We are losing some guns that should engender serious reflection. Perhaps the number of people with etched memories of these certain shapes, - since childhood - is small, but to them, these are significant losses that will defy reason.
The Walther PPK. 007 dies at the end of the last Bond movie, the 25th. Why, because 25 is a nice round number, there’s no more Cold War, the pretty women’s role isn’t correct, now? So, about a year later, Walther actually announced ceasing the production of the PPK, at least for now.
Walther: I would be hard pressed to name, let alone sketch, any other product in your lineup - apart from the one gun you are dropping. This is among the most recognizable handguns in the world. It is associated, albeit fictionally (but as plausibly as an Omega watch), as the choice for duty by those with unlimited resources and discernment.
As a kid, I had this cap gun, (still sold on EBay to guys my age) which cost me relatively more then, to buy at that age than all the .22 and .38 PPK’s I have bought since then.
I could identify the real gun or the cap gun (many decades later) with one hand in a sock drawer. I won’t engage the steel versus plastic functional sufficiency debate here, but that hefty little steel PPK will be sorely missed, and I’ll speak for the 50 somethings in saying that when we longed for the “real” guns as kids, graduating to steel and wood from plastic was part of it, - you weren’t supposed to come to us.
Smith &Wesson - the all steel, world beating, legendary Model 41? Discontinued. Hands down one of the best looking, most balanced, best shooting competition pistols of all time, gone now?
There is basically no chance you can ever bring this gun back, or better it. It’s $2,300 so no matter how few get sold, I can’t imagine that money was/is being lost.
It’s difficult to look at this gun, then imagine a meeting room table, where everyone discussed pro’s and cons, and then decided that “we don’t need to produce this anymore.”
I admit that I don’t really understand a gun community where either of these iconic, steel pistols don’t have a following.
Do the manufacturers have the right read on the market? Are they actually trying to ween us off heritable, ultimate, products that never need to be replaced and therefore are ironically bad for business?
How can the case of the Colt Python go unnoticed? When Colt ceased production, just how desirable these revolvers were was impossible to miss in the prices, everywhere. Much later, when CZ bought the Colt brand, they brought back revolvers under the snake names that supposedly weren’t viable, and they sell well, AND the old guns held high value.
If there is a plastic handgun that has ever appreciated in value, I’m not aware of it (cap guns replicating steel guns, notwithstanding).
The Walther PPK. 007 dies at the end of the last Bond movie, the 25th. Why, because 25 is a nice round number, there’s no more Cold War, the pretty women’s role isn’t correct, now? So, about a year later, Walther actually announced ceasing the production of the PPK, at least for now.
Walther: I would be hard pressed to name, let alone sketch, any other product in your lineup - apart from the one gun you are dropping. This is among the most recognizable handguns in the world. It is associated, albeit fictionally (but as plausibly as an Omega watch), as the choice for duty by those with unlimited resources and discernment.
As a kid, I had this cap gun, (still sold on EBay to guys my age) which cost me relatively more then, to buy at that age than all the .22 and .38 PPK’s I have bought since then.
I could identify the real gun or the cap gun (many decades later) with one hand in a sock drawer. I won’t engage the steel versus plastic functional sufficiency debate here, but that hefty little steel PPK will be sorely missed, and I’ll speak for the 50 somethings in saying that when we longed for the “real” guns as kids, graduating to steel and wood from plastic was part of it, - you weren’t supposed to come to us.
Smith &Wesson - the all steel, world beating, legendary Model 41? Discontinued. Hands down one of the best looking, most balanced, best shooting competition pistols of all time, gone now?
There is basically no chance you can ever bring this gun back, or better it. It’s $2,300 so no matter how few get sold, I can’t imagine that money was/is being lost.
It’s difficult to look at this gun, then imagine a meeting room table, where everyone discussed pro’s and cons, and then decided that “we don’t need to produce this anymore.”
I admit that I don’t really understand a gun community where either of these iconic, steel pistols don’t have a following.
Do the manufacturers have the right read on the market? Are they actually trying to ween us off heritable, ultimate, products that never need to be replaced and therefore are ironically bad for business?
How can the case of the Colt Python go unnoticed? When Colt ceased production, just how desirable these revolvers were was impossible to miss in the prices, everywhere. Much later, when CZ bought the Colt brand, they brought back revolvers under the snake names that supposedly weren’t viable, and they sell well, AND the old guns held high value.
If there is a plastic handgun that has ever appreciated in value, I’m not aware of it (cap guns replicating steel guns, notwithstanding).
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