Your favorite "It" gun(s)

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For me an It gun has a quality to it that defys an easy definition. The It gun may not be the most practical or best designed gun, but it has something about it.

It conjures up images of (these are my images) the streets of Shanghai during the twenties, Lawrence of Arabia, running guns in Mexico during the Mexican Civil War, Playing cat and mouse with Axis agents in Istanbul during WW2, Micheal Collins and his Flying Columns taking on the Black and Tans, relieving the foreign compound in Peking during the Boxer Rebellion. Yes I know not all of these images are "PC" but so what? Anyway here is my list. The order does not indicate preference.

Mauser C98 Broomhandle
Winchester 1897 "Bush Gun"
Winchester Model 1895 (carbine or rifle)
Colt Lightning or Thunderer
Colt Detective Special
Smith and Wesson Triple Lock
Colt 1911
Lee - Enfield Mk III

Okay now it's your turn.
 
To me the P08 Luger, the Colt 1860 Army, 1851 Navy, and Model of 1911 have that "It" quality you speak of. Ditto on the Winchester Model 1897 in riot configuration and the Model 1928 Colt built Thompson, especially with the short businesslike snout, lacking the Cutts Compensator that was added later. Of the later guns, I would say the Colt M16A1 with the triangular handguards also can be an "It" gun. :D
 
My list includes the aforementioned 1911 and Thompson. Add to that the Colt Python for its unique look and excellent action and the Walther P-38, which I've always found very interesting.
 
1911, M2HB, Thompson, M1 Garand.

I always listen to my grandfather about WWII (I think I'm still the only person he's really opened up to about his experiences) and so the history of it and the firearms themselves have always been interesting to me.
 
Easy.

Colt 1878 New Frontier Six Shooter just screams "North To Alaska!"

The Luger smiles, "Prepare to die, Mr. Bond."

The 1911 bellows "Follow Me Boys!"

The 1917 New Service Army shouts "Over The Top!"

And maybe the most "it" gun of all.

The BAR. From gangsters to far flung conflicts world-wide the BAR thumps it's chest and pokes holes in all who nay-say it.

As TR said, walk softly, carry a BIG stick. The BAR is my favorite BIG stick of all time.
 
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Any of the old guns I own, like the '03A3, and just sittin, thinking about who carried it. Man, if they could talk!

I have a special fondness for a 6" Python that was left to me by an Uncle. I was told of the time he shot a cat with it, while an old boss of mine was also in the truck. After their ears stopped ringing, Uncle Dude said, " Well that was a greenhorn trick, wasn't it?":what:
 
Certainly tends to be something that has the feel of ''oozing history''.!

My MkV Jungle Carbine is perhaps one but it comes out most I think with an ol' Webley Mk VI in .455.


web_mkVI_s.jpg
 
I have a 6 in. Colt Python that is just a classic piece of work to me. According to Chuck Hawks the 6 in. Python is considered by many to be the best all around handgun ever made.

I do not have a Winchester Model 94 AE Wrangler Large Loop 30-30 but it seems like a classic to me too.

Colt AR-15 M4 ...
 
My brand new-to-me Mosin M38 is it, built in a hurry in the dark days of 1942, while the Nazi war machine ground it's way deeper and deeper into Russia. What story could it tell of rushed production, so the serial number stamp and year are crooked as all get out,what scared Russian kid carried this carbine into battle, and how many hands held it before they died.
Then the story I would love to know.....how many Nazis fell to it's thunderous boom and fireball.....
 
I'm with P95! I have to give The nod to big bores. A Webley, a Colt SAA in 44-40 and a Winchester LA in 44-40. A BAR is a heavy weapon and cumbersome. I would take a real Thompson trench broom. The SXS 10 bore would be my shotgun.
 
To me there are many "It" guns:

--No.4 Mk.I Lee-Enfield
--Browning High Power
--M1911
--S&W K-Frames, in particular the Model 15
--N-Frame .357s
--S&W 625 Model of 1989
--Colt 1851 Navy
--Sharps "Old Reliable"
--AK
--Mini-14
--Ma Deuce
 
A few that have not been mentioned:
Big bore double rifle
Hawken or other mountain rifle
Martini-Henry
 
A few that have not been mentioned:
Big bore double rifle
Hawken or other mountain rifle
Martini-Henry
 
I'll make my list shorter by only listing the 'it' guns I haven't owned or fired. Otherwise, we're taking pages!:p

BAR
Ferguson Rifle
Hall Rifle
M1873 Winchester
Colt Paterson Revovler
S&W Schofield Revovler
Harper's Ferry 1803 Rifle
MP18
MP40
MG34/42
Stg44
FG42
SVT40
G43
SPAS12
FN P90
:D
 
I have a soft spot for transitional periods in mechanical evolution. To me, the neatest planes are, for example, those airplanes in the era right between fabric-covered biplane and stressed-skin monoplane, or between prop and jet; before the "best" way is discovered, and zillions of different ways are being tried.

In firearms, this translates to an irrational fondness for Commission Rifles and Lebels, Schmidt-Rubins and Vetterlis, Broomhandles and Roth-Steyrs. My heart prefers the Garand even though my head says the M-14 is a more evolved weapon that corrects some of its predecessor's deficiencies. The "It" these weapons summon up for me is an age when we didn't have the bitter cynicism about technology that we seemed to develop in the latter half of the Twentieth Century; an age when the Next Big Technology was going to change the world, and we'd all see our lives transformed by it. That was when guys could still hang out a shingle and experiment with new and better ways to make guns function; a world still populated by Browning and Maxim and the Mauser brothers. Wouldn't it've been neat to be the first kid on your block with a metallic cartridge breechloader? Or the first magazine-fed repeater? Or autoloader?
 
Who woulda thunk that a couple of bicycle mechanics from Dayton would be the first to conquer powered flight? :D
 
I completely agree with Tamera's attraction to transition pieces. To me that means the move to cartridges and smokeless powder. The big single shots like the Sharps are it to me. After that the early lever actions like the Henry, the Colt SAA, and the Luger are my other it guns.
 
Besides the afformentioned Webley revolver, Lee Enfield Rifle, and Thompson submachinegun that I totally agree with as being "It" guns?

I would add the 1858 Remington New Model Army cap & ball revolver, I love the look and feel of these revolvers and really enjoy shooting them.

In addition how about the classic double barrel coachgun shotguns (exposed hammers are a MUST HAVE item for these).

And just because they are way too cool... Any of the early matchlock rifles/pistols used for hunting...some of the decorations on these are incredible.
 
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