Manly guns

OK, I stumbled across this interesting article about the 10 manliest guns of all time. I read it, agreed with some, and disagreed with others.

In sum, writer Crazy Einar listed his picks as:


10. British Enfield #1Mk3
9. Russian Mosin-Nagant M44
8. Glock pistols
7. Swiss K-31 carbine
6. AK-47
5. Smith and Wesson Model 29 .44 Magnum
4. AR-15
3. Remington 870 shotgun
2. M1911 .45 auto pistol
1. Barrett M82 .50 rifle


As he has pictures of each in his article, I won't repost them all here. But I will ad pics of MY choices below, which I feel trump some of his choices. He's got good taste but in my opinion, he's substituting well-made or commonly-used guns for manly ones in many of his choices.



Sadly lacking is the M-1 Garand, which should,IMHO, replace the AR-15. The Garand is the gun that we Liberated Europe and beat Japan with, not to mention a bunch of North Koreans. My old man carried one once, and he was pretty manly back then. And I say that as an AR-15 fan and owner of several. It's a great weapon but the AR just isn't a serious "man's gun" as it doesn't have the weight, the range, the recoil, etc. Girls can shoot it quite well, in fact.

I'm also not a fan of the Mosin rifles except in regards to their rugged simplicity. There needs to be a Thompson submachine gun in it's place, as that big .45 SMG--the favorite of WW2 GI's and prohibition-era gangsters alike, just screams testosterone. "Tommy guns" made the roaring twenties roar, and they were about as manly as guns could be back then.




And let's replace the Glock with something like the British .455 Webley or the old US .45 1917 revolver. These were big, heavy powerful pistols used by mounted calvary and officers in the Great War and the colonial pacifications and it took a set of brass ones to stand unflichingly and face the onrushing enemy while cooly thumbing back the hammer and firing one-handed as was disctated by the manual of arms of the day. The Glock is a great gun--probably one of the best combat pistols ever, but manly? Not really.


The British Martini-Henry earned a place on this list due to it's use in the English colonial wars, notably in Africa and India. Just watch the movie "Zulu" and see what kind of men used that rifle at places like Roarke's Drift. The AK-47 could be replaced by this rifle. Yes, the AK is common and a hell of a military arm, but again, it's not all that manly with it's intermediate 7.62x39mm cartridge.

Finally, let's get that Swiss K-31 out of the list.
It's a nice rifle, and I have a friend who swears by his, but more men--from Boers to Germans to Jews forming the new nation-state of Israel--carried variations of Paul Mauser's wonderful Model 98. What have the Swiss ever done but sit around making chocolate and clocks?


So my list would be:

10. British Enfield #1Mk3
9. M1928 Thompson SMG
8. British Webley .455
7. 1898 Mauser
6. Martini-Henry
5. Smith and Wesson Model 29 .44 Magnum
4. M-1 Garand
3. Remington 870 shotgun
2. M1911 .45 auto pistol
1. Barrett M82 .50 rifle

Now if you have thoughts or opinions on either list, please feel free to leave a comment. I'd love to hear your views.