Advent of the Reliable Auto Pistol Part 2

Part 2 of 3:
Nowadays, auto pistols are expected to be reliable, durable, accurate, and ergonomic. It's more the standard than the exception. And as such the semi-automatic pistol has gained widespread acceptance in military, law enforcement, and armed civilian (I'm all for it) communities. But this wasn't always the case. In fact gaining that trust and acceptance, pried from the purview of the revolver, was hard won and slow to arrive. For most, revolvers were THE firearm of choice for decades both in war and in peace. Sure there were some remarkable auto pistol designs that had successful military careers: the Colt 1911A1, the Browning High Power, the Walther P38, the Soviet Makarov, and a several other semi-automatic pistols. But each had its issues and none ever gained the momentum to overcome the entrenched resistance against auto designs. Most would only function with 100% reliability with FMJ loadings, some had complicated controls, all were heavy, some weren't accurate enough, and some had sights that were just plain awful. Bottom line is they just weren't widely trusted because they had been found to fail with expanding ammunition. And as such, the reliable and usually accurate revolver continued to dominate the US law enforcement scene on through the 1980s.




Book Reference: In the FIREPOWER series by Chris Bishop, entitled "Infantry Weapons." Outstanding series with lots of excellent info...thank you Chris!
The advent of the reliable H&K P7 started the revolution in thinking and it served well and began to wind advocates. But then things really changed with the US Army's adoption of the Beretta Model 92, one of the first truly accurate, easy to fire, truly reliable and durable auto pistol designs. It opened the door of change and many law enforcement agencies followed the military in the switch to auto pistols. But there was still resistance from many quarters and it would take true revolver-like reliability to change their thinking. And then it happened: the outstanding Sig and Glock designs. Since the 1980s that are have an amazing track record in standards of auto pistol reliability and accuracy. And they flung the door of auto resistance wide open. Only on the grounds of personal preference could anyone opt to shoot a revolver over a semi-auto pistol...now critics had lost their long standing argument of reliability against the semi-auto. Simply put, the Glock and Sig designs ushered in the widespread acceptance auto pistols that we see today. They changed the world.
-Nutnfancy

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[TwiceVicodin]

Nutn, it seems like you miss your dad :(

I was wondering why he was never in your vids, it would have been cool to have an old pro talk bout his war years.

[nutnfancy]

He does miss Dad. Especially with his two boys it would have been so cool for them to all hang out together. Dad loved the outdoors and flying too. Nutn recently got Dad's old war diaries (for the first time) and is pouring over them..I'm sure he'll glean some good stuff from those. -- Veri (Nutn's sister)

[deltasevenma7]

@nutnfancy It seems very much like Nutnfancy is much like Nutn Sr. At least from what we have seen and he has shared on his vids.

[nutnfancy]

@deltasevenma7 Its hard to explain, but it was a different generation, and "fathering" was different altogether. To me, it seems as if Nutn has taken all the positive lessons that Dad taught and incorporated them into being a much more involved parent.  Dad was a hard man, and he was a hard-working man, which meant he was physically and emotionally distant a good bit ...Nutn is much more accessible as a father than Dad was. Its a good thing. I'm really proud of him for that. -- Veri

[tfoshohoe]

rip nutnfancys dad =[

[25griffon25]

RIP papafancy

[mysss29]

@nutnfancy More Papafancy stories!

[ApurtureSci]

The British Army use the Hi-Power to this day, seems ridiculous but the Sigs still haven't replaced them all yet.

[bxnyfordham]

it interests me that your father and General Olds both have their .38's strongside hip instead of a chest rig like pilots today. Did you father just have the M-16 free in the OV-10 or did he attach it to something?

[mpreds1]

God bless youre dad

[tiffyj85]

Holly shit, your dad flew a Bronco? Man, you're lucky to have him around.

[GothChristianPatriot]

Weren't they issued m15"s? That is a 10 with a baughman quick draw front site.

[ThunderAppeal]

Flying an OV-10 over the central highlands...the only thing that comes to mind is brass ones.

[maxrocks19]

i have to disagree with nutnfancy about the fact that the FN hi-power did in fact dislodge the revolver as the standard service pistol in so many countries, namely Canada, Australia, the UK, New Zealand and dozens other countries, where as before ww2 only germany USSR and the USA issue semi autos to there troops, the same can not be said about police, only the glock in the 1980's started the move towards auto loaders over revolvers.

[banz112]

I really like your videos. Thank you for doing them. Hopefully you could show more of the military stuff or possibly tell if there's some person in YouTube who's channel does have that military stuff?

[Deep13Deep13Deep13]

I have a 1978 FN Browning HP. Excellent shooter. The small sights are its weak point (pre-dovetail). Somehow, it seems to feed hollow points well despite its hump-shaped feed ramp.