It was called the XGI. Too much oomph for the size rifle it was.
Handguns from the 80's/90's that didn't make it.
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It was called the XGI. Too much oomph for the size rifle it was.
Yaworski
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I remember going into a Woolworth and they had barrels of M1s for some stupidly low price. I was looking for a pretty one but all of them were beat up so I didn't buy one. I did get one from DCM but I do wish that I had bought about 20 of those Blue Sky M1s.
I also wish that I had grabbed five or six of the S&W M1917 that came in from Brazil in the early 90s. $100 each but I had two small children and a grumpy wife.
Para Ordnance/Para USA
Just remembered Para. Pretty big name; gone now.
I bought a Para Hawg, double-stack compact 9 for concealed carry. Excellent layout. Super trigger.
One day, the plastic recoil spring plug grenaded. Pieces jammed the slide. I.e., catastrophic failure. Not good for a CC gun.
Some time after replacement, I was shooting it at the range. Quite literally after the last shot, as I was clearing it to put it in the case, the extractor fell out on the ground. Whuh?
End of CC career for Para Hawg.
Para "power extractor" is an interesting story. Their engineer came up with a 4-piece extractor that used a simple coil spring, instead of trying to form an intricate piece out of spring steel. Brilliant!
Then they made it out of MIM! They made a stressed part out of MIM. To save a buck, I assume. It broke. As a forged steel piece never would. The bean counters threw away a genius design.
Just remembered Para. Pretty big name; gone now.
I bought a Para Hawg, double-stack compact 9 for concealed carry. Excellent layout. Super trigger.
One day, the plastic recoil spring plug grenaded. Pieces jammed the slide. I.e., catastrophic failure. Not good for a CC gun.
Some time after replacement, I was shooting it at the range. Quite literally after the last shot, as I was clearing it to put it in the case, the extractor fell out on the ground. Whuh?
End of CC career for Para Hawg.
Para "power extractor" is an interesting story. Their engineer came up with a 4-piece extractor that used a simple coil spring, instead of trying to form an intricate piece out of spring steel. Brilliant!
Then they made it out of MIM! They made a stressed part out of MIM. To save a buck, I assume. It broke. As a forged steel piece never would. The bean counters threw away a genius design.
spacestuff4me
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Let's revive this thread about guns from the 70's & 80's that didn't make it. I was digging through the pile and found an extraordinary pistol that I picked up in the 80's. The Thomas pistol was a semiauto 45 that looks like a PPK on steroids and made for concealment. The company made approx 1550 guns, there was a grip safety but no thumb safety and no external hammer. In the 70's Thomas was given to a few LAPD detectives and special services to try out, but the shoulder holsters weren't well made.
I purchased my NIB nickel plated Thomas 45, that was 1 of 5 nickel guns built, from an investor in the company who told me why the gun failed. An LAPD detective who was carrying his Thomas 45 in a shoulder rig bent over, his gun fell out of the holster, when the gun landed on the pavement it discharged killing his partner. Needless to say that was the end of the Thomas 45 DA 45 pistol.
After the lawsuits, bankruptcy, fighting was over, the 1550 guns were all that come off the line and the tooling was taken by one of the principles. The investor was given this rare nickel variant, he told me that gun had cost him $100,,000 and he just wanted to get rid of it.. I thought about redesigning the gun, but AMT, Glock and others came out with excellent compact 45's at prices that didn't make the effort worthwhile. It was an awesome concept with innovations not seen for another 10-15 years
I purchased my NIB nickel plated Thomas 45, that was 1 of 5 nickel guns built, from an investor in the company who told me why the gun failed. An LAPD detective who was carrying his Thomas 45 in a shoulder rig bent over, his gun fell out of the holster, when the gun landed on the pavement it discharged killing his partner. Needless to say that was the end of the Thomas 45 DA 45 pistol.
After the lawsuits, bankruptcy, fighting was over, the 1550 guns were all that come off the line and the tooling was taken by one of the principles. The investor was given this rare nickel variant, he told me that gun had cost him $100,,000 and he just wanted to get rid of it.. I thought about redesigning the gun, but AMT, Glock and others came out with excellent compact 45's at prices that didn't make the effort worthwhile. It was an awesome concept with innovations not seen for another 10-15 years
COP: A FOUR BARRELED STAINLESS STEEL .357 DERRINGER.
trigger pull needed three strong men and a boy to fire it.
trigger pull needed three strong men and a boy to fire it.
hkcavalier
US Veteran
Has anyone brought up the Wyoming Arms pistols (and the Laseraim ones that continued the design)? They sure look nice from a distance but the Internet is chock full of stories about the design issues --- sharp edges, extractors coming out of the slides, feeding issues, etc. I recently looking into buying a Laseraim 10mm but quickly ran the other way once I did some research.
"What was the deal with that M1A-like Ruger that never went into production?"
It was basically a scaled up mini-14. If you like reading and guns, pickup old Gun Digestt annuals from the 80's and 90's, usually about $10.00 at guns shows. Most of the information is still relevant, but there are a lot of write ups of guns and entire companies that tried, and we know now, failed. Often made fun of with hindsight, they were companies established by people who invested lots of time and money to make their dreams come true. The invisible hand of capitalism doesn't play favorites.
It's not that a product is necessarily a bad idea; sometimes it's lack of funding or just bad timing. Would Mr. Glock have been as successful without the funding from the Austrian military contract available to mount an expensive ad campaign? No way to know.
I'm still waiting on the Detonics break-top double action revovler, written about many times back in the day.
It was basically a scaled up mini-14. If you like reading and guns, pickup old Gun Digestt annuals from the 80's and 90's, usually about $10.00 at guns shows. Most of the information is still relevant, but there are a lot of write ups of guns and entire companies that tried, and we know now, failed. Often made fun of with hindsight, they were companies established by people who invested lots of time and money to make their dreams come true. The invisible hand of capitalism doesn't play favorites.
It's not that a product is necessarily a bad idea; sometimes it's lack of funding or just bad timing. Would Mr. Glock have been as successful without the funding from the Austrian military contract available to mount an expensive ad campaign? No way to know.
I'm still waiting on the Detonics break-top double action revovler, written about many times back in the day.
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Yes, I have an original PC9 with their even more scarce ghost ring sight. I love it…… another nominee would be the Walther CREED. Mine is my bedside gun. It does not shoot, feel or function like a “budget” 9mm.
Malysh
Member
Colt made only one model as you described.
It was a Colt Agent, rough polish, and with a parkerized finish. These were made during the prolonged labor strike at Colt
It was not a Detective Special, which was always a steel frame revolver. The Cobra and the Agent were aluminum alloy frame revolvers.
Malysh
Member
The Colt 2000 was a poor offering. It was
designed by Reed Knight and Gene Stoner, crazy as that sounds.
Horrible trigger. We used to call it the Black and Decker.
designed by Reed Knight and Gene Stoner, crazy as that sounds.
Horrible trigger. We used to call it the Black and Decker.
44wheelman
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Texas Longhorn Arms #5
Super Six Limited Golden Bison Bull
LAR mfg Grizzly
AMT Automag
Super Six Limited Golden Bison Bull
LAR mfg Grizzly
AMT Automag
I have a Firestar in 9 mm. Yes it is heavy, and yes it shoots great.
Me too. The Star M-43 is one of the earliest "wonder 9's". It was even named "handgun of the year" by Guns & Ammo in 1991.
It is a heavy little bugger, because it is all-steel, but the weight makes it a really mild-shooting, controllable compact 9mm.
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Sterling .22 LR and .25 ACP pocket pistols. I inherited a .22 from my FIL. It came with 2 bricks of CCI Mini-Mags which were all I could ever get to feed reliably in it. Sold it to a coworker as an Onion Field gun.
Also had one of the economy Agents. It never failed me and I shot the snot out of it and carried it in my boot for 5 or 6 years before selling it to a rookie. A first year of manufacture Cobra replaced it in my boot. The finish on that wore much faster than the Agent.
Wasn't the Wildey also of that era?
Also had one of the economy Agents. It never failed me and I shot the snot out of it and carried it in my boot for 5 or 6 years before selling it to a rookie. A first year of manufacture Cobra replaced it in my boot. The finish on that wore much faster than the Agent.
Wasn't the Wildey also of that era?
I have an early Colt Agent. Other than the finish, it is the equal, in quality, of the Cobra I carried as a back-up for a number of years.
I was able to shoot a Ruger XGI back in the '80s. It handled fine, but I understand Ruger couldn't get it reliable with all of the different military ammo that was out there.
I was able to shoot a Ruger XGI back in the '80s. It handled fine, but I understand Ruger couldn't get it reliable with all of the different military ammo that was out there.
It's not that a product is necessarily a bad idea; sometimes it's lack of funding or just bad timing. Would Mr. Glock have been as successful without the funding from the Austrian military contract available to mount an expensive ad campaign? No way to know.
I'm still waiting on the Detonics break-top double action revovler, written about many times back in the day.
I love reading about the break-top Detonics. I have all the GD annuals from 1959-1990 (that took a while) and it's fascinating to see what was and wasn't successful. The 1986 GD did an article on the Glock. It's interesting to note that the writer was very matter of fact about the new pistol but didn't appear to be enamored with it. However, they loved the Whitney Wolverine (early sixties) - now something of a collector's item. A memorable failure. Very interesting to look back on the older guns and how they were received initially. The Colt 2000 got lots of press when it was released. I was in college, and it felt like it was The Second Coming.
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Tex1001
Member
Almost Forgot!
Got roped into a Beretta 9000 in the early 2000s. It's a
DAO 9mm. Got it for my son who was working in a
sketchy motel. Grip dissolved and it's back in the safe.
I got several mags for it at the time. NO ONE has them
now. No parts available. It's a complete orphan.
Sort of snazzy looking.
That's a generic photo.
Got roped into a Beretta 9000 in the early 2000s. It's a
DAO 9mm. Got it for my son who was working in a
sketchy motel. Grip dissolved and it's back in the safe.
I got several mags for it at the time. NO ONE has them
now. No parts available. It's a complete orphan.
Sort of snazzy looking.
That's a generic photo.
Attachments
Photog
Member
One I remember, although it may have been in the 1970's, was AMT, I th ink was going to bring out a new top break revolver, similar to a Webley. I saw a pic of it on the cover of Shooting Times, Guns and Ammo or Guns. Not sure which, as I subscribed to all three during that time. I really like the Webley, especially in .455, and would have really liked on in 45 Colt or 44 Magnum.
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