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Wood!
Sometimes pig's teeth compressed into a simulacrum of ivory!
These guns have SOUL!
And half of them are out of production because they cannot be made economically.
The Browning Hi-Power and the Colt Super 38 both shoot well enough that I was asked to stop bringing them to a local bowling pin shoot. The only other person to be told this was using a slide mounted red-dot on a Glock 17.
The Hi-Power and the Pocket Hammerless are out of production.
Yes, there's a Turkish clone of the Hi-Power, but it's not finished to near the same degree as this Belgian example. That's a testimony to how hard the corners need to be cut to make a sale in today's market; and the Tisas made guns aren't being marketed as a competitor to Glock, S&W or SIG. They're being sold to romantics who want a steel 9mm and can't afford the eye-watering price of a real FN-Browning.
I am often torn between my love of these old fashioned steel guns and the brutal efficiency of modern plastic fantastics.
I know what I carry and it's resilient polymer rather than corrosion prone steel.
Technology marches on and it doesn't care about our emotions or feels.
I gave up on the "romance" of carburetors for sequential, port fuel injection years ago.
I even learned about metal injection molding to see where it could be appropriately used (and where it shouldn't).
I'm a romantic at heart and my feels want a full-steel gun to be better than a souless plastic monstrosity at the same or lower price... but it won't be.
I agree. I've got both polymer and steel or alloy framed pistols. But I still have one carburated car. But it stays mostly original for nostalgia more than I think that carbs are 'better'.
ReplyDeleteLike steel frames, carbs have some things about them which have merit.
DeleteAlso, what replaced them is definitely superior in most respects.
Romance doesn't make you wrong.
There's something to be said about a machine that can be run by three wires and an alternator versus a computer and a half-mile of wires.
ReplyDeleteWhat that is, most will dismiss, and the knowledge it takes is something most people will not undertake to learn.
Complexity breeds fragility, which all are learning and will be given a doctoral-level education in the very near future.
Especially that lubricants are by far the weakest point in machinery logistics, by far.
Not dealing with all the crap that comes with cylinder wash-down from carbs makes dealing with wires, computers and sensors all worth it.
DeleteNever mind that I've owned a carb'd 450hp motor and own a SFI motor with similar power now.
No over heating, idles without loading up and dying, power from idle to redline and good gas mileage. All wins!
Yet, simplicity often beckons...
A points distributor is going to work after the nuclear war or Harrington II.
Keep a spare ECM in a shielded location for after WWIII.
ReplyDeletePeople might be surprised to find out how robust their car's electronics are in the face of EMP.
DeleteAll of the stuff done to prevent RF interference with the daily workings also protects from EMP, which is a lot less powerful than is generally described. We don't make nukes that pulse like Project Thor did. All that radio frequency energy is put to better use reflected back into the second stage of the warhead.