Glock / 1911 and Mac / PC

[AZRedhawk44]

A thought just hit me.

Ya know how all the fanboyz for Glocks like to berate the XD or M&P for aftermarket support?

I started thinking about what pistols enjoy the most widespread aftermarket support from oodles of manufacturers.

My list?

1911.
(everything else far lower...)
Hi-powers
Glock
CZ
(not sure who else)

Even just considering magazines... really think about it.  Whose magazines work best in any given gun?  Obviously, the manufacturers as a broad spectrum rule that applies to Sigs/Glocks/XD's/Rugers/1911's/whatever.  Look what happens when you put a promag magazine into ANYTHING they make a mag for... instant failure.

Anyone ever run a Scherer mag in their Glock?  I couldn't get one to run properly until I changed out the limpy-wimpy spring that came with it, for a Wolff.  Even then, it bulged when fully loaded, had follower binding issues and didn't drop free properly.

Now.... how many makers out there manufacture a 1911?  Dozens, right?

There's only two people making "Glocks."  One is obviously Glock, the other is CCF RaceFrames.  And CCF is such a tiny fish it's not even funny.

And I started comparing this aftermarket support to the computing world.

I realized something:  Glock is the Apple Computers of the Gun World.  Lots of kool-aid, lots of plastic, proprietary systems.

1911's, however, are the PC's.  Sturdy, omnipresent, tried-and-true, produced by oodles of manufacturers.

The analogy carries further:

Want to really push the boundaries of automatic handgun firepower?  Not with a Glock you don't.  10mm is your top end, take it or leave it.  The 1911 design, however, shoots .45Super, .50 government, .460Rowland and even had been adapted to shoot .45winmag, .44automag and .357magnum (not SIG... the real thing).

Want to really push the boundaries of computing power?  Apple historically always lags behind on CPU and memory bandwidths, SMP/multithreading, video processing since the 90's and disk I/O bandwidth since the 90's.

Want to network with gun buddies, maybe share magazines in a crisis or otherwise interoperate?  Glocks work with Glocks... Colts work with Springers and Wilsons and Kimbers and a bunch of other makers.

Want to network with other computer users?  Up until about 1998 or so, Apple insisted on using Appletalk for all networking applications.  They even had appletalk/IP gateway devices to get Apples on the internet since they didn't work well with IP (GSSF anyone?).  Nothing pollutes a network faster than Appletalk (run a packet sniffer on an Apple network with Appletalk enabled... you'll see).  PC's, however (whether linux or windows) communicate with internet standards such as HTTP/FTP, or corporate internal network standards such as CIFS/SAMBA.

Have a Glock go down that you need to get back up and running by salvaging parts?  Good luck, unless you've got another Glock to cannibalize.

Springers can be fixed from Dan Wesson parts, Kimbers from RIA parts, and so on.

An offline Apple with a bad PCI or other daughter card requires specific firmware to work in an Apple.  An offline Dell with a bad card can be brought back online with the same or similar cards from a home-built/Micron/Acer/Gateway/whatever PC.

Anyways, just figured I'd stir the pot a bit for fun.

[BlueStarLizzard]

i would say that 1911's are a bit more reliable then PC's. 

other then that, i'm gonna stay out of this.

i like 1911's AND Glocks.   

[brimic]

I'm a 1911.

[Standing Wolf]

The analogy carries further:

Just because you can lead an analogy to water doesn't mean you can make it take off like a rocket.

[seeker_two]

http://world.guns.ru/handguns/ruger_blackhawk_357.jpg




http://home.vicnet.net.au/~wolff/calculators/Burroughs/BurroughsPortable-948-IMG_2997-5.jpg

That's me..... 

[HForrest]

Want to really push the boundaries of automatic handgun firepower?  Not with a Glock you don't.  10mm is your top end, take it or leave it.  The 1911 design, however, shoots .45Super, .50 government, .460Rowland and even had been adapted to shoot .45winmag, .44automag and .357magnum (not SIG... the real thing).

Actually, I think Guncrafter Industries, the same company making 1911s in their proprietary .50 GI caliber, is producing a .50 conversion for the Glock 20/21. For some reason it's not on their site, but I'm pretty sure I've seen them listed for sale on the internet. Also, I don't know of any 1911 that can hold 15 rounds of 10mm- a definite advantage for the Glock.

I will say that as with Macs and PCs, I use both Glocks and 1911s, and each gun has its own unique qualities that make it suited for a particular use. They're both great platforms.

If there's any kind of gun company that could be compared to Mac, it would be HK. Their products tend to have somewhat nicer fit and finish, an aesthetically pleasing design, and incorporate features unique to the brand. They also cost significantly more, and have a wide base of fanboys who believe that all other guns are inferior to HK. Kind of like how some people will insist their Macs "just work" and can never be subject to any problems, ever.

[Gewehr98]

I've owned both Glocks, 1911s, Macs, and PCs. 

A true fanboy, as it were.   

[HankB]

Look what happens when you put a promag magazine into ANYTHING they make a mag for... instant failure.

No. During the dark days of the AWB, I bought a couple of ProMags for my BHP. Went through a class with them with ZERO failures. (Round count was somewhere over 1000 . . . )

1911's, however, are the PC's.  Sturdy, omnipresent, tried-and-true

But some manufacturers occasionally forget how to make them. (I'm thinking now of a Colt Government Model Jammamatic I used to have.    )

Up until about 1998 or so, Apple insisted on using Appletalk for all networking applications . . .  Nothing pollutes a network faster than Appletalk

Can relate to this. I was once part of a lab that had "bought in" to Apple's marketing BS, and Appletalk was ALWAYS problematic. As for the computers themselves, my apps ran ONLY on PCs, and I had far fewer problems than the people with Macs. In fact, the joke was that Macintosh was shorthand for "Machine Always Crashes; If Not, The Operating System Hangs."

If there's any kind of gun company that could be compared to Mac, it would be HK. Their products tend to have somewhat nicer fit and finish, an aesthetically pleasing design, and incorporate features unique to the brand. 

Nothing pleasing about HK's VP70Z. Their HK4 - a Mauser HSc ripoff made of cheap stampings, tack welded together - was truly abysmal. And their USPs seem, well, bulky. And of course, their customer service motto is "Because you suck and we hate you."

[red headed stranger]

i would say that 1911's are a bit more reliable then PC's. 

I would agree.  However, like PCs, the availability of a plethora of cheap aftermarket parts can encourage unskilled tweaking that can make the best gear turn into a jammomatic/crashomatic. 

Of course, that's bubba's fault not the platform. 

[S. Williamson]

Glock reliability is notably equal to or greater than 1911s.

Before the shoe throwing begins, I'd like to add two things:
1) The above statement applies to Glocks and 1911s only, not Macs and PCs.
2) I've had more crashes "per capita" with a Mac than I have with a PC.