Lugers- I will agree wholeheartedly. Over-rated. Hard to load and shoot, hard to disassemble and clean. Hard to carry. Hard to get into action quickly. Iconic, but over-rated. I wanted one when I first saw one in an old movie, so sleek and sexy, so wickedly threatening. It was love! But like young love, it soon faded once I owned one. Tiny sights. Squishy trigger. 8 rounds?!? And you have to pull the follower down with your thumb? It was great while it lasted, but I traded my first Luger for a FN P35 (Hi-Power) and never looked back.
Browning Hi-Power- Over-rated. I have owned several over the years. They are chunky, they have poor triggers, they don't shoot all that well, but yes, there is something about them. They are a beautiful gun, very reliable, and I carried one for a while when I was doing personal protection work. That said, I don't own any, got rid of my last one about 25 years ago. Occasionally, I hear that siren's song and get all misty-eyed over one, but I get over it pretty quickly when I have to do trigger work on a customer's Hi-Power.
HK- Over-rated. Any HK. Pick one. From the awful VP-70 to the awful P3 to the awful P4 to the awful P7 to the awful VP9. All over-rated. High-priced, heavy, overly complex "just because we can".
S&W K frames- yes, over rated, and hard to handle with full house 357s. But the gun was originally designed for police work in the 1920s and chambered in 32 Long. Later adapted to 38 Special, it served admirably if not elegantly. The 357 Magnum version is a handful, and a steady diet of full-house loads will shoot it loose or crack the forcing cone. Many, many S&W K-frames out there, many, many in service over the years, many, many used in self-defense over the past century. One of those "it works" guns. But history is passing it by, like most revolvers.
Colt Python- Not really over-rated, I think of them as "period pieces". At one time, it was "THE" revolver. The frame is larger than the S&W K frame and better suited to the 357 magnum cartridge. It can take a steady diet of 357 Magnum, no problem. And accurate! When it came out, it was revolutionary: most revolvers of that era and earlier had slender, lightweight barrels that climbed to the sky with a 357 Magnum load. The Python had the heavy barrel underlug, allowing faster recovery after a shot, which made it a desirable duty gun (except for the price). But when S&W came out with the 586 in 1985, the Python was doomed. The S&W has better lockwork, and the L frame was built the right size for the 357 Magnum. I had 3 of Pythons at one time, sold my last Python two years ago.
Glocks- really? The best selling handgun in the world is over-rated? I have to disagree. I admit, they are about as sexy as an adobe brick, and shaped kinda like one too. They have terrible triggers, and the factory sights are just pathetic. BUT THEY SHOOT REALLY WELL!! And for the price, they are hard to beat. I prefer my Colt Combat Commander, but a Glock might be my carry gun pretty soon.
And I'll disagree again. 1911s are not all created equal. Older Colts had some of the best finish work you will ever see. But the newer 1911s? Some of them are awful, the finish is so rough they look like they were dragged down the road. They are not easy to carry concealed. And they are heavy. And they have very noticeable recoil. And they only carry 7 or 8 rounds. All true. But they are dead reliable, and it's hard to make one quit once it has been set up right. Some of the cheapest ones are the best available, and some of the high-priced ones are beautiful to look at, but I would never depend on one. They are too tight, so they foul and jam. Older, looser 1911s run forever, and some of the new ones are just as good. I may be a little sentimental over 1911s, so forgive me.
My vote for the most over-rated handgun? Anything by Springfield Armory. They bought the name so they could claim to be "America's oldest gunmaker", and they have all of their guns made overseas. I won't own one.
