Guns Are Function Art
BY Herschel Smith
12 hours, 31 minutes ago
I agree with his perspective.
I couldn’t be less interested in what Navy SEAL umpty-so uses for EDC, or what Ranger bad boy carries in his Kydex IWB holster. That matters so little to me that I automatically switch off and find something else to occupy my time. Oh, and I couldn’t care less what the military uses or used. I will never switch to ceramic cartridge cases, and I have nothing that says Sig in my gun locker.
I am an engineer, and I love well-functioning machines, as well as machines that have been made with beauty. I also love that the guns that interest me have a relationship with the history of so many great men and my own country.
That’s why I admire Browning for the 1911 design, and Eugene Stoner for the AR-15 design (the genius of direct impingement putting the recoil in line with the bore axis still amazes me, along with the general reliability of the design), and so many men who contributed to lever action rifles. I want to see my 500 S&W magnum lever action rifle one day without having to spend the money at Bighorn Armory, and I wonder if it will ever happen.
I probably don’t need it because of .444 Marlin and 30-30 Marlin and 45-70 Marlin, but I want one anyway.
On June 15, 2025 at 9:44 pm, Georgiaboy61 said:
I’m sure there are marketing gurus and the like at all of the major firearms manufacturing companies doing research on what is the “next big thing,” running focus groups, sending out surveys to their dealers and customers, and so on. All of this so that the next new offering will – it is hoped – be a hit.
But I wonder how many of them understand that some people collect firearms – in particular historical FAs made of wood-and-steel – because they are not just tools to perform a particular task, but works of art redolent of a bygone age.
I fully understand that your standard Glock 19 works right out of the box, and can be used and abused like you wouldn’t believe – and it will still function. But as great as Gaston Glock’s invention was and still is, it will never be artistic in the way that a fine M1911 pistol is.
The former is a commodity, cranked out by the millions in some automated factory; the latter was largely designed, crafted and assembled by hand. There is a literal historical link between the men who built those fine pistols and their users today.
A vintage M1911 may have fought in WWI or WWII; it may have been present for the heroic defense of the Philippines during the dark days of 1942, or survived the snow and ice in the Ardennes in 1944-1945, or gone down into a V.C. Tunnel complex in Vietnam…. who knows where your vintage M1911 has been?
That’s part of the magic and allure of vintage firearms, ones made by hand and not by CNC machines….
On June 15, 2025 at 10:14 pm, X said:
From an engineering perspective, Hersch, your love of lever guns doesn’t compute. They’re much too complicated. By contrast the Mauser action and the AR-15 action are models of sublime efficiency and mechanical parsimony. The U.S. military has never adopted a lever gun as a standard-issue small arm.
I should also add that the Glock pistol beats literally everything else for simplicity, reliability, and durability.
That’s OK, though, engineers are allowed to love things just because.
But not when they’re designing them.
Personally, I like to shoot guns that are accurate, reliable and handle well. If they do that I don’t care much what they look like or what their history is.
On June 15, 2025 at 11:27 pm, Herschel Smith said:
“From an engineering perspective, Hersch, your love of lever guns doesn’t compute. They’re much too complicated.”
Actually, when I disassemble my lever action guns I’m struck by their simplicity of design.
In addition, they are historic and artistic.
On June 16, 2025 at 6:05 am, MN Steel said:
I’ve got a lever and bolt .30-30 Winchester, and have old boxes of .30 WCF, but never heard of 30-30 Marlin.