Question about handgun hate?

[Lucky Scott]

I got a question about people that have a strong dislike about some of the brands. I understand that every company has good and bad points and some models are better than others. But I meet folks that look at some of my guns and say things like, "I would never shoot that" or similar remarks.
I am a car guy and remember when the ford guys hated the chevy guys, would hear things like "I would rather push a chevy than drive a ford" and stuff like that. However, now I own chevys, fords, dodge, and they all work fine.

Case in point, my buddy has had a taurus .38 snubnose for years and loves it. I bought one and it has become my favorite gun. Its a fun little range gun and has never given my one problem. In fact, I am surprised how accurate a little snubnose can be at the range. It is small and easy to carry.

My wife picked up a S & W Sigma, and we read a ton of hate on that gun. But the .40 seems to work nice and is a good shooter. I have gone thru a few boxes of ammo and had no problems yet.

So what is the deal? Why the hate for these guns?

Just for the record, I am a 50 year old man with about a dozen different guns, not a newbie by any means, and want to learn stuff without predudice.
I clean my guns every time I use them. I am sure the taurus is not as well made as my S & W model 64 but seems to be good enough. And I am sure that some people have had problems with these guns. But they seem to work just fine for me.

Are they better now than in the past?
Did I just get lucky and have good ones?
Or is it just a matter of time before a problem happens?

[B Strong]

Some people like to look down their noses at other's choices, and some is based on some bad personal experience with the particular gun in question.

For example, my experience with the Sigma has been horrible. A friend bought one, shot it, and brought it to me because he felt the trigger pull was a "little heavy" Heavy? Marone! that thing had the single worst trigger pull (in league with the original Springfield semi M60) that I've ever run into. Taking the thing down, I found no obvious problems, and told him to send it back to Smith. He sent them the thing, they returned it and it was no better!

The other Sigma I ran into had a better trigger, but the thing wasn't accurate. Why? I have no clue. The owner of the gun is a good shooter, so am I, and shooting strictly bullseye, we couldn't get better than 4" out of the thing at 15 yds - on the same day, either one of use could get 1" out my Novak HP with the same ammo at the same distance.

If you have a gun that works and you like, FTW. Stay with it.

[Lucky Scott]

Yeah, the trigger is heavy on that Sigma. That doesnt bother me that much. I guess as long as it goes boom everytime and I hit the target, I am happy.

[JTROKS]

For some folks life is more interesting when they have something to hate. As much as I wanna say I'm not one of those haters, my experience with Llama revolver have been very disappointing and painful.

[Fjold]

Everyone has their predjudices about different things. There is a lot of snob factor involved as some people will only buy the "name" brands and everything else is "you get what you pay for".

It's like the Tacticool crowd who shoot 100 rounds out of their ARs at the range once a week but insist that they have to have the $1,000 XYZ lower because it is made of Unobtanium and the $2,000 upper with the mag particle inspected barrel coated with Slickalloy.

[SCMA-1]

People.

I think it's just the worst of human nature rearing it's ugly head. Whether it be guns, cars, cameras, TV's etc. etc., there's nothing new here. Much of it has to do with elitism, prejudice, insecure people trying to make themselves feel superior by minimizing other's choices of material possessions, fanboyism....

Then you have the characters that are so desperate for recognition that they will go out and buy the most expensive, latest catchy brand label toy "du jour" in the hopes of impressing their peers (ie, I'm ELITE because I bought what YOU can't afford), but they won't stand for anyone who gets a competing similarly equipped toy at a fraction of the price of their own ridiculously overpriced toy and so they embark on a mission of minimizing and criticizing the "other" toy (the 'ol "you get what you pay for" and the "nothing else compares to ....." crowd) to make themselves feel better about overspending. Some will attempt to justify their fiscally unwise purchase by insisting that "great customer service" accompanies the exorbitant cost of their toy. Other's will attempt to use insignificant numbers of negative anecdotes regarding the occasional defective products of the competing "no name" brand as conclusive evidence that any and all products of the competition should be regarded as inferior in quality or design. One has only to read some posts on any consumer product related forum to witness this kind of behavior and Calguns is no exception.

As yourself, I've been on this earth long enough to have the experience to know that "name" branding is nothing more than clever marketing by shrewd companies persuading unsophisticated consumers to pay more to get less, all of which goes towards making someone else rich at the consumer's expense. This is why I purposely refrain from buying name brands whenever possible which has resulted in the discovery of many "no name" brands of incredible value. Whenever openly discussing material possessions, one will always encounter these kinds of conflicts.

SCMA-1

[hellraiser]

For some folks life is more interesting when they have something to hate.

how very true.... it seems to me like people need to hate somthing just to show that they are "informed".... JTROKS i love that quote....

[bohoki]

i don't understand what handgun hate i never hear any handgun hate

of course that being said i would never fire a hi-point,lorcin,jennings in any caliber greater than .25

[WyoDuner]

I own guns from a lowly Bersa .380 to an expensive Kimber and many different brands in between. I have no prejudice towards any reputable manufacturer.

That being said, there are certain firearms that just aren't that good and have a history of failures, problems, poor quality, etc. I think people should free to discuss that and advise accordingly. People just get a little carried away sometimes...

[civilsnake]

Another thing to consider is that a lot of people view guns as tools with which to protect themselves, so the ideas of quality and reliability tend to trump other factors. You think about buying a handgun, feeling like you may have to rely on it to save you someday, so you figure that you should get the absolute best you can to ensure reliability and accuracy. When certain brands and types start to develop a reputation, things snowball. Multiply that across all of gun culture and you get the tiered system we have today, and people don't really question it. If you do question it, someone can simply say "I wouldn't trust my life to a piece of junk like that", and go back to what they already feel like they can trust.

[halifax]

Another thing to consider is that a lot of people view guns as tools with which to protect themselves, so the ideas of quality and reliability tend to trump other factors. You think about buying a handgun, feeling like you may have to rely on it to save you someday, so you figure that you should get the absolute best you can to ensure reliability and accuracy. When certain brands and types start to develop a reputation, things snowball. Multiply that across all of gun culture and you get the tiered system we have today, and people don't really question it. If you do question it, someone can simply say "I wouldn't trust my life to a piece of junk like that", and go back to what they already feel like they can trust.

I have a Ruger P89 with original std capacity magazines. It has always been reliable and accurate. Never once a problem, but do I carry it? NO. I have no idea why not. Must have picked up a case of snob somewhere.

[JTROKS]

how very true.... it seems to me like people need to hate somthing just to show that they are "informed".... JTROKS i love that quote....

It is, it doesn't matter if you grew up in a third world country or in one of the prime countries as in the USA. I can understand if someone had a bad experience of the material they are hating, but some folks tend to judge something/someone just by the way they/it looks. One may even react as mentioned without even knowing it.

[tonelar]

Okay, how about looking at it this way... say you bought an XYZ 1911, that wouldn't work for you. You spent time and money (returning it to the factory twice) and it still never functioned right for you.

Now, you're looking over someone's collection and they have a cherry condition XYZ 1911.

Personally, I wouldn't say a thing. However there are plenty of people who will launch into their story in regards to that handgun. Would you call them haters? How about critics?

[Jonathan Doe]

Whether you like a certain gun or not is a persoanl preference. No matter what kind of gun you have, if you practice with it and become good at it, it iwll be your best gun. I don't care what somebody says about my gun.

Once someone mentioned about my "ugly" match rifle. I beat him every time at the match. Does it matter whether what someone likes? Guess not.

[Cato]

I think a man's brand of gun is very important: much like his brand of car or beer. Freedom loving types tend to be even more loyal to their brand. I guess we are sentimental. My reasons not to buy a Taurus is...

1) They are Brazilian (3rd world manufacturer)
2) SW makes better guns, are US made (usually), and have more history
3) Taurus did have some quality control issues before.
4) I'm not a revolver guy, but when I think revolver I think SW.

Now these reasons can be taken apart easily and aren't very rational, but like many of us, my heart guides my purchases much more than pragmatism.