Why are they called Suicide Specials?
- Thread starter Hellbore
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:banghead:Suicide Special meant it was a cheap gun maybe good for only one shot before breaking or it was a cheap gun that would explode and kill the operator. I have heard both versions.
Midnight or Saturday Night Special meant a cheap gun not suitable for serious target or sporting use and would be carried by criminals. Of course, such inexpensive guns were and are also owned by law-abiding citizens of modest means who need a defensive pistol but are on a tight budget.
Midnight or Saturday Night Special meant a cheap gun not suitable for serious target or sporting use and would be carried by criminals. Of course, such inexpensive guns were and are also owned by law-abiding citizens of modest means who need a defensive pistol but are on a tight budget.
KLR
Member
Story I heard:
A lot of the suicide specials were old top-break revolvers usually in one of the old .38 calibers (i.e. not .38 special) or one of the .32s (.32 rim, etc.). The guns would often have been handed down over the years and be very old when used. Because of the age, the ammunition might not be up to par (I think some were brass black powder cartridges). A lot of people seriously injured themselves without killing themselves.
A lot of the suicide specials were old top-break revolvers usually in one of the old .38 calibers (i.e. not .38 special) or one of the .32s (.32 rim, etc.). The guns would often have been handed down over the years and be very old when used. Because of the age, the ammunition might not be up to par (I think some were brass black powder cartridges). A lot of people seriously injured themselves without killing themselves.
cortez kid
Member
Hellbore, that is just flatout wrong. 2 questions, what is it and can I get one!
good shootin
kid
good shootin
kid
Standing Wolf
Member in memoriam
Hellbore:
I think that's known as the "Politician" model.
I think that's known as the "Politician" model.
P95Carry
Moderator Emeritus
That'd be ''one in the eye'' for the shooter! 
RickH
Member
It was a form of racist gun controll. Do a google search for "suicide special n-----town saturday night" and you will get tons of hits and related articles. Comes in handy when some anti tries to tell you that cheap guns should be banned. They get all squirmy when you point out the racist origins of such arguments.
Ash
Member
Suicide special refers mostly to solid-frame, non-ejecting sheath trigger revolvers that usually had birds-head grips. Some top-break revolvers were lumped into this pattern because they were not as well made as, say, a Smith and Wesson. They were generally safe to carry with the hammer on an empty chamber, but not terribly accurate (I have heard they were accurate enough to blow your brains out, but little else). Indeed, some such as those made by Hood were smooth bores.
Suicide special is not related to Saturday Night Special, which does have the racist overtones mentioned above (in the beginning). But when one says Saturday Night Special without the ****** connotation (I spell the word for the sake of edification, not because it is a term I use), it is no longer racist. To assume guilt by ignorant use of a term cleaned up for the last 30 years is wrong.
How about Scotch tape anyone? Go to Glasgow and talk about the Scotch in a pub and you'll end up with a bloody nose. You see, Scotch is a racist epithet levied at the Scots by the English. Yet, we have it on an entire line of tapes (which by itself is pretty racist, we don't have Jew Tape or Hannaka (sic) masking tape). Every day folks say Scotch tape, which is akin to saying ****** tape. Now, are those people racists for using a racist brand name that plays on an ethnic stereotype? What about Extra Gum that portrays the gum as a Scotsman? What would happen if that gum were protrayed as a tough Indian?
Today, the term Saturday Night Special is no longer racist if the connotation does not include a racial element. I do not think of blacks when I hear the term. Indeed, the first thought that enters my head is a Clerke or RG zinc framed revolver. I personally don't use the term because I seldom discuss cheap revolvers save for in the accademic realm (such as here) and the term is needlessly long plus it is overly broad. I also don't use the term Assault Rifle for the same reason. I prefer to be specific. Yet, unless a person is already spewing racial epithets, I have no reason to assume that person is being racist when he uses the SNS term.
Of course, I do love to make the antis squirm, so advising them of the term is just fine by me. I love pointing out to hippies the irony that their favorite vehicle, the VW Beetle, was produced by Hitler's order and was named by Hitler himself (VW, not Beetle). Ironic that the symbol of peace and love was the brain child of Adolf and the product of Nazi Germany.
Ash
Suicide special is not related to Saturday Night Special, which does have the racist overtones mentioned above (in the beginning). But when one says Saturday Night Special without the ****** connotation (I spell the word for the sake of edification, not because it is a term I use), it is no longer racist. To assume guilt by ignorant use of a term cleaned up for the last 30 years is wrong.
How about Scotch tape anyone? Go to Glasgow and talk about the Scotch in a pub and you'll end up with a bloody nose. You see, Scotch is a racist epithet levied at the Scots by the English. Yet, we have it on an entire line of tapes (which by itself is pretty racist, we don't have Jew Tape or Hannaka (sic) masking tape). Every day folks say Scotch tape, which is akin to saying ****** tape. Now, are those people racists for using a racist brand name that plays on an ethnic stereotype? What about Extra Gum that portrays the gum as a Scotsman? What would happen if that gum were protrayed as a tough Indian?
Today, the term Saturday Night Special is no longer racist if the connotation does not include a racial element. I do not think of blacks when I hear the term. Indeed, the first thought that enters my head is a Clerke or RG zinc framed revolver. I personally don't use the term because I seldom discuss cheap revolvers save for in the accademic realm (such as here) and the term is needlessly long plus it is overly broad. I also don't use the term Assault Rifle for the same reason. I prefer to be specific. Yet, unless a person is already spewing racial epithets, I have no reason to assume that person is being racist when he uses the SNS term.
Of course, I do love to make the antis squirm, so advising them of the term is just fine by me. I love pointing out to hippies the irony that their favorite vehicle, the VW Beetle, was produced by Hitler's order and was named by Hitler himself (VW, not Beetle). Ironic that the symbol of peace and love was the brain child of Adolf and the product of Nazi Germany.
Ash
P95Carry
Moderator Emeritus
I simply has to be a very nice example of ''photoshopping''!
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