ATD: Catalog Excerpt "an antiquated Colt"

[Paul Mackin]

On Aug 7, 2006, at 11:51 AM, davemarc wrote:

> Building on Paul Mackin's comments, I'll add here that while young  
> Willis's
> firearm is "an antiquated Colt"--certainly a revolver--it's quite  
> possible
> that Jimmy Drop is handling a state-of-the-art automatic handgun.
>
> The year is 1899, seven years into what the good ol' History  
> Detectives
> website labels the "Advent of automatic handguns: "The first automatic
> pistol was created by Joseph Laumann in 1892. But the Borchardt  
> pistol of
> 1893 was the first automatic with a separate magazine in the grip,  
> and this
> remains the defining feature of the breed. More automatics came in  
> rapid
> succession, including Browning, Luger, Mauser, and Colt models. By  
> the turn
> of the century, just 8 years after Laumann, automatics were firmly
> established."
> http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/techniques/ 
> weapon_feature.html
>
> So perhaps Drop perceives the technological obsolescence of the  
> Colt as well
> as its age and young Willis's paleness and shakiness. Eight years  
> earlier, a
> revolver wouldn't have looked as old.
>
> d.
>


Good. The situation sort of reminds me of something Mike  Hammer once  
said when challenged by a gun-bearing  someone: Mine makes bigger  
holes. . . .
>