If someone gave me a choice between a model 639 and a 3906, I'd take the former any day of the week.
Hey, what about MIM bashing, haven't seen that in a day or three. :D
I despise MIM parts, not because they don't work but because they are ugly. On my S&W 686 no-dash, I love the hard chromed parts. Wouldn't care if they were MIM if they were hard chromed. The problem is, they aren't. The latest 3rd gen 5906 guns have black, ugly hammers and triggers. Don't know what they're made of. Now some idiot at S&W has decided two-toning revolvers is a swell idea! They look horrible.

I wonder why otherwise sensible people will get so down right nasty when talking about metal versus plastic. (I almost said discussing, but that implies to me civil discourse.)
Who's getting nasty, you jerk! (Hey, just kidding!) No one's gotten nasty here or, if they have, they were deleted before I could read them. I don't think less of people who agree with me. If I did, I'd be a hermit.

Yes, guns are tools. So are automobiles. So, why are we not driving econoboxes to work, the beach, etc?
Believe me, there are many out there who are trying to do just that. My neighbors are just some. They reason that because the Europeans are driving them, that we ought to. They don't take into account that Americans are 1) better, 2) FREE (see number 1), 3) better protected if we have something bigger and heavier crashing into us, and 4) have vast regions of miles cross country while they have short patches.

finally settled on a Glock 26. I worked with that pistol several months and got good with it. (I also tried a CZ100, a double action only polymer and got good with it, too, but that's another story.) I never really liked the trigger on the 26 though, and considered the experiment an interesting failure. I dumped the Glock for a 908 or 6906s and similar pistols.

I also did well with Glocks. For a boxy, plastic, completely unappealing pistol it was a fine handgun. Wouldn't own one, though. I also just got a Smith 6906. A woman neighbor just gave me three of her husband's guns after he died and didn't want a cent. She just wanted them out of her home. The only thing I had to agree to is to take two aging rifles with them, which I sold for $900 apiece. The pistols she gave me were 1) a S&W 6906, 2) Browning Hi-Power (T-model, 1968), and 3) S&W 36 (all Excellent Condition+) I'm not selling any of the pistols as they are all great guns.

Getting sick of gun snobs, which ever way they lean. Have both steel and plastic. I can appreciate both. As long as they get the job done, either is fine.
And I can appreciate people who appreciate both, but people who like plastic are causing people who like steel to not be able to get what they like and love.

Not all improvements need to be bemoaned, sir. Very few people want us to return to 35mm and Polaroid film, for example. Certainly not I. But all steel pistols now seem to be going for close to a grand! Plastic pistols are cheaper to make now than steel, so those of us who like steel are going to have to pay more for steel or do without. And that's the shame! Regardless of what some say, handguns are not merely tools. Some are quite elegant, and that makes them elegant. No one has ever engraved a hammer, a pair of pliers or a tire iron, but they have engraved arms throughout the ages. It's a bond between arms and men that has existed for thousands of years. In fact, that's how Odysseus caught Achilles prior to the Trojan War. His mother, knowing he would die if sent away, sought to prevent it by sending him away to a girl's school. Odysseus, ever the tactician, set up two tables, one with dresses, jewelry and exotic powders; the other with arms of various types. When one girl wondered over to inspect the blade of a beautiful sword, they grabbed him and behold, he was not a woman but a man!
 
Let's cut to the meat........


ok..you may not like polymer resin (plastic as you understand it) handguns. that's ok...ignorance is treatable.



from all the comments here it is obvious that a WHOLE LOT of people have no clue of the nature, strength, and durability of polymer resin's used in today's firearms...and yes there is scientific proof that polymer resin's are stonger than metal and metal alloy's....don't take my word for it...it's out there for you to read but ut-oh...that means educating yourself...



Original glocks have been around for HOW LONG??? and are still functional and will be for HOW MANY MORE YEARS ??????


The under layment of the space shuttle heat shield tile area is WHAT???? Metal??? NOPE...polymer Resin's...YEP ...


the list goes on...but I am sure you don't want to hear it.....


Just saying....................................

MEEEHHH!!!! I'm an old cantankerous curmudgeon and what I say GOES sonny!! Metal wins, ain't no plastic no match for walnut n' STEEL!! :D

PS: kidding I own both like both both are great get both shoot both both is good.
 
Say what you may, but Glocks are dependable and cheap. For $450, what else are you going to get that is as dependable and shoots as good?
Yes, when I go to the range and want to strut my stuff, I carry my shiny stainless and purdy blues guns,
But, my big out bag has a g17 stashed in it. Each of my vehicles have a G17 stashed in them.
Each have their place.
 
The day you spring for a nice older revolver , semi custom 1911 or an IMI plated Desert Eagle , you might understand the quality and workmanship so many here are passionate about.Until then enjoy what you have.
oh, I do. I enjoyed the $300 pistols I've purchased just as much as my 1K+ pistols. But guess what, they're still guns, not art, not anything to sit around and fondle and stroke - as many here do.
 
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