What's your favorite underappreciated or forgotten firearm?

pinefd said:
Good call on that one. That's the short barreled version of a couple of my favorite under appreciated and forgotten firearms. My Model 52 and 952, both of which I love shooting, sit very quietly in the back of my safe, since my newer acquisitions get all of my attention:

full



Frank
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Gorgeous firearms, the one on the bottom in particular! Thanks for sharing
 
Picton said:
They had one of these for sale in the classifieds here, I think? Earlier this year?

I forgot my other big nomination other than the Enfield No 5 Mk 1: the mighty AR180!



One of my favorite shooters. The only drawback is the mag availability.
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I was under the impression you could use STANAG mags with a quick hit from a dremel to add another cutout—or perhaps I have it backwards?

But yes these are very, very cool.
 
StR said:
I was under the impression you could use STANAG mags with a quick hit from a dremel to add another cutout—or perhaps I have it backwards?

But yes these are very, very cool.
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So I'm pretty good with a Dremel and I have a jig I built to do 180 mag conversions... and they're still hit-or-miss. It's easy to modify a STANAG mag so it'll seat in an AR180, yes, but you'll get occasional FTFs and the BHO will always be iffy.

Contrast that with the Sterling or Armalite mags and it's night and day; those function perfectly. Since mine is hardly an SHTF weapon and I don't need a million mags stacked deep, I tend to wait around until I find a deal on the right mags. I've got four, and that's probably enough for a lifetime.
 
T-Unit said:
Unlike the .40, the .357 Sig is dying a death as I don't know of any LE agencies that still use it. Because of that the ammo price is only going to climb ever higher and even tho they're just a barrel change of a .40 away most people are not going to bother to do that due to the ammo cost.

I am of the opinion that anyone who wants a high velocity 9mm that it's better than trying to hot rod 9mm +P++P+++P, but if that much power is actually required then 10mm beats the snot out of .357 Sig.

It's hard to say when a bottlenecked pistol caliber is a better choice. 5.7 is the rage now because of the low recoil and high capacity with some ability to defeat soft armor, but once you get around that and you study the effects on target with those projectiles it's a weak ass .22. .22 TCM ups the velocity even more, but is stuck in 1911s from the Philippians and has no support by the industry.

.
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357 Sig is great if you need higher velocity and can take advantage of that with bullet design/construction. Sure, there’s 9mm +P++ or whatever, but that beats the snot out of 9mm chambers and brass.

Some of the light 357 Sig loads go over 2k FPS. It’s like 22 tcm, but with more meplat/crush damage. And it can work particularly well in a PDW weapon system.

357 Sig doesn’t offer much for civilian personal defense handguns, but it absolutely has use cases where it would be very effective. It’s just unfortunate that it was kind of forgotten for those other use cases. People only focused on using it with standard weight JHPs.
 
drgrant said:
Runners up...

SW945... produced when S&W wasn't a joke at QC. Pick up an old SW945 and you might be impressed. It's basically a Twist on the 1911 it'll only failed commercially because of the 1911 existing. 🤣 that and Smith should have done a few things with the platform. I had one of the 4-in guns at one point and I sold it to a member here years ago hopefully he's still enjoying the thing.
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Looks like a 1911 with Downs Syndrome but I’m sure it shoots great
 
drgrant said:
I know they'll probably never do it but I really want them to make a gen 5 - 32. It just sucks now that the ammo is so expensive I should have bought it all up during covid I bought a few thousand rounds because it was actually kind of cheap in relative terms but I'd like to have a hell of a lot more than that. .357 Sig is absolutely rape even at dealer cost in a lot of cases. Nice shooting cartridge though. It's like ++P++ 9mm. You feel it but the muzzle flip is way lower than 40 is.
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I'm a sucker for gen 3 Glocks. Had a Gen 5 G19 and sold it and got a G19 in Gen 3. I also have the Gen 3 G32

If you like the Gen 5, you could get a G23 Gen 5 and drop in a replacement barrel?
 
PappyM3 said:
357 Sig is great if you need higher velocity and can take advantage of that with bullet design/construction. Sure, there’s 9mm +P++ or whatever, but that beats the snot out of 9mm chambers and brass.

Some of the light 357 Sig loads go over 2k FPS. It’s like 22 tcm, but with more meplat/crush damage. And it can work particularly well in a PDW weapon system.

357 Sig doesn’t offer much for civilian personal defense handguns, but it absolutely has use cases where it would be very effective. It’s just unfortunate that it was kind of forgotten for those other use cases. People only focused on using it with standard weight JHPs.
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People tend to miss one of the HUGE advantages of .357 Sig: ultimate reliability. Due to it's necked design failure to feed is practically nonexistent!
 
drgrant said:
-The grip angle is slightly different from a 1911 maybe more of a straight drop although it's almost not really even that noticeable.

-The trigger out of the box is outstanding, or at least it was on the ones ive used.

-it has a ramped barrel (like a typical handgun) and is linkless. Also has a briley spherical bushing at the end to help bring accuracy up. (It looks like a primitive wedding ring lol)

-It has a gigantic /external/ extractor.

-There's a spring loaded ejector pin that pops up. Not sure why they went with this but it's a pretty stout part.

-The mags were well designed, very 1911esque but slightly larger. I think Wilson or someone like that made them for smith.

-All 945s are flat tops. Originally it was sold in 3 sizes, an officer mod size, a 4in/commander and full size 5in guns. The 3in and 4in are rarer than the 5in, especially the 3in.
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Well f***.

Now I want one.
 
One of the unsung benefits of the better .40 caliber handguns is that a slide swap or barrel swap allows for use with 9mm and often .357 Sig. A Glock 23 fires three calibers with the same slide and multiple barrels. A Beretta 96 fires 9mm and .22 LR with a slide and barrel swap. I believe the same is true for the Sig 226 as well. Of course you also need different magazines for the different calibers.

Anyone paying attention during Covid should recognize the importance of caliber options. When 9mm was non existent, .40 was available.
 

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StR said:
Well now that’s a first—I bet that’s one hell of a pull though!

I worry that could break under repeated use, and then you’d end up pulling the trigger…but still, love me some quirky design.
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I think it's just to allow for a restrike. very strange design but norinco.
I'd love to mess with one. Other than the trigger guard thing it looks like a hi point lol
 
T-Unit said:
Rifle- Krag Jorgensen. I think people overlook it due to the weak bolt, but the .30-40 Krag is nothing to sneeze at. Compared to all our intermediate calibers, it smokes them, so it's not incapable, just people figure for what a bolt action can be, it should be more powerful than .30-40. I doubt most would ever use or need that extra power. In terms of use, I think the cartridge box is more intuitive than stripper clips and I've always liked a magazine disconnect on a bolt action. Oh, and from what I read the bolt having just one locking lug makes it extremely smooth to operate.
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Had my Krag at the range yesterday. It's no slouch.
 
For me it will always be the 99 Savage. The Rotary Mag (thanks to Browning) and the sleek look just draws you in. When I was a kid they were everywhere. Usually the EG in the .300 Savage. This is my Barrel Band H in the .300 Savage which is a nice combo.
 

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Winchester 1906 pump 22lr rifle. aka "Gallery gun"

So light and well balanced, great trigger, fantastic quality compared to junk made today.

Also M1 Carbine, there's no better carbine ever made.
 
FC Magic said:
One of the unsung benefits of the better .40 caliber handguns is that a slide swap or barrel swap allows for use with 9mm and often .357 Sig. A Glock 23 fires three calibers with the same slide and multiple barrels. A Beretta 96 fires 9mm and .22 LR with a slide and barrel swap. I believe the same is true for the Sig 226 as well. Of course you also need different magazines for the different calibers.

Anyone paying attention during Covid should recognize the importance of caliber options. When 9mm was non existent, .40 was available.
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Meh. This is woefully overrated.

This is a dumb "advantage" considering you could just buy another gun. If you can afford to engage in this kind of f***ery with conversion barrels then you can probably afford another gun.
The end result is much better you have two complete guns instead of one and a shitty conversion.

I'll never pretend to understand the fedora wearing hipster edgelord thing with caliber conversions. People think that they're getting some kind of a great win by doing this but all they're really doing is just trying to justify flinting out of buying another handgun. And you end up with a pile of crap that nobody wants at the end either whereas the guy who has the two handguns has two handguns and you still.only have one.

I won't do a caliber conversion unless there's literally no other route to get to the desired end result otherwise you're nearly always better off just buying another gun.
 
drgrant said:
Meh. This is woefully overrated.

This is a dumb "advantage" considering you could just buy another gun. If you can afford to engage in this kind of f***ery with conversion barrels then you can probably afford another gun.
The end result is much better you have two complete guns instead of one and a shitty conversion.

I'll never pretend to understand the fedora wearing hipster edgelord thing with caliber conversions. People think that they're getting some kind of a great win by doing this but all they're really doing is just trying to justify flinting out of buying another handgun. And you end up with a pile of crap that nobody wants at the end either whereas the guy who has the two handguns has two handguns and you still.only have one.

I won't do a caliber conversion unless there's literally no other route to get to the desired end result otherwise you're nearly always better off just buying another gun.
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For the fohtay, I think it can make sense. I have zero reason to shoot fohtay, except for instances where 9mm is scarce. And I don’t want an extra full gun taking up space. That said, I just avoid it all together by buying and stocking ammo smartly.
 
Glock conversion barrels are less than $100. It isn't even in the same ballpark as buying a second or third gun. Along with the low cost of conversion barrels, you have the advantage of using the same slide and optic set up. Less cost and less space. More caliber options. If being practical makes me a hipster edgelord, I hope someone sends me a free hat.
 
FC Magic said:
Glock conversion barrels are less than $100. It isn't even in the same ballpark as buying a second or third gun. Along with the low cost of conversion barrels, you have the advantage of using the same slide and optic set up. Less cost and less space. More caliber options. If being practical makes me a hipster edgelord, I hope someone sends me a free hat.
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I couldn't agree more--and that opens up another avenue on-topic for this thread--weird conversion kits!

The Guncrafter Industries 50 GI Conversion kit - a round I'd argue is even less popular than the 357 Sig!

The Makarov 9mm conversion barrel for the CZ-52 - $85 at the time, seemingly much harder to find now.
 

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