10 Most Iconic Handgun Designs of All Time

[Elderberry]

Shooting Illustrated  by Brad Fitzpatrick  December 28, 2020

Volumes have been written about great handguns, and it’s truly hard to whittle the long list of pistol designs dating back well over a century to just ten. One caveat for this particular roundup is that the listed guns have to remain available as a production firearm today, so if you want one you can go buy it (provided, of course, post-COVID supply eventually meets demand). Still, it’s tough to grade some gun designs against each other and assign a value to the great guns of the past.

The guns that made the cut all share a few traits in common, however—longevity, popularity, service, and an impact on the firearm industry. Here’s our list of the greatest handgun designs currently available today.

Colt 1911

No surprise here. John Moses Browning designed a lot of groundbreaking guns, but none have stood up as well as the Colt 1911 single-action semiauto. This pistol has served as the American sidearm in two World Wars and in countless other conflicts and it remains a favorite design of competition shooters and some law enforcement and military units, which is impressive for a pistol celebrating its 110th birthday next year. Countless companies offer their own 1911 pistols, including Springfield, SIG Sauer, Kimber, Rock Island, and more, and premium builders like Ed Brown, Nighthawk, and Bill Wilson churn out high-end 1911s that are worth very penny.

CZ 75

The CZ 75 was released in 1975, and credit for the gun’s design goes to brothers Josef and Frantisek Kouky. Because of export restrictions in what was then Czechoslovakia, CZ 75 clone pistols were built in other countries and that allowed the guns to be shipped around the world. The Kouky-designed pistol utilizes a short-recoil, lock-breech design similar to the venerable Browning Hi-Power (which fails to make the list only because major production was discontinued) and a slide that rides along internal rails.

With their double-stack, 15-round magazines the CZ 75 helped usher in the era of the “Wonder Nine” and the design has been copied by a host of other manufacturers including Tanfoglio, IMI, Norinco, Springfield, and others. The CZ 75 remains the company’s flagship, and thankfully these guns are now widely available in the U.S. CZ-USA currently offers 15 different CZ 75 variants for duty, competition and recreational shooting, and self-defense.

More: https://www.shootingillustrated.com/articles/2020/12/28/10-most-iconic-handgun-designs-of-all-time

I have 4 of the 10.

[GtHawk]

Shooting Illustrated  by Brad Fitzpatrick  December 28, 2020

Volumes have been written about great handguns, and it’s truly hard to whittle the long list of pistol designs dating back well over a century to just ten. One caveat for this particular roundup is that the listed guns have to remain available as a production firearm today, so if you want one you can go buy it (provided, of course, post-COVID supply eventually meets demand). Still, it’s tough to grade some gun designs against each other and assign a value to the great guns of the past.

The guns that made the cut all share a few traits in common, however—longevity, popularity, service, and an impact on the firearm industry. Here’s our list of the greatest handgun designs currently available today.

Colt 1911

No surprise here. John Moses Browning designed a lot of groundbreaking guns, but none have stood up as well as the Colt 1911 single-action semiauto. This pistol has served as the American sidearm in two World Wars and in countless other conflicts and it remains a favorite design of competition shooters and some law enforcement and military units, which is impressive for a pistol celebrating its 110th birthday next year. Countless companies offer their own 1911 pistols, including Springfield, SIG Sauer, Kimber, Rock Island, and more, and premium builders like Ed Brown, Nighthawk, and Bill Wilson churn out high-end 1911s that are worth very penny.

CZ 75

The CZ 75 was released in 1975, and credit for the gun’s design goes to brothers Josef and Frantisek Kouky. Because of export restrictions in what was then Czechoslovakia, CZ 75 clone pistols were built in other countries and that allowed the guns to be shipped around the world. The Kouky-designed pistol utilizes a short-recoil, lock-breech design similar to the venerable Browning Hi-Power (which fails to make the list only because major production was discontinued) and a slide that rides along internal rails.

With their double-stack, 15-round magazines the CZ 75 helped usher in the era of the “Wonder Nine” and the design has been copied by a host of other manufacturers including Tanfoglio, IMI, Norinco, Springfield, and others. The CZ 75 remains the company’s flagship, and thankfully these guns are now widely available in the U.S. CZ-USA currently offers 15 different CZ 75 variants for duty, competition and recreational shooting, and self-defense.

More: https://www.shootingillustrated.com/articles/2020/12/28/10-most-iconic-handgun-designs-of-all-time

I was said by many that the Hi-Power was the gun that the 1911 should have been. I watched a biography on Browning and was amazed, I thought I had an idea of how prolific and innovating he was but I was wrong!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH7TKsn4kH0&ab_channel=Jonweldy

I have fired the 1911 and like it but I own a Hi-Power and wouldn't trade for a 1911.

[Sighlass]

Enjoyed this documentary, I didn't know the half of it.

Then recommended was a documentary about a 1970 Dodge Hemi (The Black Ghost) that was another great view with heart.

[sneakypete]

I was said by many that the Hi-Power was the gun that the 1911 should have been.

@GtHawk

People say all sorts of foolish things.

When it comes to a combat sidearm,NOTHING beats the 1911A1. This is due to both the design,which was a work of pure genius,as well as the 45ACP round.

The Hi-Power may have been a contender if it were chambered in a more powerful round. To give them their due,they are a VERY reliable design.

[GtHawk]

@GtHawk

People say all sorts of foolish things.

When it comes to a combat sidearm,NOTHING beats the 1911A1. This is due to both the design,which was a work of pure genius,as well as the 45ACP round.

The Hi-Power may have been a contender if it were chambered in a more powerful round. To give them their due,they are a VERY reliable design.

@sneakypete

Please don't misunderstand the comment, the opinion wasn't about the caliber of the weapon, the people that expressed the opinion were discussing Browning's design of the Hi-Power vs. the 1911. About the closest the Hi-Power came to the .45 was its chambering in .40. It says something about the popularity of the 1911 that it is still in production in original design as well as modified copies while FN has discontinued making Hi-Powers, though I think FEG Hungary may still make them. My Belgium made Hi-power was stolen along with all my brothers guns when the lowlife druggie he let live in his house broke into his safe and stole everything..........brain tumors really F'k a person up. Anyway I now have a FEG copy of the Hi-Power and when I compared it to a friends we couldn't discern any difference in the parts and it shoots really well.

Bottom line, they each have they place, the .45 for brute strength and catastrophic damage and the 9mm for punching nice little holes in things

[Elderberry]

Too bad John Browning died before he could finish the design. Can you imagine what it would have been like if it was all his design and not modified by Dieudonne Saive to satisfy all the French design specs.

[sneakypete]

Too bad John Browning died before he could finish the design. Can you imagine what it would have been like if it was all his design and not modified by Dieudonne Saive to satisfy all the French design specs.

@Elderberry

Ok,you just told me something I had never heard before.

[Elderberry]

I had mentioned that I have 4 of the 10 listed "Iconic" handguns, but favorites may not be iconic ones. The Iconic ones I own are the 1911, J-Frame S&W, Ruger Standard, and CZ 75. The most I've shot is by far my J-Frame, a Model 36 38 Chief's Special with a 3" bbl. I've shot close to 10K rounds thru it. Now I have the .22 Ruger Standard, but my favorite 22 handgun has to be my Ruger Single Six with a 6" bbl. And the handgun I've always depended on when I venture out is my 45Colt Ruger Blackhawk with a 4-5/8" bbl. Not to discount my 1911, a RIA 45govt, that I just love how naturally it shoots for me. I have always tried to maintain the ability to Instinct Shoot" my weapons. It must be because my very first handgun had sights so bad that they were several feet off at 25 yards. So I had to learn to instinct shoot. Later I fixed those horrible sights. And I just recently discovered CZs . I really like them. I only have 4 and am always looking for more.

[Elderberry]

@Elderberry

Ok,you just told me something I had never heard before.

@sneakypete

The Browning Hi-Power: Gun History

It’s an iconic 9mm combat pistol designed by America’s most famous gunmaker. It’s considered one of the best combat pistols ever designed. But it never caught on like the 1911. What’s the story behind the HP?

https://www.range365.com/browning-hi-power/

The Browning Hi-Power pistol, first produced in 1935, is one of the best combat pistols ever designed. Lightweight, accurate, with a comfortable grip angle and chambered in 9mm with a 13-round capacity magazine, the Hi-Power is still being used or has just recently replaced by military forces in over 50 countries worldwide.

Outside of the U.S., the HP—it goes by many different names—is held in high regard. Ask a grunt from Australia, the UK, Canada, most of South America, in the Mideast, India, and Southeast Asia and you’ll find out. Since it was the last pistol designed by John Browning (sort of, but I’ll get into that, too) who also designed the 1911 and which is held in the highest esteem by Americans, we want to like the Hi-Power…but many of us don’t.

So why don’t American shooter’s embrace the Hi-Power like the 1911? What could be more American than John Browning? What’s not to like?

An All-New Pistol

The design of the HP is seminal and innovative, with many design features copied by manufacturers today. Still, you’ll hear a lot of “buts” when shooters talk about the HP’s characteristics. Some will call them quirks or peculiarities. Perhaps it is because the Hi-Power is a French design (again, sort of, but I’ll get into it).

More at link.

[GtHawk]

@sneakypete

The Browning Hi-Power: Gun History

It’s an iconic 9mm combat pistol designed by America’s most famous gunmaker. It’s considered one of the best combat pistols ever designed. But it never caught on like the 1911. What’s the story behind the HP?

https://www.range365.com/browning-hi-power/

The last complaint shooters have with the HP is the trigger. It pivots and works with the disconnect. At best, there is plenty of take-up and a consistent break; at worst, the trigger feels like it is dragging through gravel and crumbles rather than breaks.

One of the first things I did with both my FN and FEG Hi-Powers was to remove the magazine safety and that resulted in a much smoother trigger pull.

[sneakypete]

@sneakypete

 
So why don’t American shooter’s embrace the Hi-Power like the 1911? What could be more American than John Browning? What’s not to like?

The fact that it is in 9mm,and the fact that it has a magazine disconnect. it will not fire if the magazine is out,even if there is a round in the chamber.

Whoever came up with that brain fart needed to be beaten within an inch of his life. A single shot pistol beats the hell out of no pistol at all.

[Elderberry]

How did we even get on a tangent on the Hi-power. It wasn't even on the list of 10.