Table Of ContentA Modern-Day Classic from a MASSAD AYOOB’S
M
GREATEST
A
Master Handgunner! S
S
A
D
Here, in one entertaining, photo-packed A HANDGUNS
Y
volume, are the handguns that changed
O
fi rearms history. From the Colt 1911 to the O
latest and greatest Glock, Massad Ayoob B
’
shares his half-century of experience with S
the world’s greatest pistols and revolvers G
as only he can. Whether you’re a collector, OF THE WORLD
R
a plinker, a competition shooter or simply a
E
fi rearms enthusiast, you’ll agree that Massad
A
Ayoob’s Greatest Handguns of the World is
T
required reading for anyone interested in the
history and development of handguns. E
S
•
Colt T
Th e next best thing to shooting the •
Smith & Wesson
• H
world’s greatest handguns is reading
Ruger
about them. And nobody writes about • Glock A
•
great handguns like High Standard N
•
Massad Ayoob. Heckler & Koch D
•
And more!
G
U
N
S
O
F
T
H
About the Author E
W
Massad F. Ayoob is one of the world’s outstanding handgunners and is the Director of the
O
Lethal Force Institute in Concord, New Hampshire. A prolifi c author, Ayoob is the author of
R
Gun Digest® Book of Concealed Carry, Gun Digest® Book of SIG-Sauer, Gun Digest® Book L
D
of Combat Handgunnery and many other books and more than one thousand articles on
fi rearms, combat techniques, self-defense, and legal issues.
US $27.99
Z6495 (CAN $33.99) AYOOB
ISBN-13: 978-1-4402-0825-6
ISBN-10: 1-4402-0825-5
52799
Gun Digest® Books
PC N
U An imprint of F+W Media, Inc. EA
www.gundigestbooks.com
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MASSAD AYOOB’S
GREATEST
HANDGUNS
OF THE WORLD
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©2010 Krause Publications, Inc.,
a subsidiary of F+W Media, Inc.
Published by
Gun Digest® Books
An imprint of F+W Media, Inc.
www.gundigestbooks.com
Our toll-free number to place an order or obtain
a free catalog is (800) 258-0929.
All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any
information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher,
except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a critical article or review to be printed
in a magazine or newspaper, or electronically transmitted on radio, television, or the Internet.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2009937519
ISBN-13: 978-1-4402-0825-6
ISBN-10: 1-4402-0825-5
Designed by Tom Nelsen
Edited by Dan Shideler
Printed in China
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DEDICATION
I
t is my pleasure to dedicate this book to Gail Pepin, the producer and editor
(PrEditor?) of the Pro-Arms Podcasts (proarmspodcast.com). A state and regional
IDPA Champion, Gail is my Technical Advisor, professional photographer, nurse-
caregiver, and Adult Supervisor.
—Mas Ayoob
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CONTENTS
5
Foreword ...................................................................................................................
6
Introduction ..............................................................................................................
9
Chapter 1: The 1911: The Once-and Future?-King of Pistols .............................
33
Chapter 2: The Colt Commander (and Its Clones) ............................................
45
Chapter 3: The Colt National Match Pistol (and Its Spiritual Descendants) ..
55
Chapter 4: The Colt Detective Special ...............................................................
67
Chapter 5: Colt’s Offi cial Police ..........................................................................
81
Chapter 6: The Colt Python .................................................................................
93
Chapter 7: The Colt Woodsman ..........................................................................
103
Chapter 8: The Glock Pistol: Drastic, Fantastic Plastic .................................
121
Chapter 9: HK: A History of Innovation ...........................................................
135
Chapter 10: The High Standard Sentinel .........................................................
147
Chapter 11: The Luger Pistol ............................................................................
159
Chapter 12: The Ruger .22 Auto Pistol ............................................................
171
Chapter 13: The Ruger P-Series Semi-Automatics ........................................
183
Chapter 14: Smith & Wesson’s Military & Police Revolver ............................
195
Chapter 15: Smith & Wesson’s K-22 ................................................................
207
Chapter 16: Smith & Wesson’s Chiefs Special and Family ............................
221
Chapter 17: Smith & Wesson’s .357 Combat Magnum ..................................
233
Chapter 18: Smith & Wesson’s Classic Model 27 ...........................................
247
Chapter 19: Smith & Wesson’s Highway Patrolman .......................................
259
Chapter 20: Smith & Wesson’s .44 Magnum ...................................................
273
Chapter 21: Smith & Wesson’s Landmark Service Pistol ..............................
4 CONTENTS
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FOREWORD
A
number of “classic” handguns emerged
from the second half of the 20th cen-
tury, with lesser numbers seeing the
light of day in the fi rst half. Just to grab a few
representative names (the following listing is not
represented as being either complete or fi nite, so
hold the calls and letters if I’ve managed to omit
your personal favorite):
From a military parentage origin ... Th e
Colt Government .45, Th e Browning Hi-Power
and the Walther PPK. From Colt we had the
Detective Special, the Diamondback and the
Cadillac of their revolver line, the Python. Smith
and Wesson had a prolifi c century that had a
number of successful introductions: the Model
10 (M&P); the Model 15 (Combat Masterpiece)
and its close cousins in the K-line, the Model 19
(Combat Magnum), the Model 27 (.357 Mag-
Dave Brennan,
num) and its predecessor, the Factory Registered 357 Magnum; the Model 29 (the Dirty Harry fan
right, discusses
club can relax, we didn’t forget you); the Model 36 (Chief’s Special); the Model 49 (Bodyguard);
the Model 40 (Centennial); the Model 39 semi-automatic (the fi nest “pointing” gun I’ve ever used) Glock .40s with
– and right about here, boys and girls, is where we’re going to stop this little litany, lest we get into Mas Ayoob.
the Rugers, the SIGs, the Glocks, the Kimbers, the Paras, the Berettas, the CZs, and Heaven only
knows how many more ... and this Foreword as a consequence would go on for pages.
Th ere have been a few books published on the topic of “great guns” but many, if not most,
have attempted to cover all types of guns, be they rifl es, shotguns or handguns. As a result there
were a large number of guns covered in these books but the coverage was all too brief, the result of
space limitations. So I was delighted to learn that Massad Ayoob, an old friend and an occasional
contributor to the pages of Precision Shooting magazine, was to do such a book, but on handguns
only. Wonderful! We’ll now get some in-depth coverage of the great handguns of our era, but with
personal opinions, anecdotes and relevant tales as only Mas can do. He has authored a number
of handgun books and articles over the years that have been classic works – for instance, his ex-
tensive coverage of the 1986 shootout in Miami where a half dozen or so poorly armed FBI agents
shot it out with two well-armed criminals who did not seemed at all inclined to surrender. Th e
point was clearly made by Mas Ayoob that a few handguns versus a semi-automatic rifl e and a
pump shotgun is a hard way to earn a living and not really to be recommended.
A prolifi c reader and writer with an encyclopedic memory, a good sense of humor, and a
genuine reverence for classic handguns and fi rearms history and lore… the publisher of the book
that you are reading could not have made a better choice to edit this book on classic handguns
than Massad Ayoob. Hopefully they will sell enough copies that some evening, when the publisher
is wondering just what he should do next, the thought will cross his mind … “Gee, we had to leave
out a number of handguns that probably should have qualifi ed for inclusion.” (Note to the pub-
lisher: No charge for the strong hint that a second volume would be kind of nice ...)
Dave Brennan
Editor
Precision Shooting magazine
Manchester, CT
FOREWORD 5
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INTRODUCTION
T
he genesis of this book goes back make a pretty cool book. I had that in mind
a number of years, to when Dave later on, when Cameron Hopkins asked me
Brennan, editor of Th e Accurate to do a long piece on the history of the 1911
Rifl e, called and asked me to do a handgun and a magnum opus on HKs in the Com-
column for his rifl e magazine. Th e fi rst col- bat Tactics periodical he does for SureFire,
umn was on the S&W K-22, and I began it and when Harry Kane assigned me to do
as follows: a history piece on the S&W Model 27 in
the Complete Book of Handguns for Har-
ris Publications every year. Two chapters,
In which we begin a series on clas-
those on the Walther and the S&W service
sic handguns of interest to rifl emen.
autos, were written expressly for this book.
Editor Dave Brennan has for some
With those exceptions, all the other chap-
time been threatening to introduce a
ters here appeared originally in Th e Accu-
handgun column to these pages. As
rate Rifl e.
of this issue, that alien has landed. I
Harry is retired now, Dave is still put-
would say, “Take me to your leader,”
ting out Precision Rifl e, and Cameron is
but I’m already there. You, the reader,
still doing Combat Tactics. All three proved
do lead where a publication like this
goes. If you have suggestions for this
column you can write to Dave at the
magazine’s masthead address or to me
in care of him. Until a defi nite reader-
driven sense of direction is established,
this space will be devoted to handguns
that are of particular interest to rifl e
shooters.
Th is means handguns that are ac-
curate. Handguns that are beautifully
crafted and/or brilliantly designed,
with specifi c features that make them
especially valuable for certain pur-
poses. Guns with histories. Guns long
proven to work. In short, useful hand-
guns with class.
It turned out that the readers liked that
direction just fi ne, and we continued with
it until Th e Accurate Rifl e’s unfortunate de-
mise, due I believe to distribution problems,
a few years ago. Early on in the series, Dave
mentioned that a collection of them would
6 INTRODUCTION
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to be great editors, and I’m grateful to all
three for permission to reprint here.
Each piece has been lightly edited and
updated for this book. All follow a simi-
lar format. First is “pedigree,” by which I
mean what “role model shooters” owned
the gun in question, what did they accom-
plish with it, and what did contemporary
experts think about it after testing it and
observing it extensively in use? Th en, the
history: where did it go? How did its de-
sign evolve? What other developments did
it lead to that made it one of the great ones
of its kind? Th en, its shooting characteris-
tics: how did those who used it to good ef-
fect take maximum advantages of the given
model’s design strengths, and compensate
for its weaknesses? Finally, a personal per-
be simply a subset of another model intro-
spective based on individual as well as col-
duced a score of years earlier, and lasting in
lective experience with the model in ques-
the marketplace much longer? Th e reason
tion.
is that the original .357 Registered Mag-
You’ll fi nd lots of quotes in here. I re-
num that became the Model 27 and today’s
lied heavily on the perceptions of that great
627/327 series did indeed create one of our
generation of gun experts and writers of
most popular calibers, the .357 Magnum,
the 20th century, the time in which many of
and set a high water mark for overall qual-
these guns really made their bones: Askins,
ity, but the Model 28 was far more than just
Cooper, Gaylord, Jordan, Keith, Stebbins,
a footnote in its history. By itself, the 28 set
and the like. You’ll also hear from the cur-
the pace for an entire genre of fi rearms that
rent generation, a vast pool of knowledge-
encompassed rifl es and shotguns as well
able subject matter experts, some still writ-
as handguns: stripped down, roughly fi n-
ing and some already gone. Th ere is much
ished, plain vanilla “economy models” that
to learn from them. I quoted them as they
wrote, not changing “P.38” to “P-38,” for
example. And, there will be occasional ref-
erences to guns’ use on the silver screen,
which had something to do with shaping
market perception of them.
Th e determination of greatness,
whether in objects or in men, is largely a
subjective one. Writer and reader may not
agree on what makes the cut, and the for-
mer has an obligation to the latter to ex-
plain the choices he presents. Why, for ex-
ample, a whole chapter on the S&W Model
28 Highway Patrolman, when it appears to
INTRODUCTION 7
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were the same as the famous deluxe ver-
sions on the inside, and provided identi-
cal performance if not esthetics to the end
user. Th us, one could argue that the Model
28 was even more important to modern
fi rearms history and manufacture than the
27. Rather than make that value judgment,
I simply included both guns here.
Why was the humble High Standard
Sentinel revolver included here, but the
not the splendid Smith & Wesson Model
41 target pistol? Th e Sentinel was neither a
long-lived gun nor a much-copied one, but
this brilliant Harry Seifried design broke
a logjam of double action revolver design
stagnation that had lasted more than half a
century. In that sense, it paved the way for
new double action mechanisms from Dan
Wesson, Ruger, and even Colt. Th e Model
41, as fi ne a specimen of its breed as it was,
simply carried on a tradition already set
beforehand by High Standard with its Su-
permatic series: a large, fi nely made, super-
accurate pistol with quickly interchange-
able barrels. Th e Supermatic’s infl uence is
seen in later designs, such as the popular
Browning Buckmark, but the Model 41’s is
not.
Th anks again to Dave Brennan, Cam-
eron Hopkins, and Harry Kane for their
assistance, and particularly to Dave for
not only inspiring this book, but writing
the foreword. It was a pleasure to put this
book together over the years, and I learned
a lot doing the research. Whether or not
you and I agree on what were the greatest
and most infl uential handgun designs dur-
ing the period covered, I hope you fi nd this
book as enjoyable and instructive to read
as I found it to write.
Massad Ayoob
July, 2009
8 INTRODUCTION
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CH1APTER
Th e 1911
Th e Once – and Future?
– King of Pistols
Y
our hand closes fi rmly around the slim grip-frame of the pistol, and
as you slide it smoothly from the holster, your thumb closes natu-
The 1911 is more than
rally down until you feel the snick of the safety snapping into the
a magnifi cent legend
“fi re” position. Th e pistol seems to point itself at the target, and your fi n-
and a classic piece of
ger fi nds the trigger at just the right spot, pressing rearward. You feel the
Americana – it is
clean, crisp release through your trigger fi nger, and the familiar, soft bump
a splendidly functional
of the recoil through the palm of your hand. Downrange, a reaction target
tool of protection, sport,
is slammed over by the heavy bullet you have launched, and the pistol has
and combat.
already cycled itself, its sights coming almost automatically back on target
as you let the trigger come forward a tiny bit until you feel the click of its
reset and begin the second pull.
In continuous pro-
duction since the
eponymous
year of its
introduction,
the 1911 is a
classic of design, a
classic of a magni-
tude that extends
beyond the world of
the gun show.
CHAPTER 1: THE 1911 9
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