The top 10 Worst Handguns of the 20th century

[wtw]

1) the Glisenti-Italian, fired a toned down 9mm Parabellum bullet, it could not handle any more powerful ammunition.
2)Type 94 Nambu-Japanese, an external sear can cause it to fire with out pulling the trigger.
3) 455 Webley Auto-British, clunky awkward to hold and prone to jamming
4)CZ-38-Czech, chambered in 380auto/9X17mm browning as a frontline combat gun.
5) Enfield No.1 MK2*-British, 38 Smith & Wesson grade round, no hammer spur, rotten Double Action trigger pull.
6)Mas 35-French, frontline combat gun chambered in the weak 7.65mm lounge.
7)M1907 Schule-Dutch, fired 11.35mm steel-jacketed wooden bullet.
8)Jo-Lo-Ar-Spanish, side mounted cocking lever and no trigger guard.
9)Le Francais-French, fired the 9mm browning long round, oddball ergonomics and no positive extraction, which means you cannot pull the slide back on the gun.
10)Stetchkin-Soviet, Fired full auto, bulky and uncontrolable, not even other Eastern Bloc countries would take it.

Any questions, anything anyone would like to add.

 

[Hipsterredneck556]

1. Anything made by Rohm. POS potmetal revolvers.

2. Colt American 2000. Colt's attempt at competing with Glock in the police market nearly tanked the company.

3. Luger P08. Overly complex and prone to malfunctions. Still an iconic handgun, though.

4. IMI/Magnum Research Desert Eagle. A huge and expensive novelty gun that is prone to malfunctions. Fangirls of the "Deagle" are also increadibly annoying.

5. AMT Hardballer: The first attempt at an all-stainless steel M1911, the Hardballer quickly acquired a reputation for unreliabilty due to issues with the frame and slide galling. Out of production, has some iconic status due to its appearence in Terminator and Hitman. I want one as a project handgun.

6. Shevchenko PSh-4 pistol: WTF?

7. "Ring of Fire" Handguns: The bain of gun control advocates everywhere. A good video on them.

8. Glock handguns: Simple, reliable handguns that killed innovation in handgun design and created the abomidable "glocktard"

9. M1911: One of the finest handguns of the 21st Century, it is something of a dinosaur today. Overly complex and difficult to disassemble compared to other semiautos. Have a near religous following that can prove rather annoying at times.

10. FN Five-Seven: A panic inducing gun among guncontrol advocates, the Five Seven is little more than a glorified .22 magnum without LEO-restricted ammo. Even with the LEO-spec ammo, its effectiveness is open to debate.

 

[wtw]

1. Anything made by Rohm. POS potmetal revolvers.

2. Colt American 2000. Colt's attempt at competing with Glock in the police market nearly tanked the company.

3. Luger P08. Overly complex and prone to malfunctions. Still an iconic handgun, though.

I am not the only one that thinks this then.

4. IMI/Magnum Research Desert Eagle. A huge and expensive novelty gun that is prone to malfunctions. Fangirls of the "Deagle" are also increadibly annoying.

I agree, in all honesty, if I need something that powerful I am either in Bear country or out hunting, and there is no way in hell am I going to trust my life on a semiauto at any rate.

5. AMT Hardballer: The first attempt at an all-stainless steel M1911, the Hardballer quickly acquired a reputation for unreliabilty due to issues with the frame and slide galling. Out of production, has some iconic status due to its appearence in Terminator and Hitman. I want one as a project handgun.

6. Shevchenko PSh-4 pistol: WTF?

7. "Ring of Fire" Handguns: The bain of gun control advocates everywhere. A good video on them.

8. Glock handguns: Simple, reliable handguns that killed innovation in handgun design and created the abomidable "glocktard"

9. M1911: One of the finest handguns of the 21st Century, it is something of a dinosaur today. Overly complex and difficult to disassemble compared to other semiautos. Have a near religous following that can prove rather annoying at times.

10. FN Five-Seven: A panic inducing gun among guncontrol advocates, the Five Seven is little more than a glorified .22 magnum without LEO-restricted ammo. Even with the LEO-spec ammo, its effectiveness is open to debate.

I agree with your las bit here, especially with the FN five-seven, I have never understood its appeal, and I would trust the more common 22WMR more than this one to get the job done. Hell Kel-Tec has a 30round PMR, essentually ten more bullets than the Five-seven.

 

[Hipsterredneck556]

I agree with your las bit here, especially with the FN five-seven, I have never understood its appeal, and I would trust the more common 22WMR more than this one to get the job done. Hell Kel-Tec has a 30round PMR, essentually ten more bullets than the Five-seven.

The Five-Seven was an attempt to further market the 5.7x28. It made little sense to have one round designed for one weapon (P90). The 5.7mm is an acceptable round from a PDW, due to increased velocity and accuracy, as well as the relative ease of making multiple hits to a target. Unfortunately, all of these things are alot harder to do with a handgun. Even then, the 5.7x28 is only an effective round when it is loaded with the LEO/Milspec bullets, otherwise you are shooting varmint bullets.

The PMR-30 is a neat little gun, but Kel-Tec's quality is...um...questionable.

 

[AdA]

5.7

The whole point of the FN 5.7 is to put multiple rounds on somebody chest through a bullet proof vest. Current protective vests are likely to stop most pistol bullets, and we're reaching a point were everybody everywhere is wearing them. Since most pistol combat is a frenzied short range affair, having a lot of rounds in the magazine is also a good thing.
For non military users it makes no sense at all.
Nerds all over the world will always honour it as the pistol worn by the cast of the (new version) of the Battlestar Gallactica TV show.

 

[AdA]

1911A1

There is a cult following for this handgun for a reason. It's wonderful.

 

[Hipsterredneck556]

There is a cult following for this handgun for a reason. It's wonderful.

Compare taking one apart to a Sig or even a Browning HP. The M1911 has alot of features that you don't see on firearms anymore for a reason. Don't get me wrong, I love M1911s. I think they are some of the most beautiful firearms ever made, but they are not nearly as practical as more modern handgun designs.

 

[wtw]

The Five-Seven was an attempt to further market the 5.7x28. It made little sense to have one round designed for one weapon (P90). The 5.7mm is an acceptable round from a PDW, due to increased velocity and accuracy, as well as the relative ease of making multiple hits to a target. Unfortunately, all of these things are alot harder to do with a handgun. Even then, the 5.7x28 is only an effective round when it is loaded with the LEO/Milspec bullets, otherwise you are shooting varmint bullets.

The PMR-30 is a neat little gun, but Kel-Tec's quality is...um...questionable.

I have heard that, myself. Honestly I would not use a rimfire as a self defense weapon, unless the next step is a knife.

 

[Slowpoke]

10. FN Five-Seven: A panic inducing gun among guncontrol advocates, the Five Seven is little more than a glorified .22 magnum without LEO-restricted ammo. Even with the LEO-spec ammo, its effectiveness is open to debate.

A certain Dr. Nidal Malik Hassan disagrees vehemently.

 

[Hipsterredneck556]

A certain Dr. Nidal Malik Hassan disagrees vehemently.

Please do not take what I am about to say the wrong way. The Fort Hood Massacre was, besides being an attack on the United States Armed Forces, an absolute tragedy. People’s fathers, daughters, sons, and daughters were ripped from them forever. My condolences still go out to those affected by this attack. Tragedies do, however, provide data. Most of the data used in terminal ballistics is unfortunately derived from real word examples. That is the nature of the beast, so to speak.

Most of the fatalities in the Fort Hood Massacre were due to either multiple hits to vital areas or hits to the head. Of the 30 people shot during the attack, only 13 were actually killed. Many of his victims, even after being shot multiple times, were still able to render first aid to themselves and other victims. Two victims even managed to fight back and attempted to charge Hassan before being killed by shots to the head. Hassan was not using the LEO/Milspec ammo in the attack, instead using FN’s commercially available ammo loaded with hollow points and varmint bullets.

I’m sorry if anyone is offended by this post, but it is the best documented case of the 5.7x28 being employed, albeit to commit a horrible act.

 

[Hipsterredneck556]

I have heard that, myself. Honestly I would not use a rimfire as a self defense weapon, unless the next step is a knife.

Plenty of people do. If it is a quality, well maintained firearm loaded with quality ammunition, rimfire ammo is perfectly acceptable. The Swedes even considered adopting a rimfire round as their main service cartridge back in the 80s.

 

[wtw]

Plenty of people do. If it is a quality, well maintained firearm loaded with quality ammunition, rimfire ammo is perfectly acceptable. The Swedes even considered adopting a rimfire round as their main service cartridge back in the 80s.

True, but if I had a choice, rimfire would not be it.

 

[AdA]

Compare taking one apart to a Sig or even a Browning HP. The M1911 has alot of features that you don't see on firearms anymore for a reason. Don't get me wrong, I love M1911s. I think they are some of the most beautiful firearms ever made, but they are not nearly as practical as more modern handgun designs.

Most Pre 30s handguns are tricky to dissemble and worst to put back together again. The Mauser Model 96 is the worst I ever had to do, and I still would think that a Spanish Astra Modelo F copy in 9mm Largo with selective fire capability would make one hell of a gun for a shoot out. I get that you included the 1911 ironically, but its still used by some SWAT units, and the 10mm version they used to make in Delta Elite form is a serious candidate for best combat handgun ever.

 

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Penetration

Most people forget the protective vests factor when evaluating handguns. A Glock in .40SW with JHP will do wonders if you're shooting unprotected opponents, but if you're facing guys with current military grade protective vests the quick two shoots you've put into their chest might not do much damage. They'll hurt, but live to shoot back.

 

[joea64]

Most Pre 30s handguns are tricky to dissemble and worst to put back together again. The Mauser Model 96 is the worst I ever had to do, and I still would think that a Spanish Astra Modelo F copy in 9mm Largo with selective fire capability would make one hell of a gun for a shoot out. I get that you included the 1911 ironically, but its still used by some SWAT units, and the 10mm version they used to make in Delta Elite form is a serious candidate for best combat handgun ever.

To be fair, those decades were the infancy and childhood, so to speak, of the automatic pistol, so I think it's often more useful to look at what they got right or where they were ahead of their time than at aspects where the state of the art just hadn't worked up to where it is now. The Model 96, which you mentioned, is another iconic handgun.

 

[Hipsterredneck556]

Most Pre 30s handguns are tricky to dissemble and worst to put back together again. The Mauser Model 96 is the worst I ever had to do, and I still would think that a Spanish Astra Modelo F copy in 9mm Largo with selective fire capability would make one hell of a gun for a shoot out. I get that you included the 1911 ironically, but its still used by some SWAT units, and the 10mm version they used to make in Delta Elite form is a serious candidate for best combat handgun ever.

I did not say that the M1911 is a bad handgun, merely a outdated one. The M1911 is overly complex, lacks a decocker, and is SAO. Additionally, it also has a rather limited ammunition capacity. All of these factors make the M1911 all but outclassed by more modern handgun designs. That being said, they are beautiful and very accurate weapons, and remain in use by everyone from JSOC Operators to private citizens.

 

[Hipsterredneck556]

Most people forget the protective vests factor when evaluating handguns. A Glock in .40SW with JHP will do wonders if you're shooting unprotected opponents, but if you're facing guys with current military grade protective vests the quick two shoots you've put into their chest might not do much damage. They'll hurt, but live to shoot back.

Hits are hits. Repeated blunt force trauma to the chest will reduce someone's combat effectiveness considerably. Hits to the arms, legs, etc will also be fairly effective. Anyway, in most of the situations where someone wearing armor with trauma plates, the individual engaging this target would probably be armed with a bit more than a handgun. Cops (in the US at least) have patrol rifles for this very reason.

 

[AdA]

Hits are hits. Repeated blunt force trauma to the chest will reduce someone's combat effectiveness considerably. Hits to the arms, legs, etc will also be fairly effective. Anyway, in most of the situations where someone wearing armor with trauma plates, the individual engaging this target would probably be armed with a bit more than a handgun. Cops (in the US at least) have patrol rifles for this very reason.

Which is fine, except for the fact that we all train people to react to threats by putting two quick shoots in the target chest, head shots being a deliberate thing for when you have time to aim, and that "Oh, you're wearing a vest, wait a minute while I go get my rifle from my car" is not a very intimidating sentence...

 

[AdA]

I did not say that the M1911 is a bad handgun, merely a outdated one. The M1911 is overly complex, lacks a decocker, and is SAO. Additionally, it also has a rather limited ammunition capacity. All of these factors make the M1911 all but outclassed by more modern handgun designs. That being said, they are beautiful and very accurate weapons, and remain in use by everyone from JSOC Operators to private citizens.

I've used a VIS Radom a lot a while back, wich is basically a 1911 in 9mmP with a decocking lever. It was a wonderful weapon. I still pointed it in safe direction when using the decocker, the damm thing having been made in 1939 and all...

 

[Hipsterredneck556]

Which is fine, except for the fact that we all train people to react to threats by putting two quick shoots in the target chest, head shots being a deliberate thing for when you have time to aim, and that "Oh, you're wearing a vest, wait a minute while I go get my rifle from my car" is not a very intimidating sentence...

American police are, for the most part, trained to respond to an active shooter scenario with a patrol rifle. Hell, I've seen chicago police responding to gang shootings with AR15s. These are regular beat cops too, not SWAT officers. Almost any situation where an individual may be wearing body armor, whether it be an active shooter or a home invasion, the police responding will probably be armed with more than a handgun. This has not always been the case, though. This shift has largely occured in the last decade or so.

Also, I'm kind of suprised that my inclusion of the M1911 raised more ire than my inclusion of the Glock on the list.