History Channel: Tales of the Gun - Automatic Pistols: A Review

For those of you not familiar with "The History Channel," they have a series titled "Tales of the Gun." There are many different subjects in this series, about different types of guns. This review is about Automatic Pistols.

This episode tells the story of automatic pistols, from the first one, until present day. Or at least until the day the episode was made. I sat through this one, several times, thinking I was going to catch a mistake. The only thing I could really find was one of the historians had a bad habit of putting his finger on the trigger, when he shouldn't. Lots of people make that mistake.

The only other "mistake" might be the description of the M1911 Colt .45 as having stopping power, by the Late, Ian V. Hogg. I know some people will disagree with me on this, insisting that the M1911 is a great man-stopper. Even if I were to point to verified incidents where people who were shot with a .45, were not stopped or put down. Regardless, there is also much anecdotal evidence that says it is a great man-stopper, and this review is not about disputing that in either direction.

I wish they had covered more, as there are so many different models that have been and are being made, but this program was made to fit within an hour time slot, complete with commercials (Which are not included in the DVD, thankfully). A more in-depth show on this subject, would likely take more than a few hours. But for the time alloted, I think this does an excellent job.

For those who want to know, this episode gives some details on the Borchardt C93, Mauser C96, Browning Pocket pistol, Colt 1903, 1911, the Webley-Fosbery Automatic Revolver, Luger, Walther PP, PPK, and P-38, the Roth-Steyr, Beretta 92, and various Glock pistols. It also delves into the future just a bit with discussion on the "safe" pistol. The model that various companies (Colt is the one in this episode) are working on, that can only be fired by the owner.

In any event, I could not really find any historical (or ANY) fault with this episode of "Tales of the Gun." As with all the other episodes I've ever seen in this series, The History Channel does not go into the pros or cons of gun ownership, although, in their intro to the section on the "safe" pistol, they do mention the possible, results that can happen when pistols fall into the wrong hands. Regardless, I highly recommend it to those interested in the subject.

Current Mood: Content
Current Music: None
My Carry Pistol: Para-Ordnance P14.45

General Lies and Power

WHAT IF, Moveon.org had existed during World War II? Would we have seen an ad like this?



Unfortunately, I think we would have. Assuming they could have found a newspaper back then that would have printed it. During WWII, the News media was not as "un" biased, and as "un" patriotic as it is today. Back then, the troops in the field were "our boys."

Current Mood: Amused
Current Music: The Village People - "Macho Man"
My Carry Pistol: EAA Witness 10mm