# What's in a (gun) Name?



## Frisco Pete (Sep 22, 2007)

The old saying "What's in a name?" - well you gotta love gun models with the cool names.

Colt Commando - sure sounds better than XM177.
Speaking of Colt, they were on a roll at one time with the following models:
Detective Special
Cobra
Python
Anaconda
Does it really get any better than that?

S&W, trying to lose it's stogy image, went from classics like "New Century" to numeric models around the same time that whiz-kids like Robert McNamara were overhauling U.S. industry in the Space Age just before Vietnam showed that all their ideas weren't genius - S&W went from: 
Highway Patrolman to Model 28
Military & Police to Model 10 
Chiefs Special to Model 36
Combat Magnum to Model 19
The 686 at least has a name that _sounds_ good numerically and rolls off the tongue well. So does 66. Both are successes. 
Oddly enough, they simply outdid Colt in the long run despite the much cooler Colt model designations. Still, the Python is thought to be _the_ classic .357 Magnum. With a name like that how can you possibly lose?

Beretta's market people saw the genius of Colt marketing and came up with their own animal series:
Cougar, Puma, and Tomcat. Would the Model 92/96 be the "Lion"? This cat series has slid somewhat by the wayside, maybe someone was allergic to cats?

Speaking of name home runs - how about the Ruger Blackhawk? That is a great name. Actually Ruger itself isn't bad because it has that solid expensive German engineering sound that rhymes with "Luger" (_and their first pistol looked a little bit like a Luger_) and Blackhawk is just a classic name with two macho name/parts: _Black_ and _Hawk_ plus its connection to the Blackhawk chief and war(s). All connect this classic western-style SA with our frontier past.
Ruger knew this because "Redhawk" was an obvious follow-up for a marketing name success. "Purplehawk" was rejected for some reason, although I understand it market-tested well in San Francisco.
"Bisley" is too obscure and boring. LCP and LCR are forgettable. "Bearcat" has a nice ring as well. "Mini-14" grabs hold and rides the coattails of the classic M14 battle rifle. People make the connection, sometimes to their detriment, in misunderstanding the Mini's _actual_ relationship to the M14.

The military likes alpha-numeric designations. Problem is that not only is that boring, but there end up being a lot of M1s (rifle, carbine, submachine gun etc.) Isn't "Tommy gun" much better than M1, M1A1 or M1928A1? Or Garand better than M1. Everyone knows what submachine gun the "grease gun" is, but not so much M3.
Occasionally the designation becomes transcendent and becomes classic like 1911 or M16. Same for Kalashnikov's AK47. Not so for the more correct term for most of them we see (stamped receiver newer modified version) of AKM. 
In the case of the ArmaLite Rifle 15, AR15 (_another whiz-kid era name_) became the classic colloquially designation for the type, although Colt did their best work to divorce the ArmaLite from AR. The CAR-15 name was an attempt to re-associate the AR-15 name with Colt. Colt owns "AR15" and hates that the other brands are called that by gun people, if not their makers. "Assault Rifle" is what some feel that AR stands for - and _that_ sells guns (_and worries ignorant politicians_).

While not particular cool names in German, German weapon names have taken on a class of their own and have become iconic. The way they roll off your tongue in a harsh guttural that sounds so bad azzzz Nazi SS... 
Luger - better than P08
Schmeisser - better than MP40 even though it is technically an incorrect name.
Mauser - better than KAR-98.

Or the Teutonic sporting rifles like Mannlicher-Schönauer that give you a lot of German for your tongue to play with. Next time the guy/girl at the drive-in window of the fast food joint asks something in Spanglish you hardly can understand - just tell 'em "_Ich habe ein Mannlicher-Schönauer, verstehen? Swine-hundt_!" That ought to _corn-fuse_ them... well maybe not such a good idea...
As to the Mannlicher-Carcano - well IMO that sounds like you are choking on something and need the Heimlich maneuver.

How about cheap guns like a TEC-9 - not so bad really, sounds high tech and digital for a very simple gun/system.
There there is the cleverly named Hi-Point. It should correctly be named "Low-Price Point", but Hi sounds better somehow. Whether any Hi-Point pistol is the high-point of your gun collection will remain something to be debated on countless future threads.

Numeric model designations are common in American sporting arms, especially ones that are the year of introduction, but lack _panache_ unless they reflect our cowboy heritage _e.g._ Marlin's 1894 is classier than Winchester's simple 94. Winchester and others dropped the 18 when the 20th Century arrived in order to sound up-to-date, but what was _passe_ is now nostalgic and sells better in a Cowboy Action Shooting environment. 
American bolt actions tend to be numerical. They also tend to have a lot of 7s in the model designation. Winchester started the whole thing with the Model 70 (1935) and Remington came up with 721, 722, 700, 7, 710, 770. Ruger got on the bandwagon with the Model 77. Marlin knew that any successful hunting rifle had to have a 7, hence the MR7.

The only other number close to being as good as 7 is 99. Savage Model 99, Hi-Point 995, Tec-9, Walther P99

Savage started the 110 as a lower cost alternative so they stuck with some lower numbers perhaps. Plain stocked and with a homely barrel nut they were like the wallflowers at a Jr. High dance. Notice how they never really took off until they added Accu-trigger to the name. Even though you could do decent enough accuracy work with the 110 trigger - although mine was a bit thin with some sharp edges (after a lot of rounds you could call it the _Blister-trigger_) - Accu-trigger makes the whole rifle seem like they are super accurate - and now that is what every else says: "You _could_ get a Rem 700 but for the best accuracy you should get a Savage Accu-trigger!... no I don't believe in subliminal messages... why do you ask?" Now the Savage 110 is like the plain girl in Jr. High that becomes a stone fox in High School. Coincidence?

The right alpha letters can be good - Springfield Armory XD "Xtreme Duty". X is a tough letter, Q isn't - no Q guns. S&W biggest revolvers are the X frames. Must mean Xtra Large? Browning now has an X-Bolt rifle. M is okay because it is so military. How about XD-M? S&W finally figured out that they had fallen off the bandwagon because they have returned to M&P (Military & Police). That wasn't too cool in the late 1960's hippie anti-establishment era, but okay now. M&P is better than Sigma.

Sigma was a good try and a great name, but even the best name couldn't help _that_ pistol - which soon were referred to by knowing pistoleros as the "Smegma" (_i.e: the secretion of a sebaceous gland; specifically: the cheesy sebaceous matter that collects between the glans penis and the foreskin or around the clitoris and labia minora_). Only massive rebates and price cutting + minor fixes and a new generation of buyers keeps this one around. It's the S&W family's embarrassing relative. [Here we go... more angry posts :roll: sorry... ]

Of course the new hot name is Tactical. Put it in the name of any gun, or on anything you can and people know they have the good mil-spec SWAT/SEAL-approved high speed/low drag stuff. The XD Tactical is cooler than XD Service. Service sounds like you are fixing somebody's car, or are a cashier at Wal-Mart, rather than in the 5th Special Forces.

"Compact" wasn't that great in the "bigger is better" American culture, but the realities of concealed carry make some of us think about guns that don't pull our pants down like a LA gangbanger, or poke you in the back, not to mention take a trenchcoat to conceal - and that makes it sell guns to people who are looking for a CC pistol. Women don't have the same issues with this as men. They carry a lot of stuff in their purse and want a compact gun for obvious reasons.

Well, enough of my ramblings - what have I missed?


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## Loke (Sep 7, 2007)

The original *357 Magnum*. You know the one that eventually became the Model 27. Now that was the pinacle of the revolver maker's art. Any thing Browning, whether on not John Moses had anything to do with the design. And how on earth could you forget *Weatherby*? And the images that the names Holland & Holland or Rigby evoke. There are many more.


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## lehi (Sep 13, 2007)

Haha great thread!

BTW, I think Ruger could have come up with something better than "10/22" .... That name has always sort of bugged me for some reason...


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## Gee LeDouche (Sep 21, 2007)

Excellent post! how bout HK and their "Tactical" line of pistols? I may have overlooked that.. lol


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## Al Hansen (Sep 7, 2007)

Very good post Pete. Well done. 8)


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## JERRY (Sep 30, 2007)

Good post! Funny and informative. :wink: How about the 38 special..... What's so special? or other names like snub nose.....


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

horsesma said:


> Good post! Funny and informative. :wink: How about the 38 special..... What's so special? or other names like snub nose.....


it's quite simple, the 38 special rides the short bus and snub nose revolvers are the most arrogant of all handguns. The Saturday night special pistols have always had me wondering what they did so special.....? Great points you made horsesma!

Cool post Pete!


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## NHS (Sep 7, 2007)

I never much cared for the name Mannlicher for some reason.


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## Al Hansen (Sep 7, 2007)

NHS said:


> I never much cared for the name Mannlicher for some reason.


Yeah, something is just wrong with that. :lol:


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## Oldtimehtr (Sep 27, 2007)

Very informative post but.... nothing about the Thuddy-thuddy Winchester?? Probably the greatest name of them all. :wink:


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## gwailow (Jan 20, 2008)

Fun post and a good read.

I've always been partial to the names made up by the Lazzeroni folks--10.57 Meteor and Maverick to name a couple.


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## ACHY (Oct 18, 2007)

Frisco Pete said:


> Numeric model designations are common in American sporting arms, especially ones that are the year of introduction, but lack _panache_ unless they reflect our cowboy heritage _e.g._ Marlin's 1894 is classier than Winchester's simple 94. Winchester and others dropped the 18 when the 20th Century arrived in order to sound up-to-date, but what was _passe_ is now nostalgic and sells better in a Cowboy Action Shooting environment.


I have to disagree about this. Nothing reflects our cowboy heritage more than the name "Winchester." The name "Marlin" just doesn't have the same appeal. To me, the "18" doesn't make as big a difference as what comes before it.


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## Loke (Sep 7, 2007)

A lot of the nostalgia and historical prominence comes to us via Hollywood. Not to diminish the accomplishments of Winchester and Colt, but there were many other guns "that won the west". The most prominent should be a shotgun. Any shotgun. And most likely a single shot. The homesteaders that settled the west were not all that affluent, and they brought the most practical and versatile firearm that they could afford. And that would be a shotgun. There are many other names that are overlooked by hollywood. Some were the finest arms that have ever been constructed. The Merwin and Hulbert for example. The tolerances and workmanship would put a Swiss watchmaker to shame. The Sharps single shot, Remington Rolling Block, and Springfield Trap Door did more to "win the west" by decimating the buffalo herds than any Winchester. That is why Oliver Winchester approached a young Mormon kid from Ogden about a single shot rifle that he had designed. He needed something that could compete with these powerful rifles in the marketplace.


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## lehi (Sep 13, 2007)

Loke said:


> A lot of the nostalgia and historical prominence comes to us via Hollywood. Not to diminish the accomplishments of Winchester and Colt, but there were many other guns "that won the west". The most prominent should be a shotgun. Any shotgun. And most likely a single shot. The homesteaders that settled the west were not all that affluent, and they brought the most practical and versatile firearm that they could afford. And that would be a shotgun. There are many other names that are overlooked by hollywood. Some were the finest arms that have ever been constructed. The Merwin and Hulbert for example. The tolerances and workmanship would put a Swiss watchmaker to shame. The Sharps single shot, Remington Rolling Block, and Springfield Trap Door did more to "win the west" by decimating the buffalo herds than any Winchester. That is why Oliver Winchester approached a young Mormon kid from Ogden about a single shot rifle that he had designed. He needed something that could compete with these powerful rifles in the marketplace.


I agree, Hollywood probably has quite a huge impact on how we look at the old west. Hell I would want a shotgun too. There would be a lot less room for error when shooting at something in the dark.

Of course, how could we forget Hollywood's attempt to give Glocks a bad name by saying they are a %100 Polymer pistol that could get through airports. :lol:


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## Frisco Pete (Sep 22, 2007)

Names like Winchester and Glock aren't all that special in and of themselves - they just become iconic with history, reputation, and popularity.

Winchester does denote the old West more than Marlin, but 1894 is a smart move on Marlin's part to cash in on some of that. Just think of how much cooler "Winchester Model 1894" would sound than just "Model 94". You would have it all, then.

Sharps is a good name too - "sharpshooter"; "that is a sharp-looking gun"; plus all the buffalo hunter tie-in nostalgia.
Merwin & Hulbert sucks as a name - sounds more like a law firm or grocery store. No wonder Colt is much more iconic. 

NHS - I hate you - I can never see or hear the name "Mannlicher" again without being deeply disturbed :x Thanks a lot. :lol:


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## Loke (Sep 7, 2007)

Mannlicher.......well it all depends what she looks like....


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