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Really, Utah - you need an official state firearm? And an outdated one to boot?

Outdated? HERETIC!

How is that outdated! That weapon is a classical work of art!

It will do the job just as well now as it did then, Az has the same legislation for the Peacemaker. Even as big of a pro-Second Amendment supporter as I am........meh. There are more important things in Az than another state symbol, like maybe the Swiss Cheese, oh excuse me the border with Mexico to legislate about.

Pennsylvania had the same idea, but at least it was for a famous historical weapon named for the state.

As to outdated... yep. It's a single-action, oversized handgun that can't handle anything resembling a modern chamber pressure. The .45 ACP round certainly uses a big, nasty, heavy bullet - but at subsonic speeds. If you really feel the need to launch a handgun bullet that size at someone, you can use a USP or HK45 (et. al.) chambered in the .45 Super - all the cavitation, but without ignoring the benefits of inflicting hydrostatic shock! In fact; Glock, Sig Sauer, and others make handguns for the .357SIG which almost duplicates the ballistics of the .357 Magnum, but in an autoloader. For that matter, a .380 ACP round has similar ballistics but is easier to handle than a government 10mm.

A moment of silence, please, for Mr. John Moses Browning....
The model 1911 in .45 ACP. My favorite semiautomatic handgun of all time. Accurate as can be, fun to shoot, not a lot of recoil, makes cans of soup into gloriously messy explosions!

Mikey wrote:Pennsylvania had the same idea, but at least it was for a famous historical weapon named for the state.

As to outdated... yep. It's a single-action, oversized handgun that can't handle anything resembling a modern chamber pressure. The .45 ACP round certainly uses a big, nasty, heavy bullet - but at subsonic speeds. If you really feel the need to launch a handgun bullet that size at someone, you can use a USP or HK45 (et. al.) chambered in the .45 Super - all the cavitation, but without ignoring the benefits of inflicting hydrostatic shock! In fact; Glock, Sig Sauer, and others make handguns for the .357SIG which almost duplicates the ballistics of the .357 Magnum, but in an autoloader. For that matter, a .380 ACP round has similar ballistics but is easier to handle than a government 10mm.

I'm not sure about the ballistics of the .45 Super or the .357 SIG, but one of the benefits of a subsonic round is that whether or not you use hollow points, solids, wadcutters, etc., it doesn't tend to exit the body very quickly, if at all, thereby greatly reducing the chances of collateral damage, which is why my dad used one when he was a cop in Garland, TX.

As I see it, it doesn't matter if the weapon is old or new. That gun is a piece of American history so taking as a state firearm makes total sense.

Deepcrush wrote:As I see it, it doesn't matter if the weapon is old or new. That gun is a piece of American world history so taking as a state firearm makes total sense.

I think that says it better Deep, a fantastic engineer.

mwhittington wrote:I'm not sure about the ballistics of the .45 Super or the .357 SIG

The big advantages of rounds like that, or the .357 Magnum, or similar modern LE rounds, is that high supersonic speeds = hydrostatic shock... which, in turn, equals better chance of putting down a bad guy even if the actual entry wound doesn't. Also, supersonic rounds function better against body armor... .357 Magnum rounds can be shot accurately through a car door.

mwhittington wrote:but one of the benefits of a subsonic round is that whether or not you use hollow points, solids, wadcutters, etc., it doesn't tend to exit the body very quickly, if at all, thereby greatly reducing the chances of collateral damage, which is why my dad used one when he was a cop in Garland, TX.

If that were a prominent reason, I'd expect that more cops would use the .45 ACP. Instead, the lack of overpenetration required for a LE round is provided by the amoutn of jacket on the ball.

Deepcrush wrote:As I see it, it doesn't matter if the weapon is old or new. That gun is a piece of American history so taking as a state firearm makes total sense.

Meh, that's fair enough; but even though Utah was Browning's home state, that fact isn't widely-enough known to associate one of his firearms with the state. The Pennsylvania rifle, OTOH, has a pretty obvious relationship with Pennsylvania.

Maybe, but Colt itself has had a long history out west. Owning a Colt produced firearm in the western third of the country is a bit of a staple. Where I grew up, the rifle/shotgun combo was a kin to the "out west" pistol/quick draw holster.

Deepcrush wrote:Maybe, but Colt itself has had a long history out west. Owning a Colt produced firearm in the western third of the country is a bit of a staple. Where I grew up, the rifle/shotgun combo was a kin to the "out west" pistol/quick draw holster.

OK, but we're talking about the M1911. You're talking about a Colt SAA or an earlier 1851 Navy or 1860 Army.

Mikey wrote:Colt SAA

Possibly the nicest weapon I've ever had the privilege to operate.

"The gun that won the West if you don't count the gun that really did but doesn't get any mention because it wasn't American, and if you don't count the gun that actually won the West in combat because it was the first centerfire pistol issued to U.S. troops."

Seriously - did you get to shoot it with original-type .45 LC, or converted for smokeless?