150 years of iconic handguns in stainless steel

[Terry T]

Got to musing about my accumulation of handguns the other day and realized that I like iconic handguns and that I like guns in stainless steel. And....that I have 150 years of iconic handguns, guns that set the standard for their era.



Samual Colt introduced his percussion revolver in 1836. It was refined until it was replaced by his Colt Army, known as the "Peacemaker" in 1873, "The handgun that won the west".
Ruger did the percussion revolver better and did it in stainless with the Old Army.
Ruger also did the classic single action Colt Army better with the New Vaquero and did it in stainless. Shown is a 7 1/2" New Vaquero in .45 LC and a 3 1/2" Bird's Head New Vaquero in .45 ACP.



Smith & Wesson and Colt introduced the swing out cylinder in about 1890. This became the standard American police side arm for the next 90 years.
Ruger did it better with the Six Series double action revolvers - shown is a stainless Speed Six in .357 magnum.

Luger introduced his innovative toggle action in 1900. It was the first really handy semi-auto and quickly gained wide acceptance. Mitchell Arms did it better in 1993 in stainless and in 9mm.

Colt met the U.S. Army's need for a better handgun with John Browning's 1911. It faithfully served for 70 years.
Ruger did it better with their 1911C in 2013 in stainless in .45 ACP.

Walther introduced their model PP in 1929 and the compact PPK in 1931. The first widely successful double action semi-auto. Walther introduced the same gun but in stainless in the 1980s in .380 ACP.



A hundred years of fire arms designs, 1836 - 1931 but produced in Stainless Steel in the late 20th and early 21 century. Some designs are timeless and improve with age and new materials, therefore, 150 years of firearms development.

Terry T

 

[JPGLSG]

Thanks for the history lesson, and what a fine collection you have.

 

[contender]

An interesting & enjoyable perspective of how to view things! Nice!

 

[lovemydals]

Interesting indeed Terry T! Thanks for sharing.

lmd

 

[Terry T]

Thanks for the kind words.
Sometimes you look at the pile and see something different, a different pattern, or, as my grandson would say, "I'll just rearrange the Legos and build a different space plane!"
Terry T

 

[JPGLSG]

"Luger introduced his innovative toggle action in 1900. It was the first really handy semi-auto and quickly gained wide acceptance. Mitchell Arms did it better in 1993 in stainless and in 9mm."


T...I want to see some mo-better photos up close of this Luger and some more info. Are these still out there to be had ???

JP

 

[Terry T]

"JPGLSG"

Mitchell Arms contracted with a foundry / machine shop in Texas to duplicate the Luger in stainless in 1991. (Parts are actually interchangeable with original Lugers.) They produced a few in 1992 and 1993 and then ATF required that they change the manufacturer's name. I believe the first batch began with ser. no. 3000 and then when the name was changed, they restarted the ser. no. at 6000.
Mitchell called it the Mitchell American Eagle since Stoeger had owned the rights to the name "Luger" since the mid 1930s.
By late 1993 Mitchell sold the rights / model to Stoeger and it was renamed The "Stoeger Luger". I'm not clear on when production stopped. I'm suspecting that Stoeger restarted the ser. no. again at S1000.

They show up from time to time on Gunbroker.com.
I found 3 for sale this evening:

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=431056546

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=430225451

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=430884475

Here is an article available on E-bay talking about the Mitchell Luger:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1994-MITCHELL-American-Eagle-PISTOL-Parts-List-Assembly-Article-Exploded-View-/400738051382?pt=Vintage_Hunting&hash=item5d4dd96536

I lucked in to mine at a local gun shop a few months ago. Just one of those iconic pieces that I've always lusted after and when I saw it in stainless, well .....
Terry T

 

[Chance]

Very good stuff Terry
Thanks

 

[rugerguy]

nice pictures Terry and some very good history, but alas "stainless steel , at least the alloys for making firearms is only about 50 years old, as next year should be the anniversary of the model 60 S&W came out in 1965 and the model 66 revolvers in 1970, and YES Bill Ruger and his "casting" of stainless steel guns and parts in the mid 70's really turned the corner...never really paid attention to any other makers of firearms, that used stainless exclusively back in the early days,too hard to work with and machine back then, and the properties were not real GOOD in their use with firearms, ,expansion and contraction, etc......learned a lot of them back then and they have really improved ,come a LONG way,look at the S&W 500's !!

Again, NICE selection you have pictured there, thanks for sharing.... :wink:

I can add a foot note , in my working with Mr.Dan Wesson, yes, that one, back in 1973, he told me that he "hated " their (S&W) stainless guns, and they did NOT build any Dan Wessons in stainless steel till after he passed away 8)