Most important gun in American history...

[RIHMFIRE]

What do you think is the most important gun in american history...

its not what you think...
http://www.network54.com/Forum/451309/t ... ead+around

I dont know....
there are so many significant ones....
the henry....
the single action revolvers....
the 1911...
what say you!

[Dirty Bob]

There are so many to choose from!

The Lewis & Clark air rifle is not what I would have come up with, but it was important.

How about:
* The M1 Garand - first semiauto rifle in general military service, and it gave US troops much needed firepower in WWII
* Colt Paterson - first production Colt revolver, as far as I know
* Colt 1851 Navy and 1860 Army - were used on both sides of the Civil War, and also found favor with British officers in the mid-19th century
* Browning M2 .50 machine gun - used on darn' near every US aircraft in WWII - as well as all over the world with ground forces. I was still using one (we had four on my FFG when we went to the Gulf) in the US Navy in the 1980s. Awesome machine gun!
* 1911 - perhaps my all-time favorite handgun, and definitely one of the best military handguns ever issued. It's fairly powerful, fairly effective with FMJ, accurate, durable, and fits a lot of hands. I love it!
* M-16/XM177/M-16A2/M-4/etc. - I'm not a fan of this one, but the gun is used all over the globe today

...and out of pure emotion, I have to nominate the Winchester 1892!

I doubt we can come to consensus, but it's a fun topic!

Dirty Bob

[Rube Burrows]

I may be inclined to say early Colts since they pretty much took mass production to levels never seen before at the time. Revolutionized not only the gun industry but the way companies mass produced.

[M. M. Wright]

Actually it was Eli Whitney who revolutionized mass production. The Walker Colts were manufactured in his plant under contract to Colt and Colt got the tooling and copied the production techniques he learned from Whitney. Created interchangeable fits.

[Old No7]

How about...

The one you had when you needed it!!!

Old No7

[Washita]

The single-shot shotgun, including it's fowling-piece predecessor, without a doubt. Every family had one, it was versatile enough to use for all kinds of hunting, defense and even militia service, and was affordable. This was truly the gun that won the west. And the east.

[Rube Burrows]

Actually it was Eli Whitney who revolutionized mass production. The Walker Colts were manufactured in his plant under contract to Colt and Colt got the tooling and copied the production techniques he learned from Whitney. Created interchangeable fits.

You know.....I totally knew about Eli Whitney and it completely failed to enter my mind at the time.

[Pitchy]

The Laser gun on Star Trek

[kimwcook]

The Laser gun on Star Trek

More correctly called a "Phaser".

[sureshot]

I've always thought that one of the most important guns in American history is the one that fired the shot in the poem that begins.....

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.


Steve

[Pitchy]

The Laser gun on Star Trek

More correctly called a "Phaser".

Never was a very good speller

[madman4570]

Toss up between the single barrel shotgun and the M1 Garand.
I give the edge to the Garand.
Without the Garand maybe America would be Germany now

[Old Savage]

Probably have to be the Brown Bess or Charleyville if that is what the colonists used in the Revolutionary war.

[Pitchy]

Probably have to be the Brown Bess or Charleyville if that is what the colonists used in the Revolutionary war.

Especially if wearin pink shirts and sun glasses.

[Old Savage]

Its a trick to ketch Injuns with bottles of Rolling Rock. Hey wait just a minute there Pitchy - that's pretty tricky using a picture from your other post.

[Blaine]

The most important gun was the one in the hands of the private citizen when he needed it to protect himself from either another country, or the bear in his garden.

[Old Savage]

Now Pitchy if you look close you will see that you should use Coors to catch this kind of Injun.

[Hobie]

Actually it was Eli Whitney who revolutionized mass production. The Walker Colts were manufactured in his plant under contract to Colt and Colt got the tooling and copied the production techniques he learned from Whitney. Created interchangeable fits.

You know.....I totally knew about Eli Whitney and it completely failed to enter my mind at the time.

And not entirely true, it was Hall who forced the national armories to completely interchangeable parts. Each step is but a part of the evolution...

Then again, maybe the most important single firearm is the one that FAILED in its use such as the gun that was used in the assasination attempt on Reagan. By failing, Reagan survived to defend our rights and where might we be today if he hadn't?

[Pitchy]

Now Pitchy if you look close you will see that you should use Coors to catch this kind of Injun.

All i can say is , your on it brother.

[Old Savage]

Of course, the wife getting a new sofa is what it is really about.

I understand this one is headed for the home office/second guest room

[guido4198]

The most important gun in american history..???
I would like to nominate ALL the firearms held in the hands of the members of the Lexington Militia who stood on the village green, April 19, 1775. They went out to face the most powerful army in the world (at that time...) with whatever they had at home, standing in a corner, hanging over the fireplace...whatever.
Friends and neighbors...I've stood on that green many times myself. Stood on the place marked as the "Battle line" the militia held as 700 British regulars marched into town. In my mind's eye, I've seen those redcoats in the early dawn light coming down the road....heard Captain Parker's admonition to the 80 or so men lined up with him...( that's 80 farmers and merchants facing 700 trained British regulars..)
"Stand your ground. Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war let it begin here."

If you can be there....feel the immensity of that event, and NOT feel a genuine tightness in you throat....well, I feel sorry for you.
For these reasons...I nominate all those firearms in the hands of those 80 or so men as THE MOST IMPORTANT in our history.

[RIHMFIRE]

Well what about the first rifle with rifling....I seem to remember some german guy developed rifling..
and I am not sure if it was here or in germany....

Just found this

Barrel rifling was invented in Augsburg at the end of the fifteenth century.[5] In 1520 August Kotter, an armourer of Nuremberg, improved upon this work. Though true rifling dates from the mid-16th century, it did not become commonplace until the nineteenth century.

[Rusty]

Being as the topic is the most important gun in American history I'd say it was the Brown Bess Musket which both sides used in the American Revolution. Without it there would be no America, just more colonies. I know there were various other smoothbore muskets and even some long rifles used but the great majority of arms used was the old Brown Bess.

[awp101]

1A and 1B IMO (and they can be in either order) would be the Brown Bess or S&W Model No.1 that made use of the Rollin White patent for bored through cylinders.

[Ji in Hawaii]

Browning M2 50 caliber Machine gun, produced since 1920, used in aircraft, ships, armored vehicles, even as a sniper rifle with scope (Carlos Hathcock), and used by the US in every conflict since WWII, and still going strong today in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.

[FWiedner]

I'm not sure that the most important gun in American history has been used yet.

[piller]

I don't know that there is a single most important one. There are several which can be nominated for this honor. Now, the single most important in a specified time frame, well that could be narrowed down fairly easily.

[tman]

Colt percussion and coversion revolvers and the henry rifle were the assualt weapons of the civil war and later westward expansion. One man armed with 2 colts and a henry had 28 shots BEFORE he had to reload.

[Canuck Bob]

The original post named a specific gun. As a youngster living on a farm near Windsor, just a long rifle shot from Detroit, the rifle that killed Kennedy jumped to mind. There is a famous picture of a Houston policeman holding the carcano 6.5mm.

Kennedy was popular in Canada, a war hero and the ramrod behind the Apollo moon mission are what I remember most. Regardless of his political leanings at home, and none of my business, he did you Americans proud on the world stage. My Dad thought he walked on water after the Cuban missile crisis. The Great Red Bear sure blinked first when faced with the American Eagle. They turned and ran for home. For a couple weeks it looked like WW3 was happening.

[tman]

The original post named a specific gun. As a youngster living on a farm near Windsor, just a long rifle shot from Detroit, the rifle that killed Kennedy jumped to mind. There is a famous picture of a Houston policeman holding the carcano 6.5mm.

Kennedy was popular in Canada, a war hero and the ramrod behind the Apollo moon mission are what I remember most. Regardless of his political leanings at home, and none of my business, he did you Americans proud on the world stage. My Dad thought he walked on water after the Cuban missile crisis. The Great Red Bear sure blinked first when faced with the American Eagle. They turned and ran for home. For a couple weeks it looked like WW3 was happening.

+1 on Kennedy. Had he lived the USA would be a far diferent and even better place than it is today.

[firefuzz]

I don't think that any particular make or model of gun can be classified as the "most" important gun in our history, history being defined as any past time period including yesterday. I think that it's the gun(s) in the hands of freedom loving men and women that firstly freed this country, the guns that our military has carried into battles all over the world defending not only our freedom but that of others, and probably most importantly the gun(s) in our homes today... behind the door, in the gun rack, safe or closet that just their very existance keeps the enemies of our freedoms, both foreign and domestic, from taking those freedoms from us.

[gamekeeper]

I don't think that any particular make or model of gun can be classified as the "most" important gun in our history, history being defined as any past time period including yesterday. I think that it's the gun(s) in the hands of freedom loving men and women that firstly freed this country, the guns that our military has carried into battles all over the world defending not only our freedom but that of others, and probably most importantly the gun(s) in our homes today... behind the door, in the gun rack, safe or closet that just their very existance keeps the enemies of our freedoms, both foreign and domestic, from taking those freedoms from us.

Firefuzz, that's an excellent point.

[stanforth]

Well it's your history rather than mine but don't forget the Sharps and Remington Buffalo rifles. They were responsible for the most efficient round of ethnic cleansing in world history.

[adirondakjack]

THE GUN, has been, and continues to be an important part of American history. I don't care if we're talking Booth's pistol, or Hinkley's poorly-aimed .22, nor many millions of other firearms, THE GUN is integral to the American experiment.

[jeepnik]

For me, it's a Remington Rand 1911A1. No idea where it is now, hopefully saving some other GI's backside, but it was were it was when I needed it.

Historically, I might surmise it was the pistol used by John Wilkes Boothe.

[Griff]

I would put forth that the TWO most important firearms in American history are the Colt SAA and the Winchester mdl 1894/94.

The Colt because it is uniquely American. If not genuinely rugged, it presents that appearance, and its’ simplicity. It has, thru lore and Hollywood come to be an icon of the American West, and the West’s epitome of vim & vigor, the Cowboy. The American Cowboy has become embedded in the American psyche, and ideal that few attain, yet many strive to emulate; even if in itself, it’s only an ideal.

The Winchester mdl 1894/94 as it’s probably the most produced firearm are that wasn’t initially developed or purchased for martial use.

There may be many more firearms that are VERY noteworthy for their pivotal roles in American history, but few have had such a wide-sweeping impact on the general populace. Show almost any American over the age of 8 a Colt SAA or a Winchester 94 and they are more likely than no to properly identify it, if not by exact name and model, then certainly by its nom de plume, “Cowboy gun”.

[Old Savage]

You know Griff you raise a very interesting point. But, almost one of misidentification. The Model 94 is certainly the final development of the lever action tube fed winchester as seen by the American public but as likely noted earlier the Model 73 and the like were the ones of that ilk that carried the water in winning the west. The 94 more or less inherited the won west. I wonder what one of the 73/66 types was most used and how many had them.

[Old Savage]

Jeepnik, Yes almost certainly JWB had a 1911A1 but if not that then a S&W Model 19 - likely nickel plated.

[junkbug]

On behalf of my Dad, I nominate the M-1 Garand. Just a few years after WWII ended, they were available as legally owned surplus arms to any citizen who was willing to pay the small amount of money (even during a time of economic recession) that they cost. At the time, still state of the art infantry equipment.

How times have changed.


Sean

[Griff]

You know Griff you raise a very interesting point. But, almost one of misidentification. The Model 94 is certainly the final development of the lever action tube fed winchester as seen by the American public but as likely noted earlier the Model 73 and the like were the ones of that ilk that carried the water in winning the west. The 94 more or less inherited the won west. I wonder what one of the 73/66 types was most used and how many had them.

OS,

You're correct from a historical/factual view. But... myths and perceptions are often only tenuously connected to facts. And more than that might lessen their importance and impact. The wonderful and sometimes baffling effects of "spin"... otherwise known as marketing.

[Old Savage]

True again but - they made 720,000 of them so somebody must have had them and maybe one of the myths now is very few had them and everyone just had a shotgun but, and this is no challenge just a question in discussion, where does the 94 come in even in being a myth as the gun. But then, it is the most common and useful descendant that we all can use in the closest connection we all have to those days which is hunting. I saw the cowboy pics and wanted a 94 - didn't really realize it was a 92 or 73 I seeing. As you suggest it is a little complex. Is the water muddy enough yet???

[RIHMFIRE]

The most import gun in american history are the ones we are
holding when the ....manure....hits the fan!

[jeepnik]

The most import gun in american history are the ones we are
holding when the ....manure....hits the fan!

Yep, like I said Remington Rand 1911A1.

[AJMD429]

The most import gun in american history are the ones we are
holding when the ....manure....hits the fan!

That is the fundamental common denominator that unites most of the 'choices' other posters have proposed.

"American" history is that of a VERY unique, perhaps 'divinely inspired', culture, which empowered the 'common man' vs. the 'government'. Much of it was due to the happenstance of a continent 'invaded' by a culture just then adopting the new technology of the firearm, where an individual could NOT be subjugated without the risk of death of at least some of the oppressors. A squad of a dozen King's men on horseback with swords would absolutely destroy a peasant's family and farm if they weren't subservient enough, but if that peasant's family had even one firearm, the risk/benefit equation shifts dramatically. Same for the woman working night-shift and driving home alone. With nothing but a cell-phone and can of pepper-spray, she's a 'statistic', but with a .38 Special, even the most fit and aggressive armed aggressor simply cannot turn her into a rape statistic.

Guns = Freedom

[AJMD429]

The most import gun in american history are the ones we are
holding when the ....manure....hits the fan!

That is the fundamental common denominator that unites most of the 'choices' other posters have proposed.

"American" history is that of a VERY unique, perhaps 'divinely inspired', culture, which empowered the 'common man' vs. the 'government'. Much of it was due to the happenstance of a continent 'invaded' by a culture just then adopting the new technology of the firearm, where an individual could NOT be subjugated without the risk of death of at least some of the oppressors. A squad of a dozen King's men on horseback with swords would absolutely destroy a peasant's family and farm if they weren't subservient enough, but if that peasant's family had even one firearm, the risk/benefit equation shifts dramatically. Same for the woman working night-shift and driving home alone. With nothing but a cell-phone and can of pepper-spray, she's a 'statistic', but with a .38 Special, even the most fit and aggressive armed aggressor simply cannot turn her into a rape statistic.

Guns = Freedom

[Old Savage]

Well then that is it - I guess it is Stevens 12 Ga. Double Barrel 311 I think.