Sunday, April 12, 2009

Even plain, she was always beautiful to me...

I don't know if I've ever seen Xavier make this observation before...

I resisted owning a 1911 for a long time simply because I considered it to be an ugly gun, an old man's gun.

...but still it surprised me a bit. He would know much better than me about the 1911s in the 1980s gun rags being ugly, as I was young and not really that much into guns back then to boot...but I always thought the M1911A1 was one of the most beautiful guns, one of the most beautiful machines period, that I'd ever seen -- even the plain-jane parkerized Springfield GI that was my first one. To this day I feel that way. And my first centerfire pistol was a Ruger P89, with my first .45 being its big brother the P90. Even as I bought those guns, though, I always did want a 1911, and once I laid my hands on that first one that was it. I saw a quote on The High Road that summed it all up really well...
"I think maybe it has 'divine proportion' that appeals to me on a subconscious level or something. Looking down at the top of the slide, at the elegant simplicity, the curves and the slenderness, it just looks right. Then when you hold it, its so heavy and cold, it feels like a real machine. I always thought of the 1911 as the American samurai sword."
Yes, indeed.